Catalogue Number
NMLH.2024.28.2
Object Name
poster
Title
'I'm proud to be both Christian and LGBT'
People
Stonewall, Methodist Church, Dr Karl Rutlidge
Description
A poster with a red speech bubble saying 'I'm proud to be both Christian and LGBT. - Dr Karl Rutlidge'. Beside the speech bubble is a photograph of Dr Rutlidge - a white man with glasses, a broad smile and short brown hair wearing a navy blue suit, white shirt and cornflower blue tie. Beneath it is an explanation of LGBT History month, and the following information about Dr Rutlidge: 'Karl Rutlidge is a bisexual trans man who is also a Christian. He lives in Birmingham and is currently training to be a Minister in the Methodist Church, which means he writes essays and helps out in a local church. He also plays pool (badly) and drinks lots of coffee.'
This was part of a series of posters created for LGBT History Month about LGBTQIA+ people of faith. These posters - showing Humanist, Methodist, Anglican, Sikh, Hindu, Catholic and Jewish LGBTQIA+ people - were created to mythbust the idea that a person needs to choose between their faith and their sexuality or gender identity. The campaign to support LGBTQIA+ people of faith was needed as there is sometimes a perception that being LGBTQIA+ is incompatible with having religious beliefs or participating in faith communities. Some people within faith communities don't realise there are LGBTQIA+ people within that faith, but also some LGBTQIA+ people reject the idea that you can have a faith belief while being LGBTQIA+, because some faith communities express homophobic and/or transphobic views.The homophobic and transphobic faith groups can lead some LGBTQIA+ people (particularly those who have been harmed by and left such spaces) to reject LGBTQIA+ people of faith, making LGBTQIA+ spaces
less welcoming for people of faith.
Dr Rutlidge is now a Methodist minister at New Malden Church in London. He became the first out trans person to become a Methodist Minister. Stonewall is an LGBTQIA+ campaigning group, originally founded in 1989. They campaign on freedom and equity for LGBTQIA+ people. LGBT History Month is an organisation which coordinates an annual program of events each February focused on histories of people and events relating to LGBT history.
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