I recently watched a new documentary on Netflix about Peter Tatchell, the human rights – and particularly LGBT rights – campaigner. Although in recent years Tatchell has become something of a national treasure, that was not always the case. I well remember how in the ‘80s and ‘90s he was widely ridiculed for his views, subjected to homophobic abuse, and vilified by the Establishment. Not least among his detractors was George Carey, the Archbishop of Canterbury for most of the ‘90s, whose Easter Sunday sermon in Canterbury Cathedral in 1998 was memorably disrupted by Tatchell in front of the world’s media. Shortly after that incident Carey endorsed the resolution of the majority of bishops at the Lambeth Conference that ‘homosexual practice’ is ‘incompatible with Scripture’, that ‘those involved in same gender unions’ may not be ordained, and that the blessing of ‘same gender unions’ should not be accepted. Carey added that there is ‘no room for any sexual activity outside matrimony’.
I was therefore surprised when, in a recent interview with Lord Carey shown during the final part of the documentary, Carey explained that he had eventually come to the view that Tatchell was ‘on the right side of history’.
It’s not always easy to change one’s mind, not least when doing so involves exposure to public scrutiny. Even if we are able to admit to ourselves that we got something wrong, pride, vested interests, and sheer stubbornness can stand in the way of our acknowledging openly that we have changed our minds.
Let us pray that our minds may be open to change, that we may listen to God’s inner voice of discernment telling us when we have got something wrong, and that we may have the courage and grace to admit it.
Duncan McCall
