Salzburg Global LGBT* Forum and ILGA Asia’s audio series concludes after 16 episodes
An audio series designed to help others understand global changes happening in LGBT* and faith communities has concluded after 16 episodes.
Salzburg Global Seminar and ILGA Asia’s audio series LGBT & Faith featured 16 leading voices from the Global Online Forum on LGBT* and Faith, a program held from 2020 to 2022 by the Salzburg Global LGBT* Forum.
This program convened members and leaders of faith communities from within Judaism, Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism, as well as agnostics, atheists, anthropologists, and cultural believers.
Worldwide, LGBT* people increasingly insist on inclusion in faith communities and cultural traditions. In response, many religious congregations have begun to interpret their beliefs more inclusively.
LGBT & Faith is available to listen to on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify. Its listeners represent different generations and range from more than 50 countries across six continents.
The most popular episodes include:
- Brenda Rodriguez Alegre: “As a Child I Would Pray to God ‘to Make Me a Woman One Day’”
- Sukhdeep Singh: “I Want To Assure Other Young Queer Sikhs That One Could Be Gay and Sikh”
- Ahmed El Hady: “I Would Love To See Many Members of the LGBT Community Revolting Against the Predominant Religious Discourse but Who Will Defend Them?”
Our podcast authors come from diverse countries such as Ecuador, the Philippines, Switzerland, Lesotho, Romania, India, South Africa, the United States, Egypt or the Netherlands.
Klaus Mueller, founder and chair of the Salzburg Global LGBT* Forum, said, “When we started our LGBT and Faith initiative, in part, we mentally still held on to an imagined separation of LGBT and faith communities as two communities in opposition to each other. However, listening to our Fellows, it became obvious that this juxtaposition is part of the problem.
“It does not do justice to the lived reality of many LGBT* individuals around the world. LGBT* people have been, are, and will be part of faith communities, and people of faith have been, are, and will be part of LGBT* communities. In fact, this supposed opposition between LGBT and Faith communities is often used by a globally connected movement misusing religion and the so-called ‘protection of the family’ to push an authoritarian agenda.
“We are encouraged that the podcasts reached an audience in countries that imposes the death penalty for consensual same-sex sexual acts like Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, or Pakistan, and countries where national or religious leaders support or even inspire homo- and transphobic violence, such as Egypt, Russia, Turkey, Poland, or Malaysia.”
Henry Koh, executive director at ILGA Asia, said, “The notion that faith and discussions on sexuality and gender should not be conflated is untrue — and it contributes to further misunderstanding and perpetuates stigma on all sides of the conversation.
“LGBTI people often face harmful impacts when this occurs, and it becomes clear that we need to engage issues of faith and religion through progressive methods and discourses in order to advance the conversation on acceptance and rights for LGBT people.
For this reason, ILGA Asia decided to collaborate with the Salzburg Global Seminar’s richly diverse fellows through producing this meaningful podcast series — where we explore life-changing and affirming conversations on how LGBT and faith can and must co-exist.”
Salzburg Global LGBT* Forum and ILGA Asia thank the authors for sharing their deeply personal visions and journeys of faith with great honesty.
* LGBT: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender. We are using this term as it is currently widely used in human rights conversations on sexual orientation and gender identity in many parts of the world, and we would wish it to be read as inclusive of other cultural concepts, contemporary or historical, to express sexuality and gender, intersex and gender non-conforming identities.
