Faith, Religions and Homosexualities

Faith, Religions and Homosexualities, a face-to-face conference will be held at the Jewish Museum of Belgium on 09.20.21 at 6.30 p.m.   The occasion for LGBTQIA+ rights defenders and religious representatives to meet and discuss the common issues between queer lifestyle and beliefs and the different faiths.

The three major monotheistic religions are often viewed as inherently hostile to homosexuality. The Holy Texts are full of sometimes violent condemnations of behavior considered unnatural, religious institutions promote a vision of sexuality based on reproductive heterosexuality and their authorities continue to fight legal and social advances in favor of sexual minorities. 

However, in these three religions, believers affirm themselves as homosexuals and claim this spiritual and cultural attachment without refusing to live their sexuality. Patiently, believers and clerics try to create bridges between worlds and behaviors that everything seems a priori to oppose. Numerous analyzes have also shown how deeply sexual questions affect the religions, to the point that they cannot be understood without considering their erotic dimension. In short, it seems both simplistic and illusory to oppose spiritual life and homosexual life or to advocate leaving religion in order to taste sexual happiness. 

This debate, which brings together experts and believers, will question the complexity of the relationship between religious and homosexual issues. It will explore how non-heterosexual identities and behaviors can destabilize and subvert the normative assignments and practices of Christianity, Judaism and Islam. Finally, it will discuss why religious complexity is not easily captured by the simplistic opposition between homophilia and homophobia. 

This event, organized by the Jewish Museum of Belgium and STRIGES (Interdisciplinary research structure on gender, equality and sexuality – ULB, Free University of Brussels), is supported by Equal Brussels. 

Speakers : 

Fourat Ben Chikha (General rapporteur on the rights of LGBTI persons of the Assembly of the Council of Europe) 
Anthony Favier (David & Jonathan, Christian homosexual mouvement) 
Hassan Jarfi (Fondation Ihsane Jarfi, founded in memory of Ihsane Jarfi dead in 2012 in a homophobic murder in Liège and that fights against discrimination and homophobia.) 
Françoise Nimal (pastor, United Protestant Church of Belgium) 
Elisa Schanzer (Collectif Shabbes 24/7, Queer Jewish diaspora collective in Belgium) 

Moderator :  
David Paternotte (STRIGES/ULB) 

Registration required: conferences@mjb-jmb.org