According to organizers, homosexuality is still criminalized in 11 former British colonies spread throughout the Caribbean. Now in its seventh year, the Queering Paradigms (QP) conference will be held this weekend in the Cayman Islands.
QP7 will feature a human rights lawyer and a Church of England bishop as its keynote speakers. The Rt Revd Alan Wilson, Bishop of Buckingham in the Diocese of Oxford, has been a vocal supporter of equal rights in the church and society at large. Local news reports,
The conference has attracted criticism from conservative political and religious groups who are opposing LGBTIQ rights and equality, the organisers stated this weekend in a press release.
Although one of the key note speakers is an Anglican bishop, activists said it was sad to see how some churches have tried to boycott the conference rather than engage in a democratic dialogue with experts from all over the world who are coming to the Cayman Islands to share their knowledge and expertise with the public.
“I hope that we will see a fruitful dialogue and not just picketing and shouting,” said Scherer. “We have invited the Rt Hon Dr Alan Wilson, Bishop of Buckingham, as one of the keynote speakers. He will share the UK experience with legislative change around same-sex marriage and make some theological reflections about the queering project of Jesus.”
According to its website,
The Queering Paradigms network is dedicated to examining the current state and future challenges of queer studies from a broad trans-disciplinary and polythetic perspective, and by interrogating numerous social, political, cultural and academic agendas.
Bishop Wilson will address the conference this Sunday afternoon.
Featured image: the Rt Revd Alan Wilson, via Diocese of Oxford