This badge was made by a former member of staff at St Mary’s. As a counsellor, she was looking for a way of indicating to people that she was a safe person for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex and Asexual people to discuss issues about their own lives safely without judgement or prejudice.

Therapy is one of the the areas of life which has changed in extraordinary ways in relation to issues of human sexuality within our own lifetimes. Therapy has sometimes been used to try to change someone’s sexual orientation or identity (often called conversion therapy). Such practices are now completely discredited and many LGBT people now have much to thank theapists for.

The slogan on this badge arrived in Glasgow with the Canon Missioner for the Diocese of Glasgow and Galloway, the Rev Canon Audrey O’Brien Stewart. She had been a member of groups of Episcopalians using same slogan at Pride events in the USA.

The slogan is a Beattitude and takes its form from the beattitudes that Jesus used in the Sermon on the Mount which can be found in the Bible in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 5.

Pride is a combination of protest and celebration. This badge is a reminder that LGBT people are uniquely blessed by God with gifts, skills and much that in turn blesses the world.

This badge has proved very popular on the St Mary’s Badge Stall. It is a reminder that as LGBT people are inherently a minority in the population, the postive changes that have been brought about in the way LGBT people are treated could not have happened without straight allies.

Straight people have inflicted incredible harm upon LGBT people and also done incredibly good to LGBT people. Of course, there is no body of straight opinion, just as there is no one set of opinions which all LGBT people would subscribe to.

This badge has been proudly worn by many campaigning alongside LGBT people for change.

And LGBT people couldn’t have achieved so much without them.

This badge was made in 2016 in response to a comment made by the Archbishop of Canterbury at the Greenbelt festival. Whilst being interviewed by Kate Bottley he is reported to have said, “I am constantly consumed with horror at the way in which the Church has treated the gay community.”
The crowd at Greenbelt erupted into applause at this notion and no doubt, Justin Welby went on his way rejoicing that he had connected with the Greenbelt audience.
However, it is the case that the things that Archbishops have said and done have often had a detrimental effect on the lives of LGBT people. This badge repurposes Justin Welby’s sentiment to recognise that.

This badge was made in 2016 and is one of the badges that have been sold in St Mary’s that have been bought by people for whom the pronouns he or she don’t seem to fit.
The use of the “they” as a singular pronoun is often seen as a modern invention but it isn’t anything of the kind. The Oxford English Dictionary records the first use of the singular “they” in 1375.
The badge is also a reminder that issues of gender are different in different languages. Some of the languages spoken by members of the congregation at St Mary’s (notably including Igbo) don’t use gendered pronouns at all.

This badge dates from January 2016 and shows the logo of the Scottish Episcopal Church superimposed on a rainbow. These badges were worn by many attending the long series of meetings which led up to the Scottish Episcopal Church taking a decision to open the sacrament of marriage to same-sex couples.
The words on the badge are “Evangelical Truth and Apostolic Order” which is the motto of the Scottish Episcopal Church. In this context it is a helpful reminder that support for LGBT people within the Scottish Episcopal Church has come from congregations which identify as evangelical and also congregations which would have a more high church, catholic tradition. God has blessed all kinds of churches with gay people and both the motto of the church and the rainbow flag speak of embracing diversity.

This badge was made in response to a speech in the General Synod of the Church of England by the Rev Simon Butler in February 2017. That speech can be read online here:
https://www.stmarysbattersea.org.uk/article/general-synod-and-human-sexuality/
The quote is from the 32nd chapter of the book of Genesis and in its original context is uttered by Jacob who is pictured wrestling with God. In the synod speech it was used to suggest that LGBT people remain part of the church despite the negative way that they have sometimes been treated. This badge represents a desire to be blessed rather than cursed – a key theme found in the bible.