Friends of all ages are encouraged to attend Fall Continuing Sessions on November 11. Throughout the day, the current Sessions theme, “Living with our neighbors, Growing into beloved community,” will be centered in our worship, fellowship, youth programs, and the business of the yearly meeting. We’re also sharing a preview of Sessions in 2024 and how a shift in this summer’s Annual Sessions creates new opportunities in the coming year.
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Zoom
Towards a Quaker History of LGBTQ+ Inclusion and Gay Rights
Join the Friends Historical Association for its 2023 Annual Members Meeting and Lecture on Saturday, November 4, 2023 at 11:00am – 1:00pm EDT on Zoom. This year’s lecture is “Towards a Quaker History of LGBTQ+ Inclusion and Gay Rights” by Brian Blackmore. Registration is required. Learn more and register here.
Many Friends are aware of Towards a Quaker View of Sex (1963), the first public and positive evaluation of gay and lesbian sexuality from a religious assembly, and yet many other important contributions made by Friends to the advancement of gay rights during the middle to late twentieth century are less well known. Additionally, the efforts to create greater inclusion for LGBTQ+ people in Quaker communities is rarely examined in historical studies of this era. This presentation seeks to stimulate the production of more scholarship on Quakerism and LGBTQ+ people by sharing key findings from over a decade of research. Come hear about the first social service organization for gay people in the United States established by Friends in the late 1940s, the portrayal of Friends as the first happy gay couple in an American novel, the important role Friends played in the development of the gay rights movement, and the evolution of Quaker attitudes towards lesbian, gay, and bisexual people in a pivotal period of Quaker history.
AFSC Meeting for Worship with Attention to Peace in Palestine and Israel
The Quaker Engagement Office of the American Friends Service Committee invites you to join us in a Meeting for Worship with attention to peace in Palestine and Israel. This is a time for Friends to come together in worship and solidarity as we grapple with the tragic events and lives lost as a result of ongoing conflict. Please share this invitation with your meeting or church and members of your community.
Gratitude & Next Steps for Outreach & Communications Resource Friends
During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Resource Friend program pivoted to accommodate the urgent needs in the yearly meeting about connectedness, technology, and spiritual guidance. John Marquette, a member of Lehigh Valley Meeting, served Philadelphia Yearly Meeting (PYM) as an Outreach and Communications Resource Friend in 2021 through December 2022. PYM received a generous grant from the Thomas H. & Mary Williams Shoemaker Fund which supported both the Resource Friend program in this area and grants for local and quarterly meetings in the yearly meeting interested in outreach and the caring work of connecting Friends in online and hybrid spaces.
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