IEDP, 28 November 2013
This was the first of the series of four ground-breaking equality seminars of our Working to make Equality Happen series, and took place on the 28thNovember where the context for our discussions was religion and belief equality. Sixty-five people booked to come on the event from a very wide range of backgrounds and experience.
Our particular thanks go to our panel members. Revd. Colin Coward opened the discussion by explaining the work of Changing Attitude and how they are really advancing equality within the Anglican Church for LGBT people.
Next Pavan Dhaliwal, Head of Public Affairs for the British Humanist Association, gave an authoritative address on how many of the issues that were seen to be areas of religious conflict could be dealt with reasonably and with fairness. Rose Neelam from the Safra Project spoke insightfully on the role of woman in Islam and empowered choice.
There was a lively discussion after this session, followed by a short presentation by Kevan Browning from DiversityJobs about their Big I.D.E.A. website. After lunch Lord Indarjit Singh, the editor of the Sikh Messenger, spoke on how positive attitudes to disability have been advanced in the Sikh religion.
After a short question and answer session, the programme moved on to roundtable discussions which built on what had been said in the morning and related it to a wider view of equality and human rights and in particular how the agenda can be taken forward. Click here for a summary: Feedback from roundtable discussions
An account of the event from the point of view of a participant can be found on the Tackling Transphobia website.
