“Intimate Conviction,” a conference scheduled for Oct. 12-13 in Jamaica, will mark the 50th anniversary of anti-sodomy laws being repealed in England and Wales.
The Church of England was instrumental in creating anti-sodomy laws, but also in abolishing them. It published the first report calling for decriminalization, and Anglicans formed the majority on the Wolfenden Committee that proposed a repeal to Parliament.
The Most Rev. John Holder, Archbishop of the West Indies, will deliver the keynote address. A panel of leaders will discuss their churches’ perspectives on anti-sodomy laws.
The conference is cosponsored Anglicans for Decriminalization, Round Hill Hotel and Villas, Quality of Citizenship Jamaica, and the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network. It will meet at Christ Church Vineyard Town in Kingston.
Adapted from the Diocese of Southern Ohio
Matthew Townsend is a Halifax-based freelance journalist and volunteer advocate for survivors of sexual misconduct in Anglican settings. He served as editor of the Anglican Journal from 2019 to 2021 and communications missioner for the Anglican Diocese of Quebec from 2019 to 2022. He and his wife recently entered catechism class in the Orthodox Church in America.
