THE Global Interfaith Commission for LGBT Lives is seeking a project director to lead its new course for religious leaders on sexuality and gender issues, in partnership with Regent’s Park College, in Oxford, it is announced today.
The Commission, overseen and managed by the Ozanne Foundation (News, 13 April 2018), was launched in 2020 to protect LGBT+ people from harm in religious settings. It campaigns for an end to violence and criminalisation, and seeks a global ban on conversion therapy.
Its new series of residential summer courses will be delivered by Regent’s Park College, funded by a grant from the Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO), which is currently being finalised. Annual accounts from the Ozanne Foundation show that the FCDO has issued two grants to the charity since 2021, totalling £187,500, to fund previous work for the Commission.
The advertisement for a director is published in the Church Times today. The contract duration is three years and seven months, part-time, with a salary of £16,260.
The aim of the new course, it says, is “to increase the number of senior religious leaders advocating to reduce the violence and discrimination of LGBT+ people and to support the decriminalisation of anti-LGBT+ laws in their home countries”.
The project, which, it says, will be “scalable to meet demand” and conducted in “a safe private forum”, is to be delivered in partnership with the University of Oxford’s Department for Continuing Education.
Regent’s Park College, a permanent private hall of the University, admits undergraduate and graduate students of varied subjects, and trains Baptist ministers. A spokesperson for the College said: “We are looking forward to working with Oxford University’s Department for Continuing Education to deliver this innovative programme of engagement, education, and empowerment.”
Jayne Ozanne, an LGBT campaigner, a former General Synod member, and a founding director of the Ozanne Foundation, said: “I am thrilled that Regent’s Park College has agreed to take on this project with support from the Department for Continuing Education at Oxford University, as it will provide a lasting legacy for the Global Interfaith Commission on LGBT+ Lives.
“The university is one of the most prestigious places of learning in the world, and as such will provide reassurance to religious leaders of all faiths of the course’s content as well as creating a positive learning environment to discuss matters relating to sexuality and gender identity.
“At this stage we are keen to identify a project director who will have a unique opportunity to deliver this pioneering programme alongside conducting further research.”