Sydney World Pride
Human Rights Conference
2 March 2023
For me, one of the highlights of Sydney World Pride, was being invited to speak at the Human Rights Conference at the International Convention Centre, Darling Harbour. The session was Stories of Faith, where several of us shared our personal stories from a variety of faith backgrounds, including Christianity, Islam and Judaism.
Speaking in these contexts can often be challenging, as many LGBTQ people have a justifiable dislike, even hatred, of anything to with religion and others have experienced religious trauma.
I needn’t have worried. The audience was very responsive and immediately afterwards I received a text from a highly respected LGBTQ community leader saying: “Well done, the audience loved you.”
I certainly felt the love.
In 1952, the year after I was born, the American Psychiatric Association released their first Diagnostic Statistical Manual for mental disorders. People such as myself were labelled pervert, deviates, psychotic, and sociopaths. In the same decade, the now infamous New South Wales Police Commissioner Colin Delaney, who I discovered in my research was a friend of my father’s, declared that as the newly appointed police commissioner, he had two major goals. One was to reduce the road toll. And the second was to wipe homosexuality out of Sydney, which apparently had reached epidemic proportions.
The awakening of my sexual orientation in my teens was frightening and confronting. Two things were very clear to me. Never tell a soul about your thoughts and feelings and do everything possible to eradicate it. I tried everything to stop it. Nothing worked.
In 1969, I became a “born again” Christian, believing that God would somehow be the answer to my problem. Of course, this compounded the growing self-hatred and self-loathing. No longer was I just a pervert and a deviant. I was a sinner of the vilest kind, and unless I destroyed these filthy desires, I would spend eternity in hell.
No matter how much I prayed, fasted, or had the demons of homosexuality and masturbation cast out of me, the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors persisted. In 1972, there were only two Christian programs in the world to cure people of homosexuality. One was in New York State, and the other was in the southern suburbs of Sydney. At the age of 21, believing this was my last resort, I admitted myself into the residential program. Apparently, it would take one to two years to make me straight.
I had a minder watching over me all the day, items of clothing like my precious pink socks and my bikini underwear were removed as they were considered too gay. I was only allowed to do gender specific tasks around the property. All this along, along with much prayer, was meant to transform me. After six months. I couldn’t take it anymore of the emotional and psychological abuse and I left.
Fast forward to 2020.
I was provided a cottage to live in during the pandemic in the Royal National Park south of Sydney. What I hadn’t considered was that it was the same area as the conversion therapy program. Triggers were everywhere I went and looked, reminding me of some of the darkest days of my life. The property and church still existed. Through a series of synchronistic events, which would take too long to explain. I received a call from one of the leaders of the church who said, “our church needs to become LGBTQ affirming. Can you help us with that?” There would not have been a more perfect person in Australia to help them. The organisation I founded Ambassadors & Bridge Builders International, works with Christian churches, leaders and organizations to ensure they are genuinely affirming of LGBTQ people.
I tell churches that to do this properly will take one to two years to reduce polarization and minimize harm. It begins with working with the leadership and progressively down to the congregation to dispel myths and educate everyone on the lives and experiences of LGBTQ people.
After stops and starts because of the pandemic, on Sunday, the 27th of March last year, a service was held, where not only did the church announce it was officially totally affirming, they issued a personal apology to me and to others that had been harmed through the previous ignorance, about sexual orientation and gender identity. This was, of course, a moving and profound moment.
What was even more special to me was that we all walked out on the veranda of the property where I had had my last encounter with the leader of the church. My sister and brother-in-law had come to rescue me. Before I could escape, the leader pulled me back and told my sister andbrother-in-law, that I was one of Sydney’s worst homosexuals, and continued to completely assassinate my character. Standing in the very same place that morning. I took back my power, declared who I was. I was not broken. I did not need fixing. I was loved, complete and whole. That special moment is on YouTube.
The LGBTQ community is well known for its resilience, but without hope, and dare I say without faith (a belief that we can create a better world), there is no resilience. Hope and faith keep us going.
The words of Paul in 1 Corinthians 13 are true. “Now these three things abide. Faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
Find out more about Anthony Venn-Brown’s bestselling autobiography, A Life of Unlearning, HERE.
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