Petition to Stop the Church of England Discriminating against Gay Clergy

I'm happy to announce that the petition to stop the Church of England discriminating against gay clergy with partners has now gone public. I would be most grateful if you could consider signing this if you live in the UK, thank you.

You can find the petition here: petition.parliament.uk/petitions/166216

Many thanks

Anne Brooke

Petition against Gay Clergy Discrimination: Update 1

A brief update on the petition against discriminating against gay clergy in the Church of England - enough people have now signed it so the Government are checking it before it goes public, thank you. Here is the link for further details at this stage:

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/166216/moderation-info


Many thanks indeed.

Anne Brooke

Message to the Church of England: Stop bullying gay people!

Well, I’ve finally gone and put my 'money' where my mouth is and made a petition – will you sign it?

My petition: Make it illegal for the C of E to discriminate against gay non-celibate clergy

The Anglican Church insists that gay clergy with partners live a celibate life if they wish to continue working as priests or bishops. This is an unfair burden on gay clergy as well as being discriminatory within the 21st century workplace.

Click this link to sign the petition:
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/166216/sponsors/RvCTVWTcWdwh8HHdmP

I was moved to make this petition as a result of today's news that the Bishop of Grantham has said publicly that he is gay - which is great news indeed. However, in order to continue being a bishop, he has to tell the Church of England authorities that he is also celibate, even though he has been with his partner for a very long time. He may or may not be celibate, but frankly I don't care and it doesn't matter. This is grossly unfair, and nobody should be made to divulge any of their sexual practices in order to continue in their job.

After all, I don't attend a job interview and expect to be asked about my sex life. If I was, I would immediately walk out of the interview and report the company to the relevant authorities. Why should having a job in the Church of England be treated any differently? Yes, it's a vocation, but in the eyes of God, all our jobs are vocations, so we should either all be asked about our sex lives to see if we're suitable for any job, or none of us should be!

This is the 21st century, and we should protest against such arcane practices. It is not a crime, nor a sin, to be gay, in love and in a relationship. The sooner the Church of England understand this, the better.

Thank you.

Anne Brooke

Film Friday and Garden Delights

Book News:

My gay comic romance Angels and Airheads is due to be published on 30 March and is now available for pre-ordering at Musa Publishing. Shop early shop often, as they say! I do so love the cover.

Over at Amazon US, gay thriller A Dangerous Man was my most popular book this week, so that was very heartening. And literary gay short story The Heart's Greater Silence gained a 4-star review at Goodreads (thank you, Zaa).

Plus there's exciting news about the 5th in the Delaneys series - The Delaneys At Home will be published by Amber Allure Press on 3 June, so I'm looking forward very much to that. Only one more story to go and the series will be done, well gosh.

And don't forget that the majority of my Untreed Reads books are discounted by 30% for the whole of March - enjoy!

Oh, and I thoroughly enjoyed Day Two of my filming experience with Milletti Films - which involved playing golf, going to church, and another interview, amongst other items. Many thanks to Sam, Roxanne, Randy & Christine for making it such great fun, and I hope the project goes very well for you!

On a more serious note, the problem with the new Paypal literary censorship approach is causing me and indeed all writers of erotic fiction grave concerns. You can find out more about the issue and what can be done about it at the Internet Censorship Petition site and the Stop Censorship site. I've signed both petitions, and I hope some of you will also feel moved to do so. Many thanks.

The Sunday Haiku is:

Your car's steady hum.
Tall masts against a grey sky,
the sea drifting by.


Life News:

K and I had a lovely time down in Kent yesterday celebrating the 65th birthday of our good friend, Tony. It was fabulous to catch up with everyone, and the cake was stupendously good. Many thanks indeed to P for arranging it!

The rest of our time has been spent working in and thoroughly enjoying the garden, hurrah. I've kept the weeds down today, and K has mulched the roses. Much to our joy we spotted our first butterfly - a yellow brimstone - in our very own garden, so that was truly magical. Plus the forsythia we didn't know we had at the front is starting to bloom, the apple tree and our dogwood hedge are both in bud, and there are general signs of spring ahead. I can't wait to see what other surprises the garden holds for us.

Anne Brooke
The Gathandria Fantasy Trilogy
Gay Reads UK
Biblical Fiction UK