Two protests merging on fourth avenue

There will be nuggets of knowledge and theories amidst reiteration of familiar themes for most readers with some biblical theology and a good introduction for others.

What is useful about this book, a century later, is that Cadbury is exploring new ideas that he is clear we cannot be particularly certain about... and we are now at the other end of a process where we have to be uncertain about Q source and other subjects that became "certain" at various points.

The Chaplain's Book Pile 2026

My first book of the year is a lovely SPCK find from a used bookstore. First published in 1927 this is a 1958 reprint of Cadbury's 'The Making of Luke-Acts'. This is, to this day, an amazing introduction to exploring basic concepts of biblical theology.

If the president finds it acceptable to kidnap a foreign president and his family and put them into some variation of prison... then it is simply a matter of fabricating the excuse that will allow Trump and the GOP to do so to any of us if their goals require it.

The issue with Inclusive Orthodoxy is that it requires minimal introspection by the cis-het population on the ramifications of the cis-het patriarchy. This is in regard to both their continued complicity to abusive systems but also how their own sense of sexuality and gender are malformed.

Yeah... so people who are attracted to men are going to find this guy, Loren Cameron, attractive if he is their type of guy. He is going to fit right in at any gay bar amongst the men... and did when he was alive. This is not confusing.

The reality is that JK Rowling has a book series in constant publication, available in every library, and the second Harry Potter film/television adaptation is under way. If this is being burned at the stake then I think most authors would be glad to sign up for such treatment.

The argument is that people who find men attractive are, in fact, going to find trans men attractive... which is true. There are many ways to turn down a trans person without being transphobic, but the idea that trans gay men are not gay men is transphobic.

No government is banning JK Rowling or Boyne. In fact some governments are requiring children to read their books. LGBTQ+ individuals are naming that they do not want to be associated with these authors or their content... which is a fully legitimate action in a free society.

JK Rowling is currently getting the second movie/TV deal out of her only successful series. Boyne has had a book become a movie and his work is, problematically, required reading about the Holocaust in many schools. Attempting to portray these two as highly censored victims is absurd.

Trans men are a dynamic part of the gay community and are found attractive within it because they are men. This has been the case for decades and the gay community isn't going to suddenly stop including trans men in our ranks.

No one is asking for Boyne's books to be burned. People are saying that a prize dedicated to celebrating the entire LGBTQ+ community needs to be won by an author who celebrates the entire LGBTQ+ community. Boyne is free to sell his books to anyone who will buy them.

I am not telling anyone how to be a feminist. I am placing Gender Critical Feminism, one feminist approach, alongside other movements within Feminism. I am naming the known repercussions of putting into practice GCF expectations for trans people in practice within a society.

Gender Critical Feminism doesn't restrain itself to the theoretical. It seeks to create laws that exclude trans persons. It seeks to censor media in ways that w trans persons. It seeks to tell history in a way that excludes trans persons. It is about this exclusion at every level of society.

My assumption is that you actually value a society that rejects racism, sexism, and homophobia... that you value human rights laws for issues of race, sex, and sexuality and non-discrimination expectations for work and housing. But you just don't care about trans persons enough to include them.

Transphobia is on the rise but I think in the midst of that the divide between Trans Exclusionary Feminism and the greater feminist movement is getting more clearly pronounced.

Transphobia, homophobia, racism, and other forms of supremacist thought exist within Feminism. As one reads historic feminist text one will encounter such with some regularity. The transphobia follows some rather set arguments most of which is found in Raymond's work originally.

Gay men experience the homophobia patriarchy values from women. Black women experience the racism patriarchy values from white women. Trans persons experience the transphobia patriarchy values from LGB persons. Meaningful feminism calls for the end of all the hurt patriarchy values.

LGB history is my history as a gay man. Feminism, in its opposition to the patriarchal oppression of sexual and gender minorities, is a movement essential to my life and well being. Telling a gay man his lived experience as a gay man under patriarchy are inconsequential is antagonistic to feminism.

Gender Critical and Trans Exclusionary Feminism was first fully expressed by Janice Raymond in the 1970s. When we look at the development of feminism and women run spaces in the 80s, 90s, and 00s we see an ever growing rejection of Raymond's thesis for trans inclusion approaches and policies.

During the 1950s all LGBTQ individuals were trapped by those rigid sex roles. Post WWII there was a sharp return to active enforcement of anti-LGBTQ policy that sought to devastate the lives of all LGBTQ+ persons. There was no place for LGBTQ persons to exist in 1950s ideals.

Feminism is diverse, gender critical and trans exclusionary feminism is a very small sliver of the feminist movement and generally rejected. The 1950s were not a good time for trans persons and the modern trans community was active decades before that.

Do you believe that any woman author who is not a gender critical feminist is, as Boyne believes, no different than a wife who holds down another woman for her husband to rape?

Do you employ any women who Boyne has described in this way, women who Boyne feels engage in self erasure?

Gender Critical Feminism and the LGB Alliance are small groups that have separated themselves from the greater work of feminism and LGB organizing. They are aligned, in politics and rhetoric, with patriarchal homophobic groups against the trans community.

Statement (18.08.2025) Polari is part of the LGBTQ+ writing and reading community and for fifteen years, trans, gender non- conforming and non-binary people have been part of that community - at our events, on our judging panels, on our long and short lists and among our prize winners. This commitment to inclusion remains unchanged. Polari is not and has never been a trans exclusionary organisation. These are not our values and we condemn all forms of transphobia.

What was supposed to be a celebration of exceptional LGBTQ+ literature has been overshadowed by hurt and anger, which has been painful and distressing for all concerned and we apologize to everyone who has been affected. Many discussions have been undertaken over the last two weeks -with authors, judges, stakeholders, and funders - about the impacts and ramifications of the longlisting of John Boyne's novel and how we can learn from this experience and move forwards. We have decided as a result to pause the prize this year while we increase representation of trans and gender non-conforming judges on the panels for all the awards and undertake a governance and management review to include our aimns and values and work to better support everyone within our LGBTQ+ Polari community. We have already secured strong representation for next year, which we will build on.

We will also explore discussions about the tensions between the claims of freedom of expression and the need to create inclusive and supportive spaces in a world hostile to our trans community members and our community at large. We extend our heartfelt apologies to everyone affected this year, for the disappointment and despair this has caused. We acknowledge the ongoing support of the Polari community. everyone we have consulted, and our hugely supportive partners. We are a tiny operation that has run on goodwill and small pots of funding and sponsorship for 15 years and will endeavour to find a way forwards in good faith.

The Polari Prize has been "Paused"

Straight person who hadn't heard of the Polari Prize until last week: the trans mob have ruined my favourite literary prize

Lesbians are not working with homophobic groups to bring back anti-sodomy laws. Gay men are not working with lesbophobes to invalidate lesbian marriages. LGB Transphobes, like Boyne, are working with transphobic groups to perpetuate legal oppression and violence on the trans community.

Raymon was concerned about everyone currently under the trans umbrella. The transition of terms from Transexual to Transgender doesn't mark some overwhelming shift in the nature of the Trans Community. Men are not changing their legal sex in order to predate on women.

This thread is grounded in the feminist approach of Janice Raymond and other feminist in the 70s who began focusing on trans persons as a threat to women's liberation. In many ways what is occurring here is a rehashing of a discussion that has been repeating for 50 years.