Audience donations from this production will help support the Open Table Network.
We are a charity which helps to build communities hosted by inclusive churches across England & Wales where LGBTQIA+ people will be both welcomed and affirmed. An LGBTQIA+ person can go to a cinema, or a supermarket, or a cafe, without fear of hostility or the cold-shoulder. But we can’t enter churches with that confidence.
But rather than talk about ourselves, here’s Gail, sharing her experience of rejection and welcome:
‘Who I am needs no excuse!’
'WHEN I SHARED with my church that I'm gay, I was told I was created perfect, but that I had "become flawed". I was given the very clear message that who I am was wrong. I was encouraged to go to another church to undertake their 'reparative therapy' programme. My church began to make it very difficult for me to belong, and gradually pushed me out. I felt a deep shame about being me.
'Then I found Open Table. I could walk into Open Table without having to justify or explain who I was - and be accepted. There was lots of love there, lots of warmth, and it felt like a very safe, sacred space. I was at a point of really hating who I was, but Open Table gradually brought me to a point, now, where I can stand and look at myself in a mirror and say, "You know what? I actually like you" That’s a point I never thought I would get to.
'Before Open Table, I didn’t have a network at all. So I just kept quiet and I stayed single for many years. From the age of 20 until just seven years ago I was single, because of how the church made me feel. Without Open Table, I am convinced I would still be single. I didn’t even have any friends who I could connect with. I didn’t ever feel enough about myself to be able to tell them about me. Being in Open Table has given me the confidence to do that. I now sing in the worship group at church, as ME. I lead Open Table services locally and have become an elder in the church which hosts the community.
I’ve never been in a church where I would ever have been "allowed" to do any of that.'
'Open Table means everything to me, it has truly saved me.'
- Gail, lesbian woman (she/her), age 53
This is just one of many testimonies you can read on our website.
You don’t have to be a Christian to see the value of what we’re doing.
You don’t have to be a Christian to join an Open Table community.
You are more than welcome to come as you are.
For more information, click here for the Open Table Network website.