This week on the podcast Katherine and Paul welcome *takes deep breath* openly-Catholic gay rights campaigner, life-long advocate for inclusion and equality, ex-CEO of Stonewall and recently appointed Baroness of Bethnal Green, Ruth Hunt.

With inclusion, love and acceptance in our minds, we discuss the complex relationship between religion and sexuality and ask each other why the church is STILL so obsessed with who we love? Ruth talks about her own journey in connecting her faith with her advocacy.

Plus, Katherine and Paul talk more about our plans for our #GBWildAtHome festival weekend and respond to critics who accuse Greenbelt of being an echo-chamber of lovey-dovey ideals.

Links, resources and episode timestamps (for all you skippers out there) below.

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ABOUT RUTH HUNT

Ruth Hunt is a co-founder and director of organisational change consultancy, Deeds & Words, which she runs with her partner Caroline Ellis. Prior to this she was CEO of LGBT human rights charity Stonewall, where she worked her way up through the policy and campaigning team over fourteen years. In this time the UK took huge steps towards equality for LGBT people, including equal marriage and equal adoption rights for same-sex couples. During her tenure as CEO, Stonewall also became trans inclusive. In 2019 Ruth became Baroness Hunt of Bethnal Green and continues to fight for societal change and a kinder type of politics from the cross-benches. Ruth is a practising Christian and lives in London with her partner Caroline.

Insta: ruthiehunt

Twitter: @ruth_hunt

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LINKS AND RESOURCES

Stonewall https://www.stonewall.org.uk/

Deeds & Words https://www.deedsandwords.co.uk/ 

OUT at Greenbelt https://www.greenbelt.org.uk/out-at-greenbelt/

https://www.facebook.com/OutatGreenbelt/

https://twitter.com/outatgreenbelt

Caroline Criado Perez https://www.carolinecriadoperez.com/

Stonewall’s glossary of LGBT+ terms https://www.stonewall.org.uk/help-advice/faqs-and-glossary/glossary-terms 

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TAKE ACTION

You can find a list of open UK petitions around LGBT+ issues here: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions?state=open&q=lgbt 

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00:00 - Welcome to Somewhere To Believe In

00:30 - Katherine and Paul catch up

01:39 - Katherine and Paul on the upcoming festival weekend

03:20 - Listener questions and comments

05:40 - Introducing Ruth Hunt and her work

06:06 - Ruth joins the conversation

06:20 - Ruth on lockdown

08:00 - Ruth on being a Baroness

10:08 - Ruth on Deeds & Words

12:34 - Ruth on gender and racial bias in tech

13:55 - Ruth on Stonewall

16:40 - Ruth on trans inclusion

17:50 - Ruth on making effective change

20:00 - Ruth on Greenbelt Festival and faith

21:38 - Talk Snippet from #GB15 ‘Thou Shalt Not Be Overcome: LGBT People, Our Allies, and the Christian Church’

30:39 - Ruth on The Book of Queer Prophets

33:57 - Ruth on why the church still cares about who we love

36:30 - Ruth on human compassion

37:48 - Ruth on hope for the future and Black Lives Matter

42:18 - Katherine and Paul reflect on the conversation with Ruth

51:00 - LGBT+ communities and Greenbelt Festival

54:25 - OUT at Greenbelt

1:01:51 - Thank you’s

1:02:39 - Hidden Track - Ruth’s guide to LGBT+ terminology 

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A huge thanks to the Greenbelt Volunteer Talks Team for all their hard work on editing this episode. Our podcast music is ‘I Can Change’ by Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires.

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https://www.greenbelt.org.uk/

#SomewhereToBelieveIn

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