United Church of Canada apologises to Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ people

This Friday, 8 August, The United Church of Canada will offer an apology for ways in which the church has hurt and harmed Two Spirit* and LGBTQIA+ communities within and beyond the United Church. 

The apology will take place in the context of a special livestreamed worship service during the denomination’s 45th General Council meeting in the western Canadian city of Calgary. The service will be held at Knox United Church, 506 4 St. SW, Calgary, Alberta, at 9 am local time (11 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time). 

● Joining online?
You can watch the service on Zoom, with interpretation in English and French. Register here.

Stay in the Zoom room after the service for a group conversation, or request individual support from the Equity Support Team via chat or equity@united-church.ca. The full bilingual worship liturgy will also be shared online.

“The call of Jesus is that we love one other,” says Rev. Aaron Miechkota, Iridesce Project Coordinator and Apology Task Group member. “The apology project was simply one opportunity for us to live this call and promise… this time in a dialogue between the Two Spirit and LGBTQIA+ community and the United Church. It is my sincere hope that the sacred call to love and know each other will continue, with the apology being a touchstone and marker along the way.”  

Today, the national church is openly “Affirming” (welcoming, inclusive of sexual and gender diversity), as are many of its local congregations.  But decisions about performing same-gender marriages are still up to each local church. Conflicts occasionally flare, drawing national attention.

“Maybe we’re not as far along as we think we are,” Miechkota told Broadview magazine in 2018. The United Church initiative invited people to share their stories from before, during and after the 1988 General Council vote that declared that sexual orientation should not be a barrier to ordered ministry. 

Canadian churchgoers are not exempt from reactionary social movements that are gaining momentum in this country and elsewhere. Those groups have influence with several provincial governments, provoking setbacks in protection for gender and sexual minorities—and new court challenges.

Some national churches in other countries have also apologized. The 222nd General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) adopted a statement of apology in 2016. “We deeply regret that, due to human failings, any person might find cause to doubt being loved by God. We affirm the God-given dignity and worth of every human being, and renew our commitment to ‘welcome one another, as Christ has welcomed [us], for the glory of God.’ [Romans 15:7]”

“For the times we have rejected or excluded you, and those you love, we are deeply sorry,” the Church of England bishops said in January 2023. “The occasions on which you have received a hostile and homophobic response in our churches are shameful, and for this we repent.”

Methodist Churches in Norway and Ireland have also issued apologies. [Editor’s note: there may be others! Please let us know by commenting.]

* Two-Spirit (2S) is a term often used by Indigenous peoples in North America to describe sexual orientation, gender identity and/or spiritual identity and describe those whose Spirit contains male and female attributes.