Editing Homosexuality and Quakerism (section)

====United Kingdom====
[[File:Pride London 2011 Quakers banner.jpg|thumb|Quakers supporting gay marriage at Pride London 2011]]
{{quotation|Quakers were one of the first churches to talk openly about sexuality ... We feel that the quality and depth of feeling between two people is the most important part of a loving relationship, not their gender or sexual orientation.|Quakers in Britain|FAQ<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.quaker.org.uk/Templates/Internal.asp?NodeID=89744#Homosexuality|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303234426/http://www.quaker.org.uk/Templates/Internal.asp?NodeID=89744|url-status=dead|archive-date=2016-03-03|title=Frequently Asked Questions – What do Quakers think about homosexuality?|publisher=Quakers in Britain|access-date=2008-04-16}}</ref>}}

[[Britain Yearly Meeting]] formally minuted support for [[same-sex marriage]] in 2009 and began to centrally lobby the government for the necessary legal changes.<ref name="pressrel">{{cite press release
| title = Quakers consider committed relationships
| publisher = Britain Yearly Meeting
| date = 2009-07-31
| url = http://www.quaker.org.uk/sites/default/files/Press-Release-310709-ymg-decision_0%20(1)_0.doc
| access-date = 2009-08-17
| url-status = dead
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160303234453/http://www.quaker.org.uk/sites/default/files/Press-Release-310709-ymg-decision_0%20%281%29_0.doc
| archive-date = 3 March 2016
| df = dmy-all
}}</ref> The decision was taken 22 years after being first raised at [[Meeting for Sufferings]], and 46 years after the publication of "Towards a Quaker View of Sex".<ref group="note" name="towards">{{cite web|url=http://www.worldpolicy.newschool.edu/globalrights/sexorient/1964-quaker.html |title=Selections from 'Towards a Quaker View of Sex' |access-date=2011-09-09 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110224024625/http://www.worldpolicy.newschool.edu/globalrights/sexorient/1964-quaker.html |archive-date=24 February 2011 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> Controversial in its day, the book forms one of the first Quaker statements regarding sexuality, and includes affirmation that gender or sexual orientation are unimportant in a judgement of an intimate relationship and that the true criterion is the presence of "selfless love";<ref>''Towards a Quaker View of Sex: an essay by a group of Friends''/ edited by [[Alastair Heron]]. – London: Society of Friends. London Yearly Meeting. Home Service Committee, 1963.</ref> further consideration arose from Harvey Gillman's [[Swarthmore Lecture]], in 1988.<ref>''A minority of one: a journey with Friends'' / by Harvey Gillman.  London: Society of Friends. London Yearly Meeting. Quaker Home Service, 1988. (Swarthmore lectures ; 1988) {{ISBN|0-85242-307-1}}</ref>

Before the legalisation of same-sex marriage, some Friends (both opposite-sex and same-sex) celebrated their relationships in a Meeting for Worship with a Celebration of Commitment.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Quaker marriage procedure {{!}} Quaker faith & practice |url=https://qfp.quaker.org.uk/chapter/16/ |access-date=2023-09-19 |website=qfp.quaker.org.uk |at=16.66-16.67}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=22.44 {{!}} Quaker faith & practice |url=https://qfp.quaker.org.uk/passage/22-44/ |access-date=2023-09-19 |website=qfp.quaker.org.uk}}</ref> Britain Yearly Meeting supported the [[Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013]], which legalised secular and religious same-sex marriages in [[England and Wales]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Marriage (Same Sex Couples) |url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmpublic/marriage/memo/m34.htm |website=Publications.parliament.uk |access-date=9 October 2018 |date=27 February 2013 |quote=Quakers support the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill as a way of extending Quaker marriage to Quaker same sex couples. |archive-date=9 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181009211751/https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmpublic/marriage/memo/m34.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>