Counselling service launched for reconciling sexuality, identity and faith issues

Thursday, 7 October 2021

Rhys Walker, from Faith Space Restory, with Christian LGBTQ+ supporter Lynda Whitwell. Faith Space has been given $12,000 funding to help people with identity and faith issues.

A charity in Manawatū is launching a counselling service for spiritual queer people and their supporters at loggerheads over identity and beliefs.

Faith Space Restory advocates say the service, the first of its kind, will also be for church leaders who may be anxious about the potential banning of gay and gender conversion therapy.

Rhys Walker, a survivor of conversion therapy is running Faith Space. He said he wanted to play a role that was more than just supportive.

“It says to queer people who are conflicted over their sexuality and faith, hey, let's process this, so we can talk to church leaders.”

Rhys Walker was kicked out of his church for coming out as gay, and has now joined with church elder, Andy Hickman, an Anglican pastor and an advocate of accepting LGBT+ people for who they are. (First published September 11, 2021)

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The Palmerston North group was awarded $12,000 from the Rainbow Wellbeing Legacy Fund.

Walker said the money would be split into three projects. One would support the in-person group meetings, while another was to employ young queer people to share their experiences and develop resources to work with church leaders who may be uneasy about banning conversion therapy.

Walker with Faith Space Restory supporter Lynda Whitwell, who expects some friends and family to be upset she is helping the rainbow community.

The third project would be a counselling service not just for queer people who wanted to navigate their faith and sexuality, but also for heterosexual supporters who were struggling with their own beliefs and backlash from their peers.

One woman bracing herself for backlash is Lynda Whitwell, 69, who is heterosexual but “coming out” as a christian who supports the rainbow community.

Whitwell’s life was dedicated to her faith, including more than a decade of international missionary work. She wasn’t always a supporter of queer people, and recalled being a young child and her favourite uncle being gay.

“I wasn’t supposed to know, but we all knew… I’d be thinking, why aren’t they [gay people] accepted?

“He went from church to church trying to find a place that would accept him. He needed a service like this one.”

Joining Faith Space Restory was her first foray into allyship.

“I've got family and friends who will be horrified that I’m involved in this… but my reading of the Bible shows me He [God] has a special soft spot for the marginalised.”

The group was one of 48 groups that applied for the Rainbow Wellbeing fund. Only 12 were successful.

Money for the fund came from the Government, provided in the memory of people who were imprisoned for their homosexuality, and was being managed by the Rule Foundation.

Foundation chairman Duncan Matthews said this was the first of four years of funding, which targeted projects with a focus on queer people’s mental health and wellbeing. There was a pool of $200,000 for each year.

“What made these groups stand out is they have rainbow leadership, leading their own initiatives,” he said.

He said Faith Space Restory would help a section of the rainbow community who often went forgotten.

“We were stoked to even be considered,” said Walker. “To be honest I thought we had a snowball’s chance in hell.”