Transphobes and the Quakers
Basketactortale
Shipmate
in Epiphanies
Clare Flourish is a trans blogger and appears to be closely concerned about issues in the Quakers. In a recent post she wrote
The post is worth reading to see this paragraph in context
https://clareflourish.wordpress.com/2025/06/25/sex-matters-to-quakers/
I suppose as a non-theist and an old git, this interests me because it appears to be a fight by the intolerant for the heart of an organisation.
I'm not a Quaker and not trans. But I feel the pain of those who are and see this stuff happen in front of them.
They have defined 10 June as a day for anti-trans campaigners to “fight back- with facts, courage and the law on [their] side”. They have to tell themselves, how noble they are for campaigning like this. Sometimes, as on 22 May, they find alienation in ordinary Quakerism: this Prayer for the Day by a Quaker is on Simplicity- “my outer appearance matching my inner truth”- and they worry this is “a trans-coded message”. Well, my outer appearance matches my inner truth: that is trans people’s gift to the world. But it is also at the heart of Quakerism, as the speaker explains. She does not mention trans.
The post is worth reading to see this paragraph in context
https://clareflourish.wordpress.com/2025/06/25/sex-matters-to-quakers/
I suppose as a non-theist and an old git, this interests me because it appears to be a fight by the intolerant for the heart of an organisation.
I'm not a Quaker and not trans. But I feel the pain of those who are and see this stuff happen in front of them.
Comments
Given the demographics of Quakerism I don't think it's in any danger of being destroyed. My main concern would be how much power the Quaker governance (if such a thing exists) has the power to exclude such organisations, which imo they definitely should do.
I can't assess the risks, however it can't be good when people and groups start flinging around accusations and legal threats.
Whether this has wider implications, I can't tell. However it wouldn't be a great surprise to learn that pressure was being brought on various groups to relax previously tran-supportive policies.
What are the demographics of Quakerism?
Maybe I'm not able to see some of the comments, but I only see one comment that is even remotely in support of this group, and even that is not really in the same ballpark as them (although still transphobic).
I don't see how the Quaker population shrinking has anything to do with a tiny protest group within Quakerism. Quakerism has been trans-inclusive for a long long time. There is a huge trans and gender-nonconforming Quaker community, including those who aren't necessarily members but attend meetings and events.
I should have said Quakerism in the UK to be more specific. There is a huge LGBTQ+ Quaker community and Quakers in the UK have been strongly supportive of queer rights, and were one of the first religious groups in the UK to apply to perform same-gender weddings alongside Reform Judaism. This has always included trans people and there is a large, vibrant trans and gender-nonconforming Quaker community.
The attack appears to be on central facilities and meetings. Given that there doesn't seem to be much more "there" than what is held at the centre, this could be a problem.
I could link to the official pdf showing the demographic/numbers, but I'm not sure if that's allowed
(Hosting - edited for clarity)
I mean proportionately huge within the Quakers in the UK as a whole. It's pretty obvious that I wasn't suggesting that the Quakers are a huge denomination as a whole.
Sorry but while I think it's worth being aware of issues like this, speaking as a trans person with a lot of personal experience of the Quakers in the UK....I'm a bit puzzled as to why you're so insistent on declaring this to be a genuine threat to trans Quakers when from my (I think pretty well-informed!) opinion it just is not. Suggesting worst-case scenarios that are vanishingly unlikely is not actually helpful to trans Quakers, and that is doubly so when it's a cis person doing this.
What does this have to do with anything?
These are the official numbers from 2023
In 2000 there were nearly 30,000 attendees+members. In 2022 it was at 18,700.
Between 2012 and 2022 it dropped by nearly 6000, which is more than 500 a year.
Table 2 page 5
https://www.quaker.org.uk/documents/patterns-of-membership-and-tabular-statement-yearly-meeting-2023
That's my thought too.
Most of which are probably not Quakers!