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Good morning. Last Friday a photograph appeared online of two women with facial injuries. Melania and Chris had been on a date together in London and on their night bus ride home they were ridiculed, verbally abused and then physically attacked and beaten when they refused to kiss. Then over the weekend it was reported that two female actors starring in an award-winning LGBT play in Southampton were pelted with stones after kissing in the street. What is also shocking is that the ridicule in some cases has continued online. Sadly the bigotry is plain to see. Last year there were more than 2,300 reported homophobic hate crimes across London – with the figure rising steadily since 2014. It should be a wake-up call for certain sections of my faith community, and other communities too. I’ve had many conversations with people who consider themselves to be gay and Muslim, who’ve grappled with their sexuality while wanting to keep a closeness to God. Who pray regularly but can’t find a space for themselves in the community they otherwise feel so part of. Often conversations inside families make people feel that these important parts of their identity have to somehow remain mutually exclusive or that it shouldn’t even be discussed. Megaphones and protests outside schools, angry rants online, sermons preaching intolerance in our places of worship will not lead to constructive engagement. How can any of our faith communities really claim to be loving our neighbour when this approach is all too common on this subject? And yet I also think we have to acknowledge the presence of conflicting moral values in society and not be too quick to dismiss religious communities, or feel that somehow these matters can’t be reconciled. I love the rainbow symbol that has become so synonymous with Pride. It reminds me that none of this is black and white. Islam has a centuries-old tradition of interpreting its texts and advancing the cause of knowledge. A rigid interpretation of scripture can be a barrier to growth and understanding in the 21st century. The Qur’an reminds us that we are made from different nations and tribes in order to get to know one another. I really believe that this advocates a welcoming approach, an ethos of inclusion and an open way of relating to others who may be different to us. To me it says that despite our differences, we have equal dignity. As the parental lesson goes: we have two ears and one mouth. So we need to listen twice as much as we speak. We need to ask ourselves: can we really listen as intently as we would want people to listen to us?