updates from the chair

TARALOKA

There was no blog last week as I had just come back from Taraloka where I was part of the team leading a retreat to celebrate 40 years since the opening.  There were around 70 of us and a great atmosphere.  The sun shone the whole 4 days which is always a blessing and Taraloka is looking fabulous.  It was great to see some old friends and catch up with folk I hadn’t seen for years.  It’s hard to believe that over 40 years ago I was helping fundraise for a women’s retreat centre. I was living in London and one of my fundraising efforts was a sponsored hitchhike with a friend round all the UK Buddhist centres, ending in Glasgow. I can’t remember how many centres there were but not that many.

The Glasgow Buddhist Centre was still located in Heruka, the men’s community in Kelvinside Terrace South and I remember feeling quite emotional to be visiting.  One of the advantages of fundraising events is sangha building as well as making money for a project.  Those days of fundraising for Taraloka and for other projects in the 80s were periods where I made lasting friendships and forged bonds with folks who are still in my life.

Which brings me to our very own fundraising efforts and our very own project: Woodside Crescent.  

WOODSIDE CRESCENT

In the last blog a couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the Woodside Design Workshops run by Moksadhi and Sarah. We are in the middle of the process now and I was pleased that I could attend the final one of the first phase on Thursday evening 15th May. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was well run and fun as well as productive. There were 8 of us and we divided into 2 groups to look at the floor plans with wee bits of cardboard cut to scale to show how many folk could be in a shrine room or how many chairs around a table we could have in a particular space. 

Sarah was very helpful at pointing things out and, when we came back together to share our ideas, she made the excellent point that it’s important not to be too restrained by how we see the space just now.  There are lots of possibilities for change so blue sky thinking was encouraged.  That was good advice and fed into my sense of excitement.

The next step will take place on: Thursday 5th June 6.30pm to 9.00pm (doors open at 6pm) and Sunday 8th June 2pm to 4.30pm (doors open at 1.30pm). These will let us hear the feedback from the previous workshops and look at some plans.  More next blog.

SUPREME COURT RULING

On a very personal level I want to acknowledge the pain caused to the trans members of our community (and beyond) by the recent UK Supreme Court ruling which interpreted the Equality Act 2010 to mean that “sex” refers to biological sex at birth, not gender identity. It is clear to me that this ruling, while supposed to give clarity, has created more confusion over something which was already complex and sensitive. It seems most organisations, including our larger public bodies such as the National Health Service are reviewing how to respond to the law being clarified. 

The EHRC (Equalities and Human Rights Commission of the UK) have already published guidance. Due to the response both from the public and from members of the legal profession, the EHRC have opened a consultation on the topic.  If anyone would like to participate in this consultation, it can be accessed at

https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/equality/equality-act-2010/codes-practice/code-practice-services-public-functions-and-associations

I have been looking for clarity from various sources, including the LGBTQ+ member of the Equalities Minister’s staff at Holyrood. I was advised that 

While the Scottish Government accepts the judgment of the Supreme Court, the Supreme Court rightly counselled against reading this judgment as a triumph of one or more groups in our society at the expense of another. It is not. 

They also added

The Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice wrote to the EHRC on Wednesday 30 April, to ask them to confirm that they agree that no public body, service provider or other association should issue specific guidance at this point in time before the EHRC Code of Practice and guidance is finalised. 

I will continue to seek clarity so that, as a charity, we can work out the best way to work with any future statutory guidance alongside our Buddhist values of kindness and compassion and our centre’s values of inclusion and accessibility so that we continue to support our Trans and non binary sangha members.

For now, as always, may all beings be well, may all beings find true happiness and its causes and may all beings be free from suffering.