LGBT: LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENDER

In 1996 John Smith and I wrote the first proposal for an Experience Week for gay men, which really stirred things up. It was discussed at great length and was eventually refused because, “Experience Weeks are inclusive, they’re for everybody. We’d end up having an Experience Week for stamp collectors!” Instead they suggested we create a new workshop for gay men.

This became the Gay Men’s Inner Journey, which first appeared in the brochure in 1997, and John and I ran it for 14 years, with fantastic success. The Cluny Family loved it and the most often heard feedback was, “When are the gay men coming back?” The focus has always been on bridging sexuality and spirituality and working on our internalised homophobia. We also developed a follow-on programme called the Gay Pioneer which began with three hours alone in the woods on the Saturday night with no torch. Fantastic programmes, I loved them so much. We also started a first Lesbian & Gay Experience Week in 2001 and as LGBT Experience Week they have been running since then.

The last gay men’s programme ran in 2010 and I feel very sad to think that so many gay men are hiding behind the internet and not making deeper connections, as they could here. I continue to offer retreats for gay men on Iona which have been beautiful, one highlight being a solo performance in Iona Abbey by one of our guests who was a ballet dancer. Wrapped only in a sheet as he danced to a dramatic aria on an incredibly stormy night,
it was so beautiful, I wish the whole world could have seen it.

Niels Paulsen, interviewed by Harula Ladd