December 2, 2012 - Affirming Anniversary

In 2009, West Hill became an Affirming ministry within the United Church of Canada, publicly and vocally standing in solidarity as allies of the LGBTQ community.  On Sunday December 2, 2012, we celebrated the third anniversary of our commitment to be Affirming.  

As part of this celebration, we welcomed guest speaker Kamal Al Solaylee, author of the award-nominated Intolerable. Kamal's harrowing memoir describes his ihrab - his escape - from the increasingly fundamentalist Arab world in which he grew up. Gay and unable to share his reality with even the closest members of his family, he carried the emotional burden of his escape with him to Canada, particularly the recognition that, in making it, he left behind his mother and sisters for whom life had also become close to intolerable.