We hope to welcome our estranged brothers and sisters back to the Church, but we must first be able to demonstrate to them that they will be welcomed and ministered to by the Church. We do encourage our members to search for parishes where they will be welcome and can participate in parish life without pretence about their identity. The Church's acceptance of homosexuals varies widely, from enthusiastic welcome to punitive and judgmental rejection. Many of us have been wrongly taught that our sexuality is sick or sinful, and we have been led to believe that we are inferior God's eyes, and in the Church. We have often been forced to hide our sexuality, pretending to be heterosexual or celibate.
Oppression is in the eyes of the oppressed.
Attitudes are changing, though it is still true that gay and lesbian people are met with open hostility or grudging tolerance in many places in the Church. For instance, the Church celebrates marital and family life among its heterosexual members, but denies the same celebrations to its lesbian and gay members. This does not encourage us to relate the Good News to the wholeness of our lives. Some Church leaders and laity actively oppose human rights for lesbian and gay people. Despite all this, Integrity is a corrective force assisting gay and lesbian Anglicans to be open, honest, practising Christians within the parish life of our Church.