The Rainbow Sash Movement is an organisation of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Catholics, with their families and friends, who are publicly calling the Catholic Church to a "conversion of heart around issues of human sexuality".[1]
History in Australia
The Movement was established in 1998 in
Melbourne, Australia in response to the refusal of London's Cardinal
Basil Hume, and Melbourne's Archbishop
George Pell and New York's Cardinal
John O'Connor, to provide communion to two openly gay Catholic men, one a priest, in 1997.[2]
The movement acted again on Pentecost Sunday in 2002.[4][5]
History in the United States
The Rainbow Sash Movement was taken up in US in 2000, with Melbourne-based Michael B. Kelly as the group's international spokesperson. The movement is largely based out of
Chicago, Illinois.
English Catholics have also taken part in the movement since the late 1997.[8] The movement was ongoing as of 2010.[16]
Activity
The Rainbow Sash itself is a strip of a rainbow-colored fabric which is worn over the left shoulder and is put on at the beginning of the
Liturgy. The members go up to receive
Eucharist.[16] If denied, they go back to pews and remain standing, but if the Eucharist is received then they go back to the pew and kneel in the traditional way.[17]
Pentecost Sunday was chosen because the day is "a celebration of God's gifts", including the gift of
sexuality.[2][8] The sash is meant to serve as an act of celebration rather than an act of protest.[2][8]