The Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion Report | Justice & Equity
“If one really wishes to know how justice is administered in a country, one does not question the policeman, the lawyers, the judges, or the protected members of the middle class. One goes to the unprotected - those, precisely, who need the law’s protection the most! - and listens to their testimony..”
— James Baldwin
Today, we continue reflecting on QCF’s Organizational Assessment and Diagnostic (OAD) report assessing our own Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) efforts. The first section of the report focused on Inclusion and Belonging. The second section of the report focuses on Justice and Equity (read a summary of what we found below!)
The landscape in the US on EDI efforts have dramatically changed since we began this self assessment three years ago. Since then, the value and merits of EDI have been severely challenged, as have the rights of most marginalized identities in the country. Yet QCF’s focus on justice and equity within our community and in the wider world remains paramount to our values, identity and actions. We must listen to the testimonies of the most marginalized among us in order to assess the ways forward. We have moved beyond seeking diversity for our community alone, where the room looks different but perhaps nothing else has changed about the way we gather and the way we fellowship with one another, and we may not have grappled with the fact that each of us have very different needs, gifts and experiences.
Indeed, our programming initiatives, internal practices, and events must reflect our commitment to QCF’s vision of prophetically modeling a world “where all LGBTQ+ people are fully loved by family, church, and community, and Christians worldwide live up to their calling to be instruments of grace and defenders of the outcasts.”
In light of that vision, what is a practical way that QCF could further cultivate justice and equity for the most marginalized among us? Click the link below to let us know your thoughts.
OAD Report Executive Summary Excerpt | Justice & Equity
In the second thematic area, “Justice & Equity,” interview participants defined justice with various examples and definitions. Emergent themes included fairness and equal opportunity, communal care and a connection to Christian values, and restorative/corrective action or punishment (which are two separate but sometimes interrelated concepts). The majority of participants responded that they believe that everyone needs justice, or that they believe that the marginalized and oppressed need justice. Participants also expressed ways in which QCF has been working to enact justice and equity, and ways that QCF can further enact justice and equity.
We on the board and staff realize that pursuing justice and equity is not always easy, but it is worthwhile. In that spirit, we seek to hold events, host programming, and offer resources in ways that prioritize considerations of intersectionality and that value reconciliation and liberation of the marginalized. Our centered values contain a myriad of equitable outcomes that we strive toward, reminding us that justice is something that QCF is striving to achieve (note the active progressive tense), and will be actualized only when reconciliation, anti-racist outcomes, and the creation of equity are brought about in our community and flowing beyond.
