Hospital prayer room for gravely ill children plastered with LGBT flags

[IwantToRetire]

A hospital prayer room for gravely ill children and their families has been plastered with LGBT flags amid claims that the NHS is being hijacked by transgender ideology.

As part of a new inclusivity drive, a “sanctuary” at Edinburgh’s “Sick Kids” hospital, designed as a quiet space for those suffering trauma and grief, was taken over by symbols representing dozens of sexualities and genders.

The “spiritual care” facility previously described as offering room for “quiet reflection, prayer or meditation” was also rebranded a “chill-out zone” for Pride month, with rainbow-coloured signage directing patients and relatives to it.

The move has outraged some staff and family members of poorly children, with one clinician claiming a leading children’s hospital had been turned into a “social issues battlefield”.

Meanwhile, the family of a terminally ill toddler said they were no longer able to use the room to find comfort in their faith as it had become a “display of activism” which contradicted the teachings of mainstream religions.

The chaplaincy service at the hospital, one of the UK’s leading centres for paediatric care, is run by Maxwell Reay, a transgender man and activist who belongs to a fringe Christian congregation in Edinburgh.

Mr Reay, who has described being trans as a “gift from God”, is facing claims that he has breached rules which state hospital chaplains should not seek to impose their own beliefs when offering spiritual care.

Extracts from a Telegraph article reprinted in full by yahoo news https://uk.style.yahoo.com/hospital-prayer-room-gravely-ill-165852417.html

Scotland sure looks like it is trying to out pride everyone else!

Ugh, that is so inappropriate.

Maxwell Reay is a poor choice of Hospital Chaplain.

Agree with the above comments

The whole article is almost like a spoof, how could any honest decent human being do this.

How come a hospital appointed someone from a fringe church, let alone someone who thinks trans is a gift from god.

And of all places to allow a fringe element of a fringe to impose their personal belief set on sick children and their families.

It's like all sense of proportion has been totally lost.

That chaplain should be dismissed right away. People using the chapel don't want to be surrounded by trashy flags in fairground colours proclaiming the new religion when their child is suffering and maybe close to death. They want the serene and the solemn, they want dignity in their surroundings. They want respect for their grief, for their child. How can lgbt symbols be allowed to intrude like this on worry and fear of the most devstating event that can happen to parents?

They should draw a flood, an ark and a dove on each rainbow. Nowhere is safe from the relentless politics.

I am now an atheist but I consider viewing transness as 'a gift from God' to be depraved.
Has this individual even considered how many a grieving religious family would feel about having to use this room? Surely it is supposed to be a neutral multi-cultural prayer space in a public hospital?

Scottish and Catholic here 🙋🏻‍♀️
I cannot understand the thinking in putting Mr Reay in such a role (apologies if I've spelled the surname wrong). Quite rightly he is being called out on pushing his own ideology on others, it's meant to be a place of peace, serenity and comfort for all.
I do love the idea of adding a dove to the rainbows but obviously that wouldn't really be any better 😄 Would be fun though?

Political trans ideology has no place in a chapel for quiet reflection. The room should be neutral and peaceful.

I've often read comments where people say they felt sick aftercreading something. I'd never understood that till now. I felt sick to my stomach after reading that article.

Some families were quoted in it, families who had dying toddlers, and that was meant to be a space they could use in peace. Instead, they walked into a room full of fuck-ugly propaganda. Just appalling.

Reay is the chief chaplain of the hospital, apparently, so Reay clearly feels Reay can do as they wish. Reay needs to go now.

What a massive error of judgement.

That is disgusting.

That's terrible. I know my local hospice took a lot of care in its decoration of the prayer / quiet room. They have stained glass but kept away from any religious symbolism, I think they went for a sunny sky with clouds.

There is a very discreet arrow pointing to mecca and that's all.

TRAs just don't care about anything but themselves do they?

That is monstrous.

Does Mr Reay turn up to spit on childrens graves at their funerals too?

Just in case their families didn't get the message how much he doesn't give a fuck?

It’s the same within schools here. In DD’s first year of high school not a single girl in her year identified as straight. They were A-sexual (not sure what sexual feelings kids of 11/12 expect to have anyway!), lesbians, pansexual, trans-animal, but none were straight. The fad is dying out among her year group now they’re in 3rd year but it’s heavily prevail at among S1 and 2s still. The school is covered in pride stuff year round, they are encouraged to explore their gender and sexuality (but they’re not encouraged to explore their biological sex).

The result has been quite a few teenage girls having to reverse come out when they finally realise they actually do like the opposite sex rather a lot. One girl has unfortunately found herself very alone by continuing to claim she’s a furry, no one else wants a thing to do with her because they all know they can’t identify as animals now.

A hospital chaplaincy should seek to accommodate as wide a range of people as possible. It's not a space to challenge or to provoke, unless that's what the patient is seeking. It's not a place to campaign.

That said, while I don't share this chaplain's construction of transness, I would absolutely expect and accept that a Christian from any mainstream denomination would see their nature as a gift from God, as they'd see their being as a gift from God. So to see one's sex, sexuality etc as a gift from God would be common enough. The problem here isn't this chaplain seeing his own identity as a gift from God. That's his perspective. The problem is that he is making the chaplaincy all about him.

Playing Devil's Advocate here, but 1) the Telegraph isn't exactly well known for liberal reporting and 2) there is as much hyperbolic offence taken on both sides of activism, whether that's gender politics or climate change.

The small string of flags pictured in the full article really weren't that offensive. The flags in the window did seem quite in-your-face. That said, I don't think a prayer room is a place for politics, but as I am not a fan of religion in general, if I were in a hospice, I'd rather not be surrounded by religious iconography in a room set aside for quiet contemplation.

I have a lot of sympathy with @ButImNotOldEnough and I'm waiting for my DD to come out as straight.

WTAF? That photo gives me the creeps.

Appalling, crass and insensitive.

“Dying children? Pffff, how can I make this ALL ABOUT ME?”

Looks like that T is working its magic, this is the kind of behaviour we’re used to seeing from TW rather than a TM.

@JeandeServiette "They should draw a flood, an ark and a dove on each rainbow. Nowhere is safe from the relentless politics."
Yeah-that'd help.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-11390103/amp/12-year-old-BOYS-asked-PREGNANT-bizarre-NHS-poster-says.html

Scottish hospital here too! I would be furious of my boy was asked if her was pregnant😬

DS was born very prematurely and spent weeks in NICU. I sometimes used to go along to the prayer room in the hospital to sit quietly away from all the beeping machines etc and the peace of a place like that in the middle of a busy hospital was a real gift. It wasn’t set up for any one religion and had a book of prayer so you could write down the name of the person you wanted to be prayed for. It would have been like a bucket of cold water being tipped on me to walk in and find it decorated like that.

If one of those dying children was gay wouldn't it show peace and acceptance that if the parents are religious their child will be welcomed on their future journey?

You mean like the terminally ill toddler? We are talking about CHILDREN.

Could they be ripped down, maybe action is needed not words..........