About Us

Equal Future 2018 is an international humanitarian campaign which seeks to raise awareness around the world of the damage done to children when they are given the sense that being LGBT would be a misfortune or a disappointment.

We are a determined campaign, but not one that stoops to anger or condemnation. We are a campaign of hope and optimism and we seek to campaign with respect and dignity.

In raising awareness, Equal Future 2018 aims to shift behavior, straight away.

Launched on August 22, 2018, the Campaign has attracted support from around the world, has enabled people to take the Equal Future Pledge, and ahead of the Catholic Church’s global meeting in October 2018, give feedback directly to the Catholic Church’s bishops.  It commissioned a survey by YouGov on attitudes in the eight largest Catholic countries, and within four days of launch, got the Pope to issue the first ever positive papal teaching to parents of children who may be gay.

OUR GOALS

• To raise awareness of how damage is done to children and young people when they are given the sense that to be LGBT would be a misfortune or a disappointment
• To change behaviour as a consequence of that understanding so that, around the world, the damage stops
• To help the leadership of the Catholic Church in particular, who specifically asked for feedback on situations where young people face exclusion for social or religious reasons, to understand the damage that is done, and to play their part

The Campaign took advantage of the unique moment provided by the Catholic Church, a global organization with representation at the UN, through its Synod on Young People in October 2018, and the production of a follow-up teaching document, a ‘post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation’, by its leader Pope Francis, in April 2019.

They asked for feedback from individuals of all faiths and none to help them understand the situations of young people who experience exclusion for social or religious reasons. The Campaign has called, and continues to call on the Catholic Church to consider the damage done as a consequence of its teaching on LGBT, and to reconsider the teaching itself.

• We seek to empower people who understand the damage that is done, and how it is done, so that they can have their voices and stories heard for the benefit of children today and for the future of humanity.
• We recognize that current teaching by the Catholic Church contributes to the sense that being LGBT would be a misfortune or a disappointment. As a global institution, this impact is felt across the world by both Catholic and non-Catholic people.
• We encourage respectful responses to their request – particularly responses where people tell their own story, because we know the power of human stories to change hearts and minds and to compel those in authority.