Jae
If anyone in Britain is in the market for an ungendered, nonbinary-compatible marriage ceremony and paperwork, the Quaker marriage vows and marriage certificate do not require use of gendered terms such as “husband” and “wife”, and the latest version of the vows (2015) even allows for avoiding gendered pronouns:
Jul 6 at 9:36pmWeb
Show threadJaeJul 6
The marriage vows spoken by each spouse are the only prescribed words in the Quaker marriage ceremony. So excluding gendered terminology there means it can be avoided in the whole ceremony
Show threadJaeJul 6
Even after the introduction of same-sex marriage, most secular and Christian wedding ceremonies impose gendered terms like “husband” and “wife”, as does (I believe) the marriage certificate. It would seem the Quakers have carved out something of an exception to this
Show threadJaeJul 6
(And yes, it *is* quite impressive, isn’t it, how I can manage to be a liturgy nerd even when it comes to the least liturgical tradition in Christendom…)
Show threadHeddersJul 6
@considermycat I'm not a religious person, but if that were to change I think the Quakers would be the door I would end up knocking on. They just seem like a thoroughly *decent* creed.
Show threadRamenCatholic 🐢🌈Jul 7

@hedders I've got a stupidly strong spiritual drive & after 20+ years of trying to invent a religion, it turns out that I basically "invented" the #LiberalQuaker faith all over again 😅

So I found a congregation near me & they are very cool people.
@considermycat

Show threadjenblackerJul 8
@hedders @considermycat An awful lot of (UK) Quakers are non-theist, we don’t believe in a higher being but have similar principles as the ones that do https://www.quaker.org.uk/our-organisation/book-of-meetings/quaker-groups/nontheist-friends-network
Quakers in Britain

Find out about Quakers and how our faith translates into action.

Quakers
Show threadSephJul 7
@considermycat Quakers definitely have liturgy. What else do you call conventions like standing up to minister, or everyone shaking hands at the end?
Show threadJaeJul 7
@melivia Indeed. There’s a reason I said “least liturgical”, not “non-liturgical”
Show threadAverixusJul 7
@considermycat Isn't the marriage certificate the same regardless of how the ceremony took place? I thought the certificate was a standard legal document and the ceremony is just the dressing on top (genuine question, I don't know anything about marriage)
Show threadJaeJul 7
@Averixus Alas, yes, an official civil certificate still needs to be issued by the registering officer. So at that point, the state will indeed muscle in to impose its binary notion of gender. But it can be held at bay a lot longer than anywhere else
Show threadfraco favor (-e)Jul 7
@considermycat "I take this my friend" I'm crying this is so beautiful 🥺
Show threadStoneBear Jul 7
@considermycat Beautiful simplicity. Kinda the definition of Quaker.