ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the British context, exploring how being LGBTQI affects Buddhists' practices, the implications of practising Buddhist traditions for LGBTQI people, the place of LGBTQI Buddhist practitioners within their Buddhist communities, and of LGBTQI Buddhists within wider LGBTQI communities. It considers briefly the attitudes of key figures in the four Buddhist traditions with which participants were affiliated, and the participants' views and explores their strategies of engagement within this context. Corless argues that, 'The concern of Buddhism in sexual matters is with the danger of sexual desire in general, with subsidiary attention being paid to the gender or orientation of the sexual partners'. Harvey notes that while Buddhists have seldom, persecuted those who have been found engaging in same-sex sexual activity, some commentators within various Buddhist traditions have made negative remarks about homosexual practices. A variety of UK Buddhist groups were contacted directly or through the UK umbrella body for Buddhist groups, the Network of Buddhist Organisations.
