The lives of LGBTQ+ people are at stake, the broadcaster and author Sandi Toksvig has said, after the archbishop of Canterbury affirmed the validity of a 1998 resolution that gay sex is a sin.
In a letter to more than 650 bishops attending the once-a-decade Lambeth conference on Tuesday, Justin Welby, who is also leader of the Anglican church, said the resolution, known as Lambeth 1.10, was “not in doubt”.
“It was a sin in 1998 and you just wanted to make clear in 2022 that no one in your finely frocked gang has moved on from that,” wrote Toksvig in her letter published on Twitter on Wednesday evening. “Seriously, with the state the world is in, that is what you wanted to focus on?”
Responding to the latest knot the Church of England has tied itself into, Toksvig laid bare the facts, including that suicide is contemplated by young LGBTQ+ people at higher rates than their non-LGBTQ+ peers. She said she had faced death threats herself, and questioned the Church of England’s interpretation of Jesus’s views on homosexuality.
“The lives of LGBTQ+ people are at stake here,” Toksvig wrote. “Jesus doesn’t mention sexuality at all. It clearly wasn’t a big deal for him.”
FAO The Archbishop of Canterbury pic.twitter.com/UYyVWUsdyB
— Sandi Toksvig (@sanditoksvig) August 3, 2022
The host of the TV panel show QI and former Great British Bake Off presenter, who refers to herself as a humanist, added: “I have had several credible death threats over the years, sometimes requiring the very kind assistance of the police hate crime squad.
“Each and every one of those threats has come from an evangelical Christian. Inevitably they have wanted to kill me on God’s behalf.”
Toksvig is not alone in criticising the church’s stance. Other campaigners for LGBTQ+ equality were similarly angered by Welby’s decision to uphold a declaration that says “homosexual practice” is “incompatible with scripture” and says same-sex unions should not be legitimised or blessed.
“Priority has been given to saving a manmade institution over protecting LGBTQ+ people’s lives,” said Jayne Ozanne, a leading gay activist in the Church of England. “It is a stick with which many of us have been beaten and will continue to suffer around the world.”
Ninety bishops, including eight archbishops, said LGBTQ+ people had “historically been wounded” by the church, and said they “look forward to the day when we all may feel truly welcomed, valued and affirmed”.
While Welby indicated he would not seek the authority to discipline priests that conducted or blessed same-sex marriages, the remarks stand in stark contrast with social attitudes of Anglican churches such as those in Scotland, Wales, the US, Canada and Brazil.
On Saturday, Toksvig, said she planned to visit her local church with her wife of 16 years. While she had been “too hurt over the years to have any faith left”, she would be hosting a concert to raise money for Ukrainian refugees, but afterwards would never set foot inside an Anglican building again, she wrote.
“Call me, Justin. Let’s have coffee,” Toksvig ends her letter. “Let me talk you round. You never know, I might even forgive you.”
On Thursday evening, Welby thanked Toksvig for her letter said he would “love” to sit down for coffee and “talk about it”.
“The hatred and threats that you – and so many other LGBTQI+ people – have experienced in the name of Jesus Christ are a sin,” Welby wrote in a letter shared on Twitter. “I have absolutely no doubt about that and want you to be in no doubt of my position.”
