During a Lambeth Palace press conference last week, the archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, told the sad story of a close friend who failed to smuggle a reading from the Song of Songs into his civil partnership ceremony. Prevented from marrying his same-sex partner in church, the priest in question was also banned from expressing his faith in a secular context.
New recommendations on same-sex relationships, just published by the Church of England’s House of Bishops, hopefully herald an end to such cruel absurdities. After a tortured process of reflection and debate, the bishops have proposed that clergy should be allowed to bless civil unions in church should they choose to do so – as is the case in Wales. A ban on same-sex civil marriages for clergy will also be reviewed, along with celibacy requirements that have fostered corrosive suspicion at parish level. Mr Cottrell was justified last week in describing these proposals – to be discussed at next month’s General Synod – as a “real step forward” in the journey towards recognition for LGBTQ+ Christians.
