Bishops in push for transgender vicars over perceptions of homophobia inside Church
Transgender people are being encouraged to become vicars in a move by bishops aimed at tackling perceptions of homophobia inside the Church of England.
A letter signed by the bishops of Lichfield diocese says lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT+) people must be welcomed and ‘honoured’ in the region’s churches.
And they say LGBT+ people should be encouraged to take on leadership roles – from wardens to vicars – despite them not currently being able to marry in church.
A conservative church group has described ordaining transgender people as ‘inappropriate’.
But, speaking to the Express & Star, both Lichfield Bishop Rev Dr Michael Ipgrave and Wolverhampton Bishop Rev Clive Gregory said the diocese needed to set clarity over the issue, while also changing a perception raised by the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby that the church could be homophobic.
The Lichfield diocese includes Church of England churches in Staffordshire, Wolverhampton, Walsall, Sandwell and Shropshire.
Rev Ipgrave, who is also part of a group exploring problems faced by the LGBT+ community in churches, said: “This is not about determining a position on the theological and ethical issues, this is about welcoming people and making sure they have a place at the table.
“That is not about political correctness, this is Christianity.”
He added: “From the group, we have heard both good and bad experiences, I’ve learned we need to make people from all backgrounds feel more welcome.”
Rev Gregory said: “I would like to think not [that LGBT+ people are not welcomed in Wolverhampton churches], but anecdotal evidence says that in some places and sometimes LGBT+ people have not been as welcomed as they should have been.
“By doing this we are making it crystal clear as leaders that anything other than welcoming and including LGBT+ people in our churches is unacceptable.”
Rev Gregory accepted people may question why people, who cannot marry inside a church, can become ministers, but said the Church of England was currently debating single-sex marriage services.
He said: “I am wanting to be as welcoming and as positive about people becoming leaders within our churches, it does not matter to me if they are heterosexual, gay or transgender.”
The statement has also been signed by Stafford Bishop Rt Revd Geoff Annas.
But Ros Clarke, assistant director of conservative Evangelical group Church Society and from Stafford, said she did not support the push for transgender vicars.
She said: ““Transgender people deserve dignity, respect, care, and unconditional welcome in our churches as human beings created by God, but transgenderism is problematic from a Christian perspective because it involves violating the biblical teaching that we should live as members of the sex that God has given to us.
“So the general requirement that ordained people should model Christian truth in the way they live their lives make it inappropriate for the church to ordain someone who is going through, or who has gone through gender transition, or who identifies as gender non-binary.
