Gay clergy to go against Church’s rules on same-sex marriage
By Will Stroude
Many gay ministers are going write to the church leaders saying that they are already in same-sex marriage and want official positions reconsidered.
Around a dozen ministers for the Church of England are going to sign a letter which asks for the court to allow clergy to carry out blessings for parishioners entering same-sex marriages.
As well as this a group of Church of England clergy have defied the official line by church leader on same-sex marriage by getting married which they are going to reveal.
This will most likely start the already heated debate on the issue which has split the church much like it did when same-sex marriage was legalised in England and Wales in 2014.
When the laws were changed, Church leaders said that that clergy in same-sex marriages would not be ordained. Andrew Foreshow-Cain, who was one of the first to defy the ruling, wasn’t removed as vicar.
Foreshow-Cain spoke to the Guardian and said: “Our marriages are legal, celebrated and widely accepted in society, yet the Church of England behaves as if they are somehow dirty and imposes penalties on clergy and refuses to acknowledge the marriages of those who wish to make lifelong faithful commitments.
“This has to stop and the element of fear and hypocrisy around our marriages has to end.”