THE BISHOP of Liverpool, Right Revd Paul Bayes, a Patron of the Open Table Network, has said the Church of England should recognise marriage between people of the same sex and allow such ceremonies in church.

He called for a ‘gender-neutral marriage canon’ in a controversial and hard-hitting speech yesterday, making him the most senior figure in the C of E to explicitly back a change in church law and teaching.

Speaking at a conference of MOSAIC (Movement Of Supporting Anglicans For An Inclusive Church), which advocated for inclusivity in the C of E, Bishop Paul said that some within the C of E saw discrimination on the basis of sexuality as acceptable:

But the fact is that… increasingly in the area of racial justice and disability justice, and overwhelmingly in this area of sexuality, as well of course as in the area of secrecy and abuse, the arc of the moral universe keeps on bending towards justice. Look at our football team, kneeling in the face of the boos of the sleepwalkers so as to advocate for justice. The world beyond the church has set the moral agenda, and those who kneel with our footballers, or who see no difference between attending the marriage of their gay or their straight friends or work colleagues, find the community of faith to be wanting and indeed increasingly offensive...

As I grow older and the arc of my own ministry draws close to its end, I am glad to be able to speak wholeheartedly for a vision of Christian community that commends itself to people who honour love where it is to be found, and want to celebrate it.

I want to see a gender-neutral marriage canon, such as they have in the [US] Episcopal church or in the Scottish Episcopal church. And as a necessary but not sufficient first step, I want to see conscientious freedom for the church’s ministers and local leaders to honour, recognise and, yes indeed, bless same-sex unions…

I want to see an end to LGBTQ+ people hiding who they are for fear of being exposed to conversion therapy or being forbidden to minister in churches. I want to see an end to the inquisition of ordinands about their private lives.

I want to see all this before I die.

- Bishop Paul Bayes, 'Sex On The Brain', amended 6th July 2021

READ Bishop Paul’s speech in full here.

UPDATE 06/07/2021: Bishop Paul has issued the following statement. We have updated the article in accordance with this:

Some days ago I gave a speech to the MoSAIC Conference. I stand by the substantive points in that speech, but I also made some passing remarks which I greatly regret. I've asked for the published text to be amended to remove them. Here's a statement of apology. Many thanks!

- Paul Bayes (@paulbayes on Twitter) July 6, 2021