‘I never thought it would happen to me’ - Open Table leader on marriage joy
Gail with her wife Tina following their wedding at St John’s URC Warrington, which hosts the Open Table community Gail leads.
IN A LOCAL newspaper interview published this week, the leader of the Open Table Warrington community has shared her joy and disbelief following her wedding this month.
Gail Rose, 55, lived most of her life suppressing her sexuality as she believed she couldn't be both gay and Christian.
Surrounded by her loved ones on Friday 12th July, Gail said 'I do' to her long-term fiancé Tina at St John's United Reformed Church in Warrington, which hosts the Open Table community Gail leads.
She told the Liverpool Echo:
‘It was such an amazing day. It’s been such a whirlwind, I can’t possibly describe how the day went - it was perfect, especially because I never thought this would happen to me.’
The mum-of-one was so committed to her faith that she even went through experiences which she now understands to be conversion therapy.
After being made to feel unwelcome and excluded from her former church, Gail added:
‘I never thought in a million years I would be in a leadership role in church when people found out who I was so to be able to do this gives me a real sense of freedom. I finally realised I didn’t have to change and my problem wasn’t with church but my problem was with those people within the church who were against me as a gay woman and now I can look in the mirror and say “I don’t hate you anymore”.’
READ THE FULL STORY on the Liverpool Echo website.
Gail has previously shared her story at Open Table community events. She wrote this reflection and poem for an event called Stories Around An Open Table in March 2019.
In 2021 she told a researcher exploring the impact of Open Table communities, that:
‘Open Table means everything to me, it has truly saved me’.
