By George Conger, Anglican Ink.
The Governing Body of the Church in Wales gathers in Llandudno on 15–16 April to vote on whether to make experimental liturgies for blessing legally‑married same‑sex couples permanent, in what is set to be the most consequential Anglican sexuality vote in Britain this year and a staging post toward a planned 2027 vote on same‑sex marriage.
The Church in Wales Governing Body will hold its ordinary meeting on Wednesday 15 and Thursday 16 April 2026 in Venue Cymru, Llandudno. According to the published agenda, a “Bill for incorporation into the Book of Common Prayer service of blessings for same‑sex relationships” is the major business on the first afternoon, occupying Session 3 and, if needed, Session 4.
The bill follows a five‑year experimental period, authorised in 2021, which allowed diocesan bishops to permit services of blessing following a civil partnership or marriage between two people of the same sex, with no cleric obliged to officiate. That provision expires in September 2026 unless renewed, prompting the Bench of Bishops to bring forward legislation now to make the rite a permanent, authorised form of worship within the Prayer Book.
In September 2021, the Governing Body passed—by a narrow margin—a canon authorising experimental use of a same‑sex blessing rite for a period of five years from 1 October 2021. The liturgy, framed as a service of blessing following a civil partnership or civil marriage, was explicitly distinguished from a marriage service, and clergy retained freedom of conscience not to use it.