Rejection by C of E has driven LGBT people to suicide, bishop says

Apr 10, 2018 by Jill

by Harriet Sherwood, Guardian:

A senior Church of England bishop has said some LGBT people have been driven to harm or even to kill themselves as a result of “pain and rejection” caused by the church.

Paul Bayes, the bishop of Liverpool, also likened the struggle to persuade the Church of England to be truly welcoming and inclusive to LGBT people to the fight against slavery.

Speaking at the launch of the Ozanne Foundation, a Christian charity aimed at eliminating discrimination based on sexuality or gender, Bayes said the C of E was clear in its public statements opposing homophobia and that it welcomed all people.

“Yet at the same time we know that many LGBTI+ people have suffered pain and rejection from Christians, personally and institutionally, to the extent that many have left the churches or in some cases have felt compelled to self-harm or even to take their own lives. And this goes on today. We need to do better.”

The church needed to “love people as God made them”, he said. “That will have implications for our policies and stances as churches. If we are to do better, we need to change.”

There had been “other times in the history of communities of faith when people have found it difficult to accept change, and sometimes difficult to see God’s hand in it”, Bayes said.

Read here

Please see these articles which rebut the claims of Bishop Bayes and the Ozanne Foundation:

‘Conversion therapy’, suicide and the question of harm, by Dermot O’Callaghan, Core Issues Trust

Can same-sex marriage really reduce teen suicide? By Mark Regnerus, The Public Discourse

‘Gay cure’ therapies: some facts to consider (with reference to the commonly raised issue of suicide, suicidality and bullying.) by Edmund Mann, Anglican Mainstream

See also: Bishop and senior clergyman join calls for Church of England to lose equalities exemptions, by Harry Farley, Christian Today