Yes, but…A response to Christina Beardsley’s letter to the Next Steps Group
by Martin Davie:
In her letter to Bishop Sarah Mullaly as Chair of the LLF Next Steps Group on 19 July 2021[1]questioning the need for a further working group on gender identity and transition, Christina Beardsley declares that the understanding of the Changing Attitude group is that:
‘…the Church of England is committed to:
- the ‘unconditional affirmation of trans people’
- the liturgical marking of gender transition
- the opposite sex marriage in church of a trans person with legal gender recognition
- and that trans and non-binary people are welcome to enter the discernment process for ordination.’
She then asks:
‘Can the Next Steps Group tell us what the missing elements are that a working group on gender identity and transition would need to consider? Are there substantive matters needing research beyond the fact that some people choose to disagree with the Church of England’s official position?’
She further adds that if the Next Steps Group:
‘…. wish to be better informed about trans people’s lives and the current scientific research in this field, I will gladly fund an evidence-based training session for the Group, delivered by GIRES (the Gender Identity Research and Education Society), which has an excellent reputation.’
In response to the first of these points I agree with Beardsley that the Church of England has committed itself to the ‘unconditional affirmation of trans people,’ that it has made provision for services to liturgically mark gender transition, that it does allow those who have legally changed their gender to marry in church according to their new legal identity, and that it is happy for trans and non-binary people to enter into the discernment process for ordination.
However, there is an elephant in the room which she does not acknowledge, which is that the Church of England has never provided a proper theological justification for its position on these matters.
Please right-click links to open in a new window.
Related Posts
Tags
Share This
