The House of Bishops has agreed – in principle – to LLF’s Next Steps Group initiating further work on gender identity and transition. Changing Attitude England has already questioned this proposal as it risks problematising trans people who have been subject to prolonged and unwarranted attacks in the media for some time. Here, in a letter to the Bishop of London sent to all members of the Next Steps group, Tina Beardsley outlines her understanding of the Church of England’s current position on gender variant people, developed over the last two decades. We invite the LLF’s Next Steps Group to confirm that these are the Church of England’s current policies and practices and, if so, to publicly affirm them. We also ask the Group what the missing elements might be that would necessitate such a working group, given the Church of England’s generally affirming line on trans people, and that LLF has already published on gender identity and transition. If the Next Steps Group requires further training in this area, we are offering to fund it.
Changing Attitude England
6 Norney Bridge Mill Road Worton Devizes SN10 5SF
+44 1380 724908 +44 7770 844302 caengland@gmail.com
The Rt Revd and Rt Hon Sarah Mullally
The Old Deanery
Dean’s Court
London, EC4V 5AA
19th July 2021
Dear Bishop Sarah,
Proposed LLF working party on gender identity and transition
I understand, from the recent minutes of the May meeting of the House of Bishops that the House ‘agreed in principle to the formation of a working group on gender identity and transition under the auspices of the LLF Next Steps Group, details of which will be announced in due course.’
As I explained in my letter of May 21st 2021 my own view is that to convene such a working party suggests that trans people are a problem for the Church of England or that there is some uncertainty about their status as members of the Body of Christ.
Given the Church of England’s policy and practice in relation to trans people, I see no such problem or uncertainty. Here is my understanding of the current position of the Church of England regarding trans people:
Ordinands
In 2002 the House of Bishops considered the situation of those who had already transitioned and who wished to enter the discernment process for ordination. The House’s deliberations were made public when guidance on transgender candidates was added to the Diocesan Director of Ordinands’ (DDO) Handbook. The current guidance reads:
1.14 Sponsorship of Transgender Candidates
Transgender candidates are welcome to be considered for selection for ordained ministry in the Church of England. Any Bishop intending to sponsor a transgender person for a BAP will certify that they have decided that they would be prepared to ordain and offer a title to that person if during the course of training and formation they were deemed to have a vocation to ordained ministry.
It is important that the DDO handles such situations sensitively and with integrity and that both the candidate and the BAP Advisers know the mind of the Diocesan Bishop in a given situation. Any decision regarding candidates needs to bear in mind the public nature of the ordained ministry, an understanding of the human condition and the gospel imperative of holiness and integrity of life for all believers.
In 2021 the Church of England website states:
There are no restrictions to ordination based on gender. Female, male, non-binary, and transgender candidates are equally welcomed.
Transgender clergy
Transgender clergy have successfully engaged in public ministry in the Church of England of England for over two decades.
Marriage
The minutes of the House of Bishops, held in January 2003 (HB-03M1) during the consultation on the Gender Recognition Bill, state that:
The House of Bishops recognised that there was a range of views within the Church on transsexualism’ and accepted that (as matters stood at present) both the positions set out below could properly be held:
(a) some Christians concluded on the basis of Scripture and Christian anthropology, that concepts such as ‘gender reassignment’ or ‘sex change’ were really a fiction. Hormone treatment or surgery might change physical appearance, but they could not change the God-given reality of ‘male and female He created them’.
(b) others, by contrast, whilst recognising that medical opinion was not unanimous, were persuaded that there were individuals whose conviction that they were ‘trapped in the wrong body’ was so profound and persistent that medical intervention, which might include psychiatric, hormone, and surgical elements, was legitimate and that the result could properly be termed a change of gender.
The House did not object directly to the Bill, which would enable a recipient of gender recognition to marry someone of the opposite sex to their ‘acquired gender’ – to use the terminology adopted by the Gender Recognition Act (GRA) 2004 – in Church of England parish churches. Instead, at its January 2003 meeting, it sought legal protection for those holding theological position (a):
The House agreed [to] ... engage in discussions with the Lord Chancellor’s Department with a view to ... securing an exemption for clergy not willing to solemnise such marriages.
At the end of the legislative process the Church of England’s position was summarised thus:
The Church of England has successfully sought provision to protect the personal consciences of clergy opposed to solemnising such marriages, but it has also sought to balance the personal rights of individual members of the clergy with the rights of transsexual parishioners to use their parish church.
This remains the current position: a trans person with gender recognition may marry someone of the opposite sex in their Church of England parish church. Clergy who conscientiously object to such a marriage, are exempt from conducting the ceremony.
Welcoming and affirming transgender people
In July 2017, the Church of England’s General Synod debated the Blackburn Motion:
That this Synod, recognising the need for transgender people to be welcomed and affirmed in their parish church, call on the House of Bishops to consider whether some nationally commended liturgical materials might be prepared to mark a person's gender transition.
The Blackburn Motion passed with a significant majority in all three Houses: Bishops: 30 for, 2 against, 2 abstentions; Clergy: 127 for, 28 against, 16 abstentions; Laity: 127 for, 48 against, 8 abstentions.
After due consideration, in December 2018, the House of Bishops issued its Pastoral Guidance for use in conjunction with the Affirmation of Baptismal Faith in the context of gender transition which states unequivocally in its opening paragraph:
The Church of England welcomes and encourages the unconditional affirmation of trans people, equally with all people, within the body of Christ, and rejoices in the diversity of that body into which all Christians have been baptized by one Spirit.
Although there were objections to it, the Bishops’ Pastoral Guidance remains the current position, along with the liturgical provision it envisages for trans parishioners, the status of this guidance being permissive rather than mandatory.
At Changing Attitude, England we are committed to equality in the Church for trans people, along with LGBQI+ people. Based on the above summary of decisions by the House of Bishops and the General Synod, we understand 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
Can the Next Steps Group please confirm that this is the Church of England’s current position on gender variant people and, if so, that it is willing to publicly affirm this to be the case. 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?
Should 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.
With best wishes,
Christina Beardsley