In a letter to the Next Steps Group, Changing Attitude England proposes that as soon as possible, in order to allow a truly radically inclusive discussion of the LLF process, its outcome and its next steps, six members of the LGBTQIA+ community should be appointed to the House of Bishops and to the Next Steps Group. This follows the process already begun to appoint six ‘observer participants’ from the UKME communities development arising from the report From Lament to Action until such a time as there are six UKME members of the House of Bishops. Changing Attitude England believes that in the radical inclusion the Archbishops have called for, sexuality should be treated in exactly the same way as race and gender.

Radical New Christian Inclusion

The LLF process began with a defeat on the House of Bishops take note debate in February 2017. At the next Synod the Archbishops committed the Church to seek a radical new Christian inclusion. Yet not only is there just a single reference to LGBTIQ+ people in the recently published LLF Guide for Members of General Synod (GS Misc 1306), there is no reference at all to a radical new Christian inclusion. It was the commitment to this by the Archbishops that gave us hope for the future. CA England is still waiting for someone to set out in greater detail the hierarchy’s and LLF’s understanding of a radical new Christian inclusion.

The outcome of the LLF process has become in GS Misc 1306 a generalised expectation that “Everyone can see that they have been listened to, heard, loved, and taken seriously” with the ambition that “a deeper understanding and love will enable us to face new questions in a better way.” This is in dramatic contrast to the new teaching document proposed by the Archbishops in 2017 which, we were assured, would “Affirm the place of lesbian and gay people in the life of the Church, making their voices heard both within the document and in the life of the Church.”

Trans representations ignored

To make matters worse, according to GS Misc 1306, the Next Steps Group has ignored the representations of Tina Beardsley, Alex Clare-Young, and Changing Attitude England and has decided to produce “an annotated bibliography relating to gender identity and transition that will gather and summarise resources to help the Church.” Changing Attitude England is opposed to this proposal given that the Church of England already has a clear policy, generally acceptable to trans people.

LLF process abuses LGBTIQ+ people

The absence of a positive commitment to the future of LGBTIQ+ people within a radical new Christian inclusion in the Church of England in GS Misc 1306 and the proposed annotated bibliography related to gender identity and transition reinforces what we are now recognising as the abusive dimension of the Living in Love and Faith process experienced by LGBTIQ+ people, linking what is happening in LLF to the failings identified in the IICSA hearings.

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Letter to the Living in Love and Faith Next Steps Group

11 November 2021

Dear Bishop Sarah and members of the Next Steps Group,

The Living in Love and Faith process seems to be losing its way. The expectations of LGBTIQ+ people seem to have been written out of the process. In GS Misc 1306, the Guide for Members of General Synod, there is only one reference to LGBTIQ+ people. This is found in the concluding section in the context of making hopeful aspirations a reality, encouraging the Church to “Listen to the lament and fear and pain of people, especially, LGBTQI+ people.”

We are reminded that the LLF process began with a defeat on the House of Bishops take note debate in February 2017. At the next Synod the Archbishops committed the Church to seek a radical new Christian inclusion. Yet not only is there just this single reference to LGBTIQ+ people in GS Misc 1306, there is no reference at all to a radical new Christian inclusion. It was the commitment to this by the Archbishops that gave us hope for the future. In her letter of 13 September 2021 Bishop Sarah, replying, we assume, on behalf of all of you, thanked us for clarifying again Changing Attitude’s understanding of what radical Christian inclusion means. We are still waiting for someone to set out in greater detail what the hierarchy’s and LLF’s understanding of a radical new Christian inclusion is.

Not only is the radically inclusive vision absent from GS Misc 1306 but the outcome of the LLF process has become the generalised expectation that “Everyone can see that they have been listened to, heard, loved, and taken seriously” with the ambition that “a deeper understanding and love will enable us to face new questions in a better way.” We approve of both these ambitions, but they are not what the process initiated in 1991 suggested would be the outcome. That process was begin by Issues in Human Sexuality and continued in the Pilling Report in 2013, the Shared Conversations, and eventually the Bishops’ Reflection Group on Sexuality in 2016 which wanted to establish “across the Church of England a fresh tone and culture of welcome and support for lesbian and gay people” backed up by “a substantial new Teaching Document on marriage and relationships replacing (or expanding upon) the House’s teaching document of 1999 on marriage and the 1991 document Issues” together with “guidance for clergy about appropriate pastoral provision for same sex couples” and “new guidance from the House about the nature of questions put to ordinands and clergy about their lifestyle.” The proposed new teaching document, we were assured, would “Affirm the place of lesbian and gay people in the life of the Church, making their voices heard both within the document and in the life of the Church.”

The bishops’ proposed teaching document was rejected in the take note debate in February 2017 and replaced by something more substantial. Yet whoever was responsible for writing GS Misc 1306 has rejected the goal of affirming the place of lesbian and gay people in the life of the Church.

In his recently published book about John Smyth and the Iwerne Camps, Bleeding for Jesus, Andrew Graystone has shown that many bishops and senior leaders still active in the church are implicated in safeguarding failures, as they have repeatedly protected abusers and the reputations of individuals and the church and failed to respond to, let alone protect, the victims of abuse. It has become more and more clear that abuse is central to the experience of LGBTIQ+ people in the Church of England today. The Ozanne Foundation is running a powerful campaign against the continuing practice of conversion or reparative therapy.

When we first wrote to each member of the Next Steps Group we received replies from all but one of you. A number of you made positive comments about the place of LGBTIQ+ people in the Church. More recently replies have come from the Bishop of London alone as chair of the group. We regret that a conversation between us and other members of the NSG seems to have been closed down.

We would like to remind you once again of the dictum “no conversation about us without us.” It now appears from GS Misc 1306 that the conversation is no longer even about us.

In our letter of 13 September 2021 we observed that there are no open lesbian, bisexual, transgender, intersex or queer members of the College of Bishops and with one exception, no LGBTIQ+ members of the Next Steps Group. We welcome the development arising from the report From Lament to Action, that this week the process has begun to appoint six ‘observer participants’ from the UKME communities until such a time as there are six UKME members of the House of Bishops. This follows a similar precedent set when women were not yet able to be members of the House. In the tenor of the radical inclusion that the Archbishops have called for and which has led to the LLF process, sexuality should be treated in exactly the same way as race and gender. Changing Attitude England proposes that as soon as possible, and in order to allow a truly radically inclusive discussion of the LLF process, its outcome and its next steps, six members of the LGBTQIA+ community should be appointed to the House of Bishops and to the Next Steps Group.

With prayer and good wishes,

Changing Attitude England Steering Group
Tina Beardsley
Colin Coward MBE
Helen King
Godwyns Onwuchekwa
Ann Reddecliffe
Peter Spychal
Robert Thompson