For gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Anglicans
The Revd Dr Christina (Tina) Beardsley grew up in West Yorkshire and was educated at Sussex University, where she met her husband, Rob; at St John’s College, Cambridge, where she was a research student; and at Westcott House, where she trained for ordination. She has worked for over three decades in pastoral ministry in the Church of England. In 2000, Tina co-founded the Clare Project, a transgender support group in Brighton & Hove. Tina is the author of The Transsexual Person Is My Neighbour: Pastoral Guidelines for Christian Clergy, Pastors And Congregations, published by the Gender Trust. One of two Changing Attitude Trustees for Transgender people, Tina also co-leads the Sibyls workshop on ‘gender, sexuality and spirituality’. She has a special interest in the interplay between theology and the arts, and is the author of the forthcoming biography, Unutterable Love: The Passionate Life and Preaching of F.W. Robertson.
men and women in marriage, a new report from the Church of England, which has just been published, is the work of the Church of England’s Faith and Order Commission (FAOC). The Commission was formed from two previously existing bodies: the Faith and Order Advisory Group, which dealt mainly with ecumenical relationships, and the Doctrine [...]
Accrington primary schoolteacher Lucy Meadows, who had transitioned during the Christmas holidays, was found dead at her home last Tuesday. There were no suspicious circumstances though the cause of her death is not yet known. Even so a number of people have assumed that Lucy took her own life. There is a shockingly high incidence [...]
The question arises from an intriguing item in the latest summary of decisions by the House of Bishops: http://churchofengland.org/media-centre/news/2012/12/house-of-bishops-summary-of-decisions-published.aspx Paragraph 7 says that the House considered an interim report from the working party on sexuality chaired by Sir Joseph Pilling. It continues: Pending the conclusion of the group’s work next year the House does not [...]
There was a little in joke when I was a curate. Whenever people raised objections to a sensible proposal, or change was resisted, the vicar would observe privately, quoting the Book of Daniel, ‘Ah! “The law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be changed.”’ The tension between law and grace has been a constant [...]
For the second year running the rainbow flag flew above Wadham College, Oxford, to mark its Queer Week events and celebrations. I arrived on the Friday and was able to hear Giles Fraser talking about why homosexuality had become such an issue for the Church of England in recent years. I was there to work [...]
“Well, and which way did you vote?” The lady who asked me was sitting with an elderly friend in the High Dependency Unit of the hospital where I work. It was her first remark to me as I introduced myself as a hospital chaplain, the day after the General Synod’s recent vote on women bishops. [...]
Take a look at today’s really sweet episode of Doctors shown this lunch time: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01nk1xn/Doctors_Series_14_Wide_of_the_Mark/ OK the plot was slightly contrived, and the acceptance came sooner than might have been expected but time is tight in this kind of format and the tale was well-told. Kim, a teenage schoolboy who has been brought up by [...]
The ‘they’ I’m referring to are D002 and D019, the resolutions passed at the 77th General Convention of the Episcopal Church, held in Indianapolis in July 2012. D002 added “gender identity and expression” as a protected category to the non-discrimination canon for access to the discernment process for ordination in the Episcopal Church. D019 added [...]
The ‘neutral gender bathroom’, specially designated in the Indiana Convention Centre for those attending the General Convention 2012, has been a cause of some mirth. Even TransEpiscopal delegates, pleased to see that the organisers had addressed the request for this facility for transgender people, were amused by the sequence of the words. It should, of [...]
After a week working alongside the TransEpiscopal delegation, and members of Integrity, it was sad to be leaving General Convention with the final outcome of the Trans non-discrimination resolutions, D002 and D019, still undecided. In this photograph, taken on Monday, I am in the Westin Hotel lobby with Cameron Partridge, Gari Green and Donna Cartwright, [...]
