The Church of England is engaged in a process to produce a new teaching document, called Living in Love and Faith (LLF). The strap line for this is Christian Teaching and Learning about Human Identity, Sexuality and Marriage. I really like that fact that there is a website for the LLF process, it is much more transparent and approachable than any of the previous Church of England reports have been. That is the good part.
As part of this process, there is a wider participation strand, where various organisations and bishops were asked to nominate individuals and churches for the LLF team to meet. There were a large number of churches and individuals nominated, so they have just published the criteria to choose which 20 churches and 40 individuals will take part. Unfortunately, after working on this project for over a year, I am disappointed in what has emerged. They really don’t get it.
The criteria have no bisexuals, bi erasure is one of the current hot topics in LGBTQI inclusion at the moment, bi visibility day has never been so prominent. One of the things that some of us were hoping for from the new teaching document was an in-depth theology of bisexuality and a joined-up pastoral approach.
There are no lesbians in the criteria, only the word ‘gay’. While some of us may use that word occasionally as a convenient shorthand to cover men and women, it is not appropriate in a document like this, where it comes across as another form of patriarchy. It would be more inclusive to say ‘gay or lesbian’ than ‘male / female gay’.
The criteria do not understand the reality of younger people in this country. There is no non-binary category and this is one of the identities that is growing rapidly among the younger generations of our society. In the same way, some would reject the term bisexual in favour of the identity pansexual, which gets beyond the gender binary. Why is there no mention of queer or fluid? Why are we being erased again?
The criteria take into account relationship status, but not in an equal way. Why is the word ‘married’ used for heterosexuals but not for homosexuals? Why is the word ‘celibate’ not used about single heterosexuals?
What is included in the criteria is ‘same-sex-attracted’. For those who have not come across SSA, it is based on a theology that homosexuals are ‘not God’s best’ and therefore the only way to live is to remain single and celibate. No loving relationships are allowed, only Spiritual Friendships. This is unbiblical. It is contrary to the Bible to require someone to be single for life and the Bible explains that celibacy is a gift that is only given to some. The Bible contains material showing that only those who had the gift of celibacy were to remain unmarried.
Why is there no requirement to include the experience of BAME Christians? More erasure. The intersectional experience of those who are non-white and non-heterosexual needs to be part of the learning process.
The original criteria can be found here.
The individuals selected will need to include a balance across the following characteristics:
• Male | Female heterosexual
• Married | Single heterosexual
• Male | Female gay partnered
• Male | Female same sex attracted celibate
• Transgender Woman | Man
• Asexual
• Intersex
• Age
• Socioeconomic spectrum
• Clergy | Lay (with at least one third lay).
You can see the problems immediately. There is no parity between the criteria for heterosexuals and non-heterosexuals. Life is far more complicated than simply married / single / partnered. What about those who are divorced? Or widowed? Or separated? Or single parents? Or parents of LGBTQI+ children? Or same-sex married? All erased. Most of the people affected by this document will be lay, so will most of the experts, therefore the laity should be at least 50%. One of the problems with previous reports has been excess clericalism.
So, my suggestions for more representative criteria are:
• Male or female heterosexual, cohabiting / civil partnered / married
• Male or female heterosexual, single / separated / divorced / widowed / celibate
• Bisexual, Gay or lesbian, cohabiting / civil partnered / married
• Bisexual, Gay or lesbian, single / separated / divorced / widowed / celibate
• Trans woman or man or in the process of transitioning, cohabiting / civil partnered / married
• Trans woman or man or in the process of transitioning, single / separated / divorced / widowed / celibate
• Intersex
• Non-binary / asexual / pansexual / queer / +
• Same-sex-attracted
There should also be a balance across the following criteria:
• Ethnicity,
• Age
• Socioeconomic class (if known)
• Clergy / lay (with at least 50% being lay).
The LLF website can be found here.
LGBTQ Faith UK 