On Monday (23
May) at the 2022 General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, same-sex marriage
within the church was approved by 274 votes to 136.
While no
person would be required to be involved in marrying a same-sex couple if they
don’t want to, the church law has now been changed to enable church ministers
and deacons to authorised celebrants to conduct same-sex weddings.
Reverend Craig
Dobney told the Evening
Standard: “I’ve seen the heartbreak of those in same-sex relationships
in our congregations who are unable to marry in their home church, devout
Christians though they are.
“To be
married, in front of their church families, would mean everything to them but
they were not able to do so.”
Same-sex
marriage in Scotland has been legal since December 2014, as it has in the
rest of Great Britain, however weddings by the Church of Scotland have not been
allowed until now.
Politicians,
church leaders, and the LGBTQ+ community in Scotland praised the church for
this step, with Ruth Davidson, former leader of the Scottish Conservative Party
and an openly gay woman, saying she was “delighted” by the decision.
“Delighted to
see that the general assembly of the Church of Scotland has voted for ministers
to be able to conduct same sex weddings,” she said.
Former
Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale, added that the decision was “tremendous
news and progress.”
While the
Church in Wales does not allow same-sex marriage, it voted in September 2021 to
allow “blessings”
of same-sex unions. The Church of England, however, is lagging behind in
Great Britain with no recognition of same-sex couples, despite a majority
of English Anglicans now backing same-sex marriage.
Within the
Church of England, LGBTQ+ clergy members are allowed to be in relationships,
but must remain celibate.
Jayne Ozanne,
a gay evangelical within the Church of England and director of the Ozanne Foundation, said: “These results
show that an overwhelming majority of those who identify as Anglican in England
believe that same-sex marriage is right, underlining the urgent need for the
Church of England hierarchy to bring forward proposals to accept and celebrate
same-sex relationships.
“We have
waited long enough.”
SOURCE: PINK NEWS
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