Church of England’s first non-binary vicar says God ‘guided’ their … – msnNOW
© Provided by The Telegraph Gender queer vicar
The Church of England’s first non-binary priest has said that God “guided” their epiphany regarding gender identity.
Rev Bingo Allison, 36, who is gender-queer, grew up in a “strongly religious” Christian household in West Yorkshire and was raised to believe that being gay was “sinful”.
However, they said that a 15-year-long journey, which involved meeting other LGBTQ+ Christians, completely changed their conservative outlook on life.
Rev Allison, who is now a priest based in the Norris Green suburb of Liverpool after being ordained in 2019, not only believes that they are the first openly non-binary priest within the Church of England but also that “God was guiding” them to reach that conclusion.
However, it was not until seven years ago when they first came across the term “gender-queer” that “everything suddenly clicked”.
Rev Allison, who is a parent of three children, considered putting their new-found identity on hold while they finished their vicar training – at this point, they were only halfway through the seven-year programme – but said that this was more difficult than they expected
© Provided by The Telegraph gender queer priest
In an interview with the Liverpool Echo, Rev Allison said that it was while writing an essay on how God created the earth that prompted the epiphany. They said the language that the Bible originally used in Genesis 1:27 spoke about “from maleness to femaleness”, as opposed to men and women.
“I was sitting there in the middle of the night when I realised I might need to run my life upside down,” they said.
“It was a deepening spiritual experience, I properly felt God was guiding me into this new truth about myself. One of the things that has kept with my ministry ever since is that transition and coming out can and should be a spiritual experience, as well as an emotional and social and sometimes physical one.
“There is something beautiful about growing into who we were created to be and growing into our authentic selves.”
At that time, Rev Allison had only met two openly gay people and no trans people. Now they visit schools and assemblies, speaking to youth groups to encourage other LGBTQ+ people to feel included within the Church.
Rev Allison also uses social media to help spread their message. In an Instagram account featuring pictures of Rev Allison wearing an array of colourful clothes and make-up, one photo, posted in Feb 2020, showed them posing with a purple hairband and eyeshadow with the caption: “Going to church because Jesus loves sparkly eyeshadow. #girlslikeus #transisbeautiful #nonbinary #eyeshadow”.
The interview comes as the Church of England is grappling with the issue of sexuality and remains divided between traditionalists and modernists. Bishops are also currently considering whether to recommend any changes to the centuries-old doctrine that only opposite-sex couples should marry.
Next month, they will present their long-awaited findings to the General Synod, the Church’s lawmaking body, and their recommendations could pave the way for an historic vote following decades of division.
In November the Bishop of Oxford, The Rt Rev Steven Croft, become the most senior Church of England cleric to back same-sex marriage.
In his landmark declaration, acknowledging the “acute pain and distress of LGBTQ+ people in the life of the Church”, which breaks ranks with the Church’s current view on this issue, he said that as well as being able to conduct marriages for their congregation, clergy should also be allowed to marry a same-sex partner if they wished.
Currently, according to canon law, no Church of England minister can bless or marry gay couples.