The church will not tell couples to divorce if they were a man and woman when they married (Picture: Getty)

The Church of England says it will accept same sex marriage, but only if the spouses were a man and woman before changing gender.

The advice means couples will be under no pressure from the church to divorce if one of them transitions.

Transgender activists have called the significant shift in direction ‘encouraging’ but accuse the church of still not accepting gender reassignment.

The change was revealed ahead of today’s General Synod of bishops – the national assembly of the Church of England.


A question on whether the church would accept a marriage involving a transgender person is one of more than 100 to be addressed at today’s meeting in York.



Prudence Dailey, churchwarden of Oxford’s St Michael at the North Gate, asked if the church’s definition of marriage as a ‘lifelong and exclusive union between one man and one woman’ still applies if one partner has transitioned.

It is thought Christine Hardman, the Bishop of Newcastle, will say the church has no right to pull these couples apart.

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has given his support for transition within marriage (Picture: PA)

She is expected to say: ‘When a couple marry in church they promise before God to be faithful to each other for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health – come what may, although we preach compassion if they find this too much to bear.

‘Secondly, never in the history of the Church has divorce been actively recommended as the way to resolve a problem.

‘We have always prioritised fidelity, reconciliation and forgiveness, with divorce as a concession when staying together proves humanly unbearable.

‘In the light of those two points, if a couple wish to remain married after one partner has transitioned, who are we to put them asunder?’

Ms Hardman is head of the pastoral advisory group, which was set up to try and bridge the gap between traditional church members and LGBT activists.

Dr Jane Hamlin, president of the Beaumont Society, a national support group for the transgender community, said the Church’s stance was ‘encouraging’ but doesn’t go far enough.

She told the Daily Telegraph: ‘It is clear that, because this only applies to couples who married before the transition, the Bishops do not really accept the transition at all.

‘They still see the trans man or trans woman as he/she was appearing at the time of the wedding. This is disappointing.’

Senior figures who have expressed their support for transition within a marriage include the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Reverend Justin Welby and the CofE’s bishops.

The move is being seen by many synod members as a prelude to accepting same-sex marriage, which the church has refused to carry out since they were legalised in 2013.

Bishops have previously acknowledged a ‘real and profound disagreement’ in the church after a vote to throw out a controversial same-sex marriage report in February last year.

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