THE BISHOPS OF SOUTH CAROLINA AND ALABAMA ENDORSE PRO-LGBT STAND AT LAMBETH
Bishops Ruth Woodliff-Stanley, of South Carolina, and Glenda Curry, of Alabama, have joined 164 (as of today) other bishops at the Lambeth Conference in issuing a "Statement from Anglican Bishops and Primates who are Keen to Affirm and Celebrate LGBT+ People."
The letter was issued on August 2, 2022, the day of the discussion of the Call on Human Dignity, mainly involving the interface between the Anglican Communion and homosexuality. Find the statement HERE . At the same time, the anti-homosexual rights coalition at Lambeth called on bishops to endorse the 1998 Resolution 1.10 that condemned homosexuality and same-sex marriage.
Bishops from nine Anglican provinces signed the pro-LGBT statement. Their dioceses were in New Zealand, Australia, Brazil, Canada, England, Ireland, Mexico, Scotland, the U.S., and Wales. Among the app. 100 American bishops, 97 signed making it virtually unanimous in this delegation.
The statement is clear in support of LGBT rights: "We wish to affirm the holiness of their [LGBT people] love wherever it is found in committed relationships." It added: "we will never shy away from tackling discrimination and prejudice against those of differing sexualities and gender identities."
The anti-homosexual-rights side, led by the archbishop and primate of the province of South Sudan, has yet to announce the results of their scheme of "voting" to reaffirm 1.10. They called on the bishops to "vote" using a convoluted process of sending pictures of ID badges to a mysterious email address. It remains to be seen how this will work out and how many "votes" this sides gets.
The Archbishop of Canterbury cleverly disallowed numerical voting on the "Calls." There was only verbal assent. By all accounts, the discussion on Human Dignity was civil, if frank. All of this defeated the pre-meditated attempt of the anti side to disrupt the Conference, divide up the bishops, and force an up or down vote on 1.10. This did not happen, mainly thanks to the leadership of the host AOC.
All advocates of human rights should stand and applaud today the brave work of the bishops of South Carolina, Alabama, and the 162 others. The anti side did not win the day at Lambeth. They will not control the Anglican Communion.
