Senior cleric comes out for gay weddings in church

The Very Reverend Kelvin Holdsworth has spoken publicly about his sexuality and called for Holyrood to change the law to allow same-sex partners to tie the knot in the same way as straight couples.

In a frank and outspoken interview, the Provost of St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral in Glasgow said that gay clergy would eventually be able to get married in their own churches and offered a "blessing of peace" to an Anglican bishop who called on homosexuals to "repent".

He also claimed he was aware of "numerous" gay and lesbian priests employed by his church and insisted that Scotland was "more grown up" than England in dealing with issues of sexuality.

His intervention comes shortly after the Church of Scotland came close to splitting over the appointment of an openly homosexual minister.

Current legislation stipulates that civil partnerships cannot take place in churches, and Holdsworth has called for the "discriminatory" policy to be scrapped.

The priest's remarks have been warmly welcomed by gay rights groups, but have met with opposition from a neighbouring Episcopal church.

Holdsworth said his sexuality is known throughout the Church and by members of his congregation, who are fully supportive, but felt the time was right to speak out on the issue to a wider audience.

He said: "Civil partnerships contain many of the same rights and privileges as marriage, but they are not the same. You can't celebrate a civil partnership in a church and if I tried to I'd be breaking the law.

"I want every gay couple to be able to walk down the street holding hands if they wish to do so.

"I also want every gay couple to be able to walk down the aisle holding hands if they want to too.

" I want to alert MSPs to this, so parliament can bring in this relatively small, but very important, change."

The priest was initially against gay marriage, but changed his mind after being approached by a male couple who asked him to bless their partnership.

"It really convinced me that the way people feel about one another is exactly the same, whether the couple is gay or straight."

The former University of Stirling chaplain, who declined to state whether he has a partner, claimed he was far from being a lone figure in the Scottish Episcopal Church.

He said: "For all my time in the Church I have always know there were gay men, and more recently gay women, working in the priesthood.

"Anyone who knows the clergy of the Church, anyone who sits in the synod of the Church is sitting with gay people and has been doing so for a long time.

"The Church of Scotland is now discovering that it already has a number of very talented people who are gay and are starting to become more visible. I think that it is inevitable that more clergy among the various churches will come out as gay."

The provost described the words of his Anglican colleague, the Archbishop of Rochester, Michael Nazir-Ali, who called on homosexuals to "repent and be changed" as hurtful and said: "I wish he wasn't making the comments he makes and the only thing I can do is wish him a blessing of peace."

He also expected his views to be criticised by conservative elements within his own church, as well as from other denominations.

"There will always be a discussion in the churches about moral issues and it is right that people speak with strong voices.

"I think that the fact those voices are getting more angry, more shrill and strident show us very clearly that their argument is being lost.

"Hardline negative statements from Churches are driving people away. Lots of people don't want their children to go to churches that seem to oppress women and are bad to gay people."

He backed gay priests being able to wed each other saying: "I don't know how long it will take before clergy can have a same-sex marriage ceremony that is acknowledged by the whole church, but I do believe it is far more likely to happen in Scotland rather than England.

"I think in some ways Scotland is a more grown-up society than England."

But Reverend David McCarthy of the nearby St Silas Episcopal Church was strongly at odds with his colleague's views.

The spokesman for the conservative Scottish Anglican Network, said: "I take the line that marriage is between a man and a woman and anything else is something less than that.

"Many, many people will be thinking: 'What is the Episcopal Church up to? Is it the middle and upper classes just going for what they want selfishly?'

"Many people who I talk to are concerned about the direction the church is going in.

"The Church is at its best when it goes against the flow of culture."

McCarthy said his colleague's remarks contradicted his own stance of offering guidance to congregation members whom he claimed were troubled by "same-sex attraction".

Gay rights group the Equality Network, who are backing a change in legislation, described Holdsworth as "inspirational" for putting his head above the parapet.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: "The rights and responsibilities that come with same-sex civil partnerships largely mirror those that come with opposite-sex marriage and we have no plans to change the existing legislation."

Civil partnerships were introduced in Scotland in 2005 and gave same-sex couples the same legal rights as heterosexual couples, although technically it is not the same as marriage.

Gay divide

The worldwide Anglican Communion, of which the Scottish Episcopal Church is a part, has been bitterly divided over the issue of homosexuality in recent years.

At the 1998 Lambeth Conference Anglican bishops from across the globe voted by 526 to 70 to declare gay relationships incompatible with the Bible.

They also upheld a ban on the ordination of gay priests and the blessing of same-sex marriages.

The then Bishop of Edinburgh, Richard Holloway, who is well known for his liberal views, described the event as a "hatefest" and claimed it felt like being "in the middle of a lynching".

In 2003 the election of the openly gay Gene Robinson as the Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire brought worldwide headlines and threatened a schism within the Anglican Communion.

Such was the level of controversy that he wore a bulletproof vest during his consecration.

Last year more than 200 of the 800 invited bishops boycotted the Lambeth Conference because pro-gay bishops were present.

Earlier this month a new hardline group emerged.

The Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans is opposed to the ordination of gay clergy, blessings for civil partnerships, and women bishops.

The Scottish Episcopal Church takes a more relaxed view on the gay issue and has stated that it has never "regarded the fact that someone was in a close relationship with a member of the same sex as in itself constituting a bar to the exercise of an ordained ministry".

A spokeswoman added: "Within the worldwide Anglican Communion same sex relationships are the subject of active current debate."