Church of England: Bishops won’t oppose same-sex marriage

The Church of England will no longer stand in the way of same-sex marriage legislation, but will rather put its efforts toward improving it, a top bishop said on Wednesday.

The Right Rev. Tim Stevens — who’s the bishop of Leicester and the convener of the Lords Spiritual in the House of Lords — put out the new policy one day after the parliament’s upper house shot down an amendment to kill a gay marriage bill, United Press International reported.

After that failure, the church decided to focus its legislative efforts on strengthening the legal right of officials with strong objections against same-sex unions to refuse to perform the ceremonies.

“Both houses of parliament have now expressed a clear view by large majorities on the principle that there should be legislation to enable same-sex marriages to take place in England and Wales,” Mr. Stevens said, in the UPI report. “It is now the duty and responsibility of the bishops who sit in the House of Lords to recognize the implications of this decision and to join with other members in the task of considering how this legislation can be put into better shape.”