Archbishop of Wales: I hid my sexuality for decades

Telegraph

16 hours ago

The new Archbishop of Wales has spoken of keeping her sexuality secret for decades as she struggled to be accepted in the Anglican communion.
The Most Rev Cherry Vann is the UK's first female and first openly LGBTQ+ archbishop after being appointed to lead the Church in Wales last week.
And the 66-year-old has admitted that without the strong belief that God had called her to the priesthood, she 'would not have survived' her journey through the ranks of the Church.
Ms Vann, originally from Leicester, told The Guardian: 'It happens that I've lived in a time that's meant that I'm a trailblazer, but I'm not a campaigner.
'I'm not somebody to be out there all the time, but I do seek to be true to what I think God's asking of me.'
The archbishop has worked in the Church in Wales since 2020, when she became Bishop of Monmouth.
At the time, she publicly disclosed her civil partnership with Wendy Diamond, her partner of 30 years.
Before that, she served in the Church of England as Archdeacon of Rochdale between 2008 and 2020.
Ms Vann explained that working in the Church in Wales since 2020 has been very different because clergy are permitted to be in same-sex civil partnerships.
In the Church of England, same-sex relationships are technically allowed, but gay clergy are expected to remain celibate.
The archbishop added: 'Other people in England were braver than I was and made their sexuality clear.
'A lot of them suffered the consequences of that, certainly when going forward for ordination.'
She also said that being a woman in the Church had been difficult enough, explaining: 'You can hide your sexuality, up to a point, but you can't hide being a woman.
'There was a lot of nastiness; the men were angry, they felt they had been betrayed.'
Ms Vann will be enthroned at Newport Cathedral later this year.
She replaces Andy John, who announced in June he would be stepping down as archbishop with immediate effect after a scandal of binge drinking, financial irregularities, bullying and sexual misconduct came to light at Bangor Cathedral.
Mr John was not personally accused of wrongdoing, but calls for his resignation gathered pace after summaries of two reports were published and six 'serious incident reports' were sent to the Charity Commission earlier this year.