The blessing or wedding of same-sex marriages and same-sex unions is an issue about which leaders of Christian churches are in ongoing disagreement. Traditionally, Christianity teaches that sexual practices between men and sexual practices between women are sinful and that holy matrimony can only exist between two persons of different sexes.
These disagreements are primarily centred on the interpretation of various scripture passages related to homosexuality , sacred tradition , and in some churches on varying understandings of homosexuality in terms of psychology , genetics and other scientific data. While numerous church bodies have widely varying practices and teachings, individual Christians of every major tradition are involved in practical orthopraxy discussions about how to respond to the issue.
Those Christians and churches which support blessing of same-sex unions do so from several perspectives:. In , the then archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams , asked the Lambeth Commission on Communion to produce a report looking into the legal and theological implications flowing from decisions related to homosexuality that were apparently threatening the Anglican Communion, including decisions relating to the blessing of same-sex unions. Once published the Windsor Report led to the calling by the Lambeth Commission for a moratorium on the blessing of same-sex unions, and recommended that bishops who have authorised such rites in the United States and Canada "be invited to express regret that the proper constraints of the bonds of affection were breached by such authorisation.
The General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada in voted to defer a decision of same-sex blessings until , but also to "Affirm the integrity and sanctity of committed adult same-sex relationships". The Anglican Church of Canada does not distinguish theologically between a marriage solemnized in church and a civil marriage subsequently blessed by a priest. Procedures for blessings are in development in Ottawa and Toronto. In the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada voted to study a proposal to bless only those marriages that have been civilly registered, even where marriage is reserved to heterosexual couples, abrogating the role of clergy as delegates of the provincial registrar altogether.
The blessing of same-sex unions became a subject of media attention in the Vancouver area in May, when Bishop Michael Ingham of the Anglican Diocese of New Westminster announced that he had given priests in some parishes the authority to bless gay and lesbian unions. The diocese considers that the blessing of same-sex couples is one part of their work of community outreach and care for parishioners.
