Storm over Scottish lesbian church minister’s civil partnership
A minister at a Scottish church has announced she plans to have a civil partnership.
Reverend Lynn Brady, of Newburgh Parish Church in Fife, told her congregation this week of her plans.
One church elder has already resigned and others are said to be considering their positions.
There have been calls for her to resign.
Rev Brady, 47, has not commented since announcing the news and is understood to be on holiday.
The issue of openly gay and lesbian clergy in the Church of Scotland has been contentious ever since the openly gay Rev Scott Rennie was ordained in 2009 as minister of Queens Cross Church in Aberdeen.
A source at Newburgh Parish Church told the Daily Record that while Rev Brady was seen as “conscientious”, the congregation had been “stunned”.
The source said: “There is a lot of division over the minister’s sexuality. One of the elders has resigned and there are others considering their position.
“Personally, I don’t think this is right and I don’t believe in same-sex civil unions.”
Rev Brady has been at the church since 2002. Previously, she was an aid worker in Africa.
In May, the Church of Scotland’s General Assembly voted to end a two-year moratorium on the ordination of gay ministers, pending a special report in 2013.
It has not yet decided whether to allow sexually-active gay clergy or demand celibacy from gay ministers.
Research has found that one in five church members have said they will leave if out gay ministers are permitted.
However, one in ten said they will leave if the ban continues.
