So, is a woman a woman in the CofE?
- Anglican Futures
- 44 minutes ago
- 4 min read
Sometimes you have to feel sorry for the bishops of the Church of England.
The decision of the Supreme Court in ‘For Women Scotland Limited vs the Scottish Government’ has revealed the chasms that exists between the meaning of ‘sex’, 'legal sex' and ‘gender,’ and has left the Church of England with a number of awkward questions.
The Supreme Court has stated, for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010, that the definition of 'sex' is a biological one, so 'man' and 'woman' are also defined biologically, not by the possession of a ‘Gender Recognition Certificate’.
This should not have come as a surprise, nor should it be suggested that the decision does not have wider implications, because as recently as 2022, the UK Government was clear that ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ are not the same.
Sex: “Assigned by medical practitioners at birth based on physical characteristics. Sex can be either male or female.”
Gender: “Often expressed in terms of masculinity and femininity, gender refers to socially constructed characteristics, and is often assumed from the sex people are registered as at birth.”
In 2025, the Church of England ‘s National Society for Education agreed that the two terms were not interchangeable:
Sex: “This term is typically used to refer to biological status as male/female but may refer to genetics, anatomy, physiology or legal status,”
Gender: “The cultural constructions associated with being male/female or other gender categories, as distinguished from biological sex”.
But the eagle-eyed may note an addition to the Church’s definition of ‘sex’ to include "legal status", and this is where many of the problems for the Church of England lie.
In 2004, when the Gender Recognition Act was introduced, it became possible for an individual in possession of a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) to change their gender and ‘legal’ sex. The Church of England accepted that they could, and would, officiate at the ‘marriage’ of a man, or woman, with a GRC to someone of the same biological sex but opposite ‘legal’ sex. At the same time the Marriage Act was amended to allow individual clergy the option to refuse to solemnise a marriage when it involved someone who they, “reasonably believe[d] to have changed gender under the Act.”
It seems incredible, but that 'opt-out' appears to have been all that was needed for the Church of England to avoid all the canonical, doctrinal and ecumenical questions that such a decision should have raised. Rather than challenge the secular ideas at the time, the Church of England welcomed the fabrication of 'legal sex', and continued to embrace the trans agenda.
In 2014, the Church's National Society for Education published the, "very ideologically based", 'Valuing All God's Children', which said,
"Trans young people may require specific support in order to feel comfortable at school, for example, schools may need to make changes to toilet facilities or a trans young person might require support to change their name or the pronoun by which they are referred to by staff and classmates."
Guidance they have since had to retract, following the Independent Cass Review.
In 2017, they published ‘Pastoral Guidance for use in conjunction with the Affirmation of Baptismal Faith in the context of gender transition’, which also suggested that gender transition is something to be celebrated as “a watershed in their Christian discipleship.”
In 2018, the Church of England’s public response to the government consultation on the reform of the Gender Recognition Act, rejected the binary Yes/No format of the consultation, saying they did not want to “pre-empt” discussions taking place around LLF. Instead, they set out the Church’s current position:
“In July 2017 the General Synod of the Church of England voted unequivocally to both welcome and affirm transgender people and that is the basis for our pastoral practice. Trans people with gender recognition are already able to marry in our churches. Being transgender does not prevent someone offering themselves for ordained ministry and we have transgender clergy as well as laity.”
It is because of the ongoing work around LLF that amongst the many questions that the Supreme Court Judgement raises, it is those related to marriage that are most pertinent for the Church of England.
First, will the Church of England continue to favour the GRC, ‘legally defined’ understanding of ‘sex’ or will they accept that biology still defines the terms ‘man’ and ‘woman,’ as the Supreme Court has ruled?
Second, in the light of the Supreme Court judgement, if the Church of England chose to return to a 'biological' view of sex, what would that do to the status of marriages conducted in the Church of England between a person with a GRC and someone of their same biological sex?
Are such marriages canonically valid?
And given that the Church of England has an “opt-out” from conducting same-sex marriages, which prevents clergy from officiating at such marriages, would marriages that took place in church rather than at a registry office be legally valid?
Third, if instead, the Church of England continues to believe that marriages between someone with a GRC and someone of the same biological sex are, despite the Supreme Court’s decision, valid, will they now deny same-sex marriage to any other couple if, notwithstanding that decision, all they have to do to be eligible is for one party to (temporarily) acquire a GRC?
Perhaps jumping unthinkingly upon “progressive” band-wagons is not so wise, or pastorally kind, after all…
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