A church draped its altar with the pro-transgender Progress Pride flag in an apparent violation of canon law.
Sunderland Minster, in the North East, put the controversial trans-inclusive flag on a communion table in its Bede chapel.
The Progress Pride flag is an amended version of the rainbow pride flag that includes extra colours and symbols to represent black, transgender and intersex people.
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But the Grade II-listed Sunderland Minster, which is part of the Inclusive Church Network that supports permitting same-sex marriage in the Church of England, uses it to decorate the table in its side chapel.
The Rev Jacqui Tyson, its associate priest, said on social media that the church was “open to all” as she shared an image of the flag.
“I’m proud to serve in a church that is open to God and open to all,” she said. “I love these folk and so does God.”
‘Violation of canon law’
The Rev Dr Ian Paul, associate minister at St Nic’s, Nottingham, told The Telegraph that the use of the Progress Pride flag meant the church was not open to all because it “excludes people who do not accept the false claims of transgender ideology”.
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“Secondly, it distorts and misrepresents the purpose of the Communion table, which is inherently ‘inclusive’ in that it invites all to share in and receive the gifts of bread and wine, which remind us that Jesus died for all.
“The Communion table as it is could not be more inclusive. To suggest that it needs a flag or anything else adding to it to make it more ‘inclusive’ is a serious misunderstanding.”
A ‘sign of welcome’
In February 2024, Naomi Gyane, the chancellor of the Diocese of Leicester, refused permission for the Progress Pride flag to be draped over the altar at St Nicholas’s, Leicester.
“The Progress Pride flag is not a Christian emblem,” she said. “Whilst I agree it is a sign of welcome for people from the LGBTQIA+ community and although not itself political, it is a secular contemporary emblem used for many causes and contemporary discourse.”
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She added: “The focus, purpose and celebration of the Holy Communion is for all to come to Jesus and remember His sacrifice.
“We come to the Communion table, not to forget who we are or our identity, but to remember the sacrifice of Jesus and our identity in Him.”
Sunderland Minster and the Diocese of Durham were approached for comment.
‘Utterly alien’
A spokesman for LGB Christians, a gender-critical advocacy group, said: “We are alarmed by the illegal use in Sunderland Minster this week of a ‘progress flag’ serving as an altar frontal.
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“Above all else the Progress flag symbolises one of the greatest threats to safeguarding and an inducement to betray medical and educational good practice while also being theologically illiterate.”
* Original Article:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/02/15/church-of-england-transgender-pride-flag-lgbtq-gender/
