Sydney Anglicans and homosexuality

The city of Sydney in Australia has one of the largest gay and lesbian communities in the English-speaking world, while the Anglican Church in Sydney is proud of its reputation as a strong-hold and guardian of conservative evangelicalism. Since the early 1970s the Anglican diocese, in its official statements and pastoral policies, has been strongly opposed to homosexuality and the organized gay movement. In 1973 a report on homosexuality by its Ethics and Social Questions Committee was unusual at the time because it recommended the continuance of legal sanctions against male homosexual behavior. There have been many confrontations between Anglican institutions and Sydney's increasingly confident gay community. This paper examines these tensions, the reasons for the stance of the diocese, and the responses of gay Christian groups such as Cross+Section and AngGays.