Oxford Christian campaigner Jayne Ozanne has resigned from the Church of England’s General Synod due to “abuse” she believes LGBTQ+ members of the church undergo.

Taking to Twitter/X on Friday, November 17, Ms Ozanne shared a letter she had sent via email to the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby that day, stating: “The bishops' 'unity at any cost' agenda is highly abusive, as is being told to 'love & accept' our abusers”.

Ms Ozanne also asserted that her concern has “always been the wellbeing of young LGBT+ Christians growing up in conservative churches” and that there is “callous disregard of the harm” Church of England teaching “causes LGBT+ people”.

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In her resignation letter, Ms Ozanne states: “I can no longer in all conscience stay in an institution which continues to condone the abuse of LGBT+ people” and that she has become “increasingly aware of a significant number who have been deeply hurt, judged and rejected” by the Church of England.

She added: “We are expected to 'just love and except as a gift' those who have harmed and hurt us. This is deeply abusive and labels condoning abuse when in a position of power and in a position to speak out against it as a total moral failure."

Ms Ozanne then stresses her concern that “despite repeated requests for us to deal with this as an urgent safeguarding problem, no action has been taken”.

In a follow up post on X (formerly known as Twitter), Ms Ozanne shared the response she received from the Archbishop minutes after sending her resignation letter.

In his response, the Archbishop said, as the letter contained allegations of abuse, he had forwarded the letter to the Provincial Safeguarding Officer, the Archbishop of York and the director of the national safeguarding team – asking the latter “to investigate without fear or favour.”

The Archbishop also stated: “I am sorry that you have decided to resign from General Synod, but respect your decision”.

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In words attached to the X post sharing the Archbishop’s response, Ms Ozanne stated the response had “almost made” her laugh and said: “It's as if he's only just heard of the abuse we have been talking about for decades thanks to so many LGBT+ Christians vulnerably sharing their testimonies.”

Ms Ozanne, director of the Ozanne Foundation, tendered her resignation two days after the biannual gathering “Live, Loving and Faith” which saw bishops and the clergy discussing the implementation of same-sex blessings. 

On her decision to resign, Ms Ozanne has subsequently said she feels “a great deal of both sadness and relief."