The pair [Of Andrew Symes and Jayne Ozanne] both attended the same local talks in the diocese of Oxford but their different reflections highlight the polarities in the CofE. They both discussed their mutual experience seperately with Christian Today. Symes said: “What I wanted to do is step back and observe what I was expected to do or say. Am I really expected to say, ‘I used to think this but actually this person is such a nice person I am actually going to change my views on it’? If that is what I am expected to do then I am afraid the thing has not worked.”
Symes and Ozanne framed the debate differently. For Ozanne the Church’s struggle over gay marriage is focused on the understanding of “desire and love”. She said the debate had been “hijacked” because some people have hang ups about sex.
“Some guys are really focused on sex and don’t see the bigger picture which is about love and intimacy and the desire to have a unique relationship. It is the desire to have someone I can love and cherish whom God has chosen for me and is natural to me.”
For Symes the debate is really about the authority of scripture and how the church engages with culture.