No sex please we're Church of England!

The Church of England seems to lurch from crisis to crisis when it comes to equalities. Blocking gay men from being Bishops then failing to allow women to become Bishops.

Today they announced a change of policy towards gay Bishops. Gay men in civil partnerships will now be able to become Bishops but with one proviso - they need to be celibate.

Whilst progress of a sort is to be welcomed this position seems theologically incoherent and has led to criticism from both sides of the argument.

Evangelicals are saying they will import their own Bishops from overseas and gay rights supporters are also upset at the incoherent and unenforceable policy.

Whilst this whole policy might look ridiculous from outside the Church it may well make some more sense to those inside and provide a mechanism to right a very serious wrong that was committed when the current Dean of St Albans Jeffrey John was turned down for appointment as a Bishop.

Jeffrey has long maintained a celibate but committed relationship with his partner and this announcement is widely thought to open the door to him becoming a Bishop. This is to be welcomed but it is a shame that the church could not take the next and obvious step and accept stable loving relationships between same sex couples will also be sexual - just as between heterosexuals.