TL;DR
- Gay priest Mark Oakley delivered a powerful sermon celebrating LGBTQ+ love at Southwark Cathedral.
- He called out the Church of England for blocking same-sex blessings and marriages.
- Oakley shared personal stories of coming out and fighting invisibility in the church.
- The crowd gave him a standing ovation and emotional praise online.
- His message: “Love wins — and God is in LGBTQ+ love too.”
Gay Dean’s Sermon Moves Church to Tears
A Cry for Equality from the Pews
A London cathedral turned into the most emotional Sunday service the Church of England has seen in years, after The Very Reverend Dr. Mark Oakley — an openly gay priest and Dean of Southwark Cathedral — delivered a sermon that had worshippers wiping away tears and standing on their feet in applause.
In his 15-minute message, Oakley didn’t tiptoe around the Church’s latest blow to LGBTQ+ equality. Instead, he laid it out with clarity and heartbreak. Reacting to the House of Bishops’ recent decision to block dedicated blessings for same-sex couples and continue banning priests from entering same-sex marriages, Oakley admitted the news made him want to “scream.”
He explained that clergy who marry a same-sex partner could lose their licence or future roles, and that LGBTQ+ people in civil marriages remain shut out of ordination. “Of course, add to this that we are not allowed to marry same-sex couples here in church… it is hard not to conclude that the Church of England is still homophobic and does not believe in the equality of love,” he told the congregation. Mild sass delivered, but the message landed like a thunderbolt.
Rather than preach from anger, Oakley preached from lived truth — the kind that hits differently when you’ve survived the closet and the clergy.
From Shame to Sacred Love
Oakley spoke about growing up gay in a time when the government warned schools not to teach about “people like me,” newspapers shamed queer people by name, and the Church pretended they didn’t exist — unless it was to condemn them. “I didn’t choose anything. I discovered who I was, and it wasn’t easy,” he shared.
He recalled coming out to his grandmother at 18, a moment that could have gone very wrong — but didn’t. Her response became the Gospel moment that shaped his ministry: “My grandmother’s response was the response of love, and therefore it is also the response of God.”
Throughout his career, he said, some within the Church preferred he stay quiet about his sexuality. But the sermon made it clear he’s done with silence — and done with shame that isn’t his to carry.
Rewriting the Church’s Script on Love
Oakley painted a vivid reality the Apostle Paul never saw: queer couples building homes, sharing meals, aging together, caring for one another, and holding each other through sickness and grief. If Paul met queer love today, Oakley argued, he would see God’s work in it too.
“Love wins,” he said, delivering what may become the quote LGBTQ+ believers carry into 2025. “No matter how fancy the theology is to disguise a prejudice… love comes in many shapes and many sizes and for that, and for all the diversity of all the people in the church and beyond, thanks be to God.”
The congregation rose to its feet in a standing ovation. Online, the response was just as emotional. One viewer wrote, “I wept and wept as I watched this.” Another said Oakley preached God’s love “more eloquently than I have ever heard.”
Why It Matters for the LGBTQ+ Community
For LGBTQ+ Christians, Oakley’s sermon wasn’t just uplifting — it was history-shifting. It cracked open a door the Church of England keeps trying to nail shut. His words gave queer believers something the Church too often withholds: dignity, visibility, and spiritual belonging.
By naming the harm, calling out hypocrisy, and still choosing faith, Oakley became the sermon — a living reminder that queer love isn’t a sin, it’s a blessing underserved by its own church.
Because if God’s love “overflows, never diminishes,” as Oakley put it, the Church can either catch up or get out of the way.
Love wins — and now it’s wearing vestments.