View source for Derek Rawcliffe

'''Derek Rawcliffe''' (1921&ndash;2011) was the first Anglican bishop to come out as gay.

==Career==

Rawcliffe was born in [[Manchester]] but lived in [[Gloucester]] as a teenager. He trained for the ministry at Mirfield, and took a theology degree in [[Leeds]]. He took up a teaching post in the Solomon Islands in 1947, and spent much of his career in the South Pacific, rising to be the first Bishop of the New Hebrides (now Vanuatu).<ref>http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/16/derek-rawcliffe-obituary</ref>

In 1981 he returned to the UK and was appointed Bishop of [[Glasgow]] and [[Galloway]] in the Scottish Episcopal Church, on the basis of reports of his success as a bishop in the south seas, but although his pastoral skills were valued, he was less successful in coping with the administrative problems of the church in Glasgow.<ref name=telegraph>http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/8321553/The-Right-Reverend-Derek-Rawcliffe.html</ref> In 1991 he retired and went to live in Leeds, and was invited to be an honorary bishop in the diocese of [[Ripon]].

==Relationships and controversy==

At the age of 50 Rawcliffe had fallen in love with a young Melanesian man and come to believe that his homosexuality was "a gift from God". However he fell in love with a disabled former ballet teacher, Susan Speight; they were married in 1977 and spent 12 happy years together. After her death he realised "I was still gay, always had been".<ref name=telegraph />

In 1995 he revealed in a television programme that he was gay. Later that year he wrote to ''Gay Times'' urging that the [[age of consent]] for gay sex should be reduced to 14:
:"I had my first relationship when I was 14 with a man 10 years my senior. I knew what I was doing and gave my consent".<ref name=telegraph />

These revelations prompted the Bishop of Ripon to stop inviting him to carry out episcopal functions; but the next year it was revealed that he had been carrying out blessings of gay relationships and at this point his licence to act as a bishop was withdrawn.

Towards the end of his life he published a number of books and poems.

==References==
<references>

[[Category:Clergy]]
[[Category:2011 deaths]]