A Church of England vicar has caused controversy by calling gay people ‘imbalanced’ and telling a lesbian couple they cannot both be named as the mother on their baby’s baptism records.
The Rev George Gebauer told Aimi Leggett and her civil partner Victoria it would be illegal for them both to be recorded as the mother of their one-year-old son, Alfie, even though they both have legal parental responsibility.
He later added salt to the wound when defending his stance, saying he had to be sure the child had not been ‘pinched’ by the couple, as it was ‘impossible’ Alfie was the child of both women, while questioning the normality of gay people in general.
He said he felt sorry for gay and lesbian people, adding: ‘They produce too much hormone — they’re imbalanced. That’s the way they are. It’s a medical issue.’
The retired clergyman, officiating at St Mary’s Church in Warsash, Hampshire until it gets a full-time vicar, told Aimi, 25, and Victoria, 22, that one of them would have to be registered as their son’s godmother.
Aimi, from Gosport, Hants, said: ‘Rev Gebauer sat there and told us no child could have parents of the same sex, no child could have two mothers. There was no way one of us was going to be listed as the godparent. We are both Alfie’s mum. He did all this for about 10 or 15 minutes and was asking us why we want Alfie brought into the church.
‘I’m baptised Church of England, and Victoria is a Catholic. We want him to be brought up the same as we were.’
The couple chose St Mary’s as it is where Aimi, Alfie’s biological mother, was baptised and where her parents got married.
When asked about his stance, Rev Gebauer said he did not refuse to baptise Alfie and the couple’s sexuality was not an issue.
‘However, when it came to the administrative side of things they insisted on both being listed as mum and refused to budge from their position,’ he said. ‘I told them I was unable to do this because the church baptism register only has space for one mother and one father. I believe it would be illegal for me to register them both as mother.’
He added: ‘This is nothing to do with their sexuality. The soul of the little boy is more important than anything else. We did not even push them for the name of the father, we were happy to leave that space blank.’
But there is a happy ending for the family.
A more senior member of the Church of England stepped in to sort out the mess and another vicar, the Rev Susan Allman, has come forward to carry out the baptism.
The Archdeacon of the Meon, Venerable Gavin Collins, who covers the area in which Alfie will be baptised, said: ‘We have addressed the legal issue. We can therefore enter their details onto the baptism register as “mother” and “mother”, as they would like. I’m pleased that this issue has been resolved, and we look forward to welcoming Aimi, Victoria, Alfie and their friends and family. I’m sure it will be a great occasion as we welcome him into the Christian family.’
