Sandi Toksvig has penned an open letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury, after he “affirmed the validity” of a past declaration that gay sex is a sin.
The former Great British Bake Off host wrote that the Archbishop had “made a horrible mistake” by saying a past statement that marriage is “between a man and a woman”, and that same-sex relationships are “incompatible with scripture”, was “not in doubt”.
“I know we’ve never met and I should probably call you ‘your grace’ or ‘your eminence’ or something, but I wish we were friends,” Sandi began.
“If we were, I’d call you and say, ‘Justin, Justin, what are you doing?’. We’d have had a chat and maybe I could persuade you that you have made a horrible mistake. It’s what friends do for each other.”
The QI star continued: “You and your other religion pals got together at the Lambeth Conference and the main takeaway seems to be that gay sex is a sin. It was a sin in 1998 and you just wanted to make clear in 2022 that no one in your finely frocked gang has moved on from that.
“Seriously, with the state the world is in, that is what you wanted to focus on? You didn’t have other more pressing matters like, I don’t know, war or poverty?”
Sandi went on to share statistics which revealed that young LGBTQ+ people are more likely to contemplate suicide and self-harm.
“Do you know why?” she questioned. “For many it’s because they don’t feel loved and love, Justin, is supposed to be at the core of what you do.”
She added: “The lives of LGBTQ+ people are at stake here. I have had credible death threats over the years sometimes requiring the very kind assistance of the police hate crime squad. Each and every one of those threats has come from an evangelical Christian.
“Inevitably, they have wanted to kill me on God’s behalf because although he may be omnipotent apparently he’s also very busy. Why just raising this matter is probably a bad idea for my health. I’ll cope, but what about my brothers and sisters who won’t?”
Sandi ended the letter by stating: “Call me, Justin. Let’s have coffee. Let me talk you round. You never know, I might even forgive you.”
The Danish comedian, presenter and activist came out as gay in 1994. She entered a civil partnership with her wife Debbie Toksvig in 2007.
Sandi and Debbie later renewed their vows on the day same-sex marriage was made legal in England in 2014.
Editor’s note: The headline on this story has been changed from the original version.