“I mean, it isn’t, it was about 13 years ago, but when I reflect today on where we are and how much things have changed in that short time, it’s quite remarkable to me. “It honestly seems like a world ago (that I joined Queen’s Cross in Aberdeen),” he told STV News. Perhaps nobody is better placed to comment on the changing attitudes of the Church and its role in modern Scotland than Rev Rennie, who has faced intense media scrutiny as he navigates his professional and personal life.
“I’ll think there will be a flurry and there might even be a race to see who can be the first one to do it, which is lovely.” Scott Rennie Gay rights campaigners hailed the move, but more than 12,000 signed a petition in protest.įast forward 13 years and the 2022 General Assembly of the Church of Scotland voted this week to allow parish ministers and deacons to marry same-sex couples if they wish. The atmosphere around his departure for a new challenge at a church in the bright lights of London’s West End was all a far cry from his arrival at Queen’s Cross in 2009.īack then he was the first openly gay Protestant minister after being appointed to the role by the Church of Scotland – a move that fiercely divided the Kirk and drew angry protests. STV News Rev Rennie addressed the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland this week.
