A religious leader who identifies as gender-queer believes they may be the first openly non-binary priest to be ordained in the Church of England. Bingo Allison, of Norris Green, attends a variety of schools and assemblies in the hopes of inspiring others who find themselves in the same situation.
Throughout the 36-year-old's journey of self-discovery, Bingo noted they've met 'amazing and faithful' Christians belonging to the LGBTQ+ community. The third-generation priest remarked that such people 'are a blessing to the church'.
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After meeting such people, Bingo came to realise that their traditional and conservative view of the world was something they wanted to distance themselves from. Bingo grew up in a 'strongly religious' household where gay people were only referred to as a "sinful thing".
Bingo's outlook on life changed on one occasion when someone corrected them for referring to gay marriage as an 'issue'. After being challenged, the parent-of-three said it helped them to see a 'new way' and a 'different way of thinking'.
Speaking to the Liverpool Echo, they added: "My views used to be very traditional and very conservative certainly. Some might call them bigoted and there was a lot of ignorance and a lot of ‘othering’. I didn’t take the time to learn from other people’s experiences.
"I was definitely in a lot of denial and some of that denial came out in denial of other people's identities."
Seven years ago, Bingo came across the term gender-queer - after this, 'everything suddenly clicked'. However, they considered holding off exploring their identity until they finished their training as a vicar. But this was more difficult than they originally predicted.
They added: “It was a lot harder than I thought having come out to myself to then remain in the closet. There were definitely lots of times before when I kind of questioned my identity but growing up in a more conservative form of Christianity meant that it was just so far beyond my imagination.
"I didn't know any trans people and I think I probably met two gay people in my life. So it was like another planet almost to me. There were a few times when I really questioned things. But because I didn't really have the vocabulary to describe my experience it just kind of didn't go anywhere.”
While writing an essay on how God created the earth, Bingo had a sudden epiphany. They noted that the original language used in Genesis 1:27 spoke about 'from maleness to femaleness' instead of men and women.
They added: “I was sitting there in the middle of the night when I realised I might need to run my life upside down. It was a deepening spiritual experience, I properly felt God was guiding me into this new truth about myself. One of the things that has kept with my ministry ever since is that transition and coming out can and should be a spiritual experience, as well as an emotional and social and sometimes physical one.
"There is something beautiful about growing into who we were created to be and growing into our authentic selves.”
Speaking about the younger generation in the LGBTQ+ community, Bingo said: "I try to get involved in, not just in my religious work but outside it, with the local secular LGBT youth groups. One of the biggest things is just being a visual representation in my community and going into schools, doing assemblies and making a huge difference in normalising it for children.
"When I’m wearing my collar it lets children know that is okay and that there is a place in church and the outside world for people like me.”
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