For the first time in history, the UK has appointed a lesbian woman, Cherry Vann, as Archbishop of Wales.
The series of changes began with the departure of Andrew John, who stepped down last month after three and a half years in office. His resignation followed a safety review at Bangor Cathedral, which identified issues with “blurred sexual boundaries” and “acceptable disorderly relationships.”
Cherry Elizabeth Vann, 66, an openly lesbian woman who has been in a same-sex civil partnership for the past 10 years, was elected the new Archbishop of Wales on July 30 2025. She became the first woman to hold the position of head of the Church of Wales, one of the member churches of the Anglican Communion, according to Christian Today.
The election took place after a two-day meeting of a college of clergy and lay people at St Peter’s Church near Chepstow. The enthronement of the new Archbishop of Wales would take place in the coming months at Newport Cathedral.
One of the first women to be ordained as a priest in the Anglican Church, Vann has served as Bishop of Monmouth since 2020 and will continue in that role alongside her ministry as head of the Church in Wales. In 2021, she became head of the Open Table Network, an organisation that supports an ecumenical network of LGBT communities across England and Wales.
Andrea Williams, leader of the conservative evangelical group Christian Concern, described the election of the 15th Archbishop of Wales as “a clear sign of apostasy” marking a “tragic moment” for the church, which “has now institutionally turned its back on biblical teaching on sexual morality.”
“This appointment marks a tragic moment, showing that the Church in Wales is openly rebelling against the Word of God. It is a clear sign of apostasy,” Williams said.
According to the Christian activist, “having been ordained a priest and now an archbishop,” Chery Vann, who “swore to uphold the teachings of the Church,” instead publicly denies “these very doctrines.”
“No Bible-believing Christian can remain under the spiritual leadership of someone who so publicly rejects the clear teachings of Scripture,” Williams emphasised.
Anglicanism was the established religion in Wales until 1920, when the Welsh dioceses separated from the Church of England and gained independence. Nevertheless, the Church in Wales, like the Church of England, belongs to the Anglican Communion and recognises the Archbishop of Canterbury as first among equals, but without official authority. It currently consists of six dioceses and a regularly meeting synod, which is its governing body.
The Church in Wales has allowed its clergy to enter into same-sex civil partnerships since 2005, and since 2021 has blessed civil marriages and partnerships between people of the same sex for a period of five years. The Synod of the Church in Wales plans to review this decision in the near future and may extend this practice or vote to allow same-sex “marriages” in the spring.
