Bishop John Parkes has put himself at risk of being defrocked for leading the way for blessings of same-sex marriages in the Anglican church, but says he will have no regrets.
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It had led to an outpouring of praise and support over the past two days, particular for couple John Davis and Rob Whalley who are both priests and will become the first gay couple in Australia to be officially blessed by the church, after they get married next week.
Anglicans from Melbourne and Sydney have already pushed for action to be taken against the bishop, but he said he is willing to stand up to any questions and defend his position.
He said it is clear that sexual identity is not binary and it is "just fair dinkum wrong" to tell people they are not accepted.
"There are those who are trenchant in their criticism and we will answer those critics in the appropriate tribunal of the church, but I'm convinced that what we're doing here is right, godly and constitutional," Bishop Parkes said.
"It's a moment of great satisfaction. Our church has been paralysed for 30 years and the people who really suffer when we have these nasty debates are gay and lesbian people."
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He will conduct the blessing for Father Davis and Father Whalley.
"I've been friends with John and Rob for a decade - I know them and I know their love for each other and their love for God and their love for the church," he said.
"For me, it will be an enormous privilege to pray with them and to celebrate the actions they've taken."
Father Davis said it was a huge relief to hear the outcome of Saturday's vote.
After a life of dealing internally with being both men of faith and part of the LGBTQIA community, the couple are now in the spotlight, both focused on their wedding day and standing up and being counted for who they are.
"We are offering something for people like us for whom it is really important," Father Davis said.
"We're unlikely poster boys, but here we are."
Father Whalley remembers the moment 20 years ago when he told Father Davis, "if it were legal, I'd marry you now".
"Within several weeks of knowing this man I looked at him and thought 'I'd love to walk with him for the rest of my life' and it's turned out to be so," he said.
"I think for us to stand here after 20 years and say 'this is who we are under the grace of god' and have the community say 'by the grace of god we're with you' is a tremendous gift. It's lovely for us after 20 years, but I keep thinking of some 15-year-old kid in Whitfield or Wagga or Wodonga who is looking at themselves and saying 'where do I make sense?', so it's not just for us."
Following Saturday's synod decision, Holy Trinity Cathedral dean Ken Goodger announced on Sunday that married couples would be welcome to be blessed in the cathedral - which was met with a round of applause.
"I think it's very exciting that a small country diocese is leading the way for the Australian church," he said.
"I think there's still some rough waters ahead for us in terms of what other diocese and parts of the church will be saying and how they will be responding."