The Church of England has its first nonbinary priest.
Bingo Allison, 36, works as a priest in Liverpool, England, and identifies as nonbinary, using they/them pronouns. During Allison’s time at seminary, the priest discovered this nonbinary identity while reading Genesis 1:27.
“I properly felt God was guiding me into this new truth about myself,” Allison told the Liverpool Echo in a profile published Sunday.
Genesis 1:27 reads, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”
Allison came out seven years ago while training for the priesthood and was ordained in 2020. In an interview with BBC Radio Merseyside in 2021, Allison said that the Church of England was open to having a nonbinary priest. (RELATED: ‘The Darkest Day’: Scottish Parliament Passes Bill That Lets Anyone Change Their Gender With No Dysphoria Diagnosis)
Bingo Allison being interviewed as part of a conference panel on “neurodivergence and intersectionality.”
Allison is married and has three children.
“It was difficult for my wife to begin with obviously you marry what you think is a straight guy and suddenly things are more complicated than that,” Allison told BBC Radio Merseyside. “But I’d like to believe you marry the person someone becomes as much as you marry the person that they are.”
The priest is also an activist for transgender issues, traveling to schools, speaking to youth groups and allegedly posting a selfie with a caption claiming that Jesus “loves sparkly eyeshadow,” according to the Daily Mail.
“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 normalizing it for children,” Allison told the Liverpool Echo. “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.”