Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s Daughter ‘Sad’ To Leave Priesthood After Gay Marriage

Mpho who came out as a lesbian following her marriage to Danish Marceline van Furth in January this year in an interview with the BBC’s News Day programme on Thursday June 9,2016 said that choosing between the person she loved and her priestly duties was a difficult one. “I have to think of all of the people for whom the choice was. I can be a priest or I can be with the person I love and at the end I can’t have both.”

“Falling in love with Marceline is probably a surprise to me more than anyone. I knew when I married Marceline that there was a chance that I would have to give up my licence. It was incredibly sad for me…to be in a position where I can’t serve at the alter… I was surprised by how much it landed because it wasn’t expected,” she told the BBC.

For Mpho, she feels more of a bisexual than a lesbian and according to her, “my marriage sounds like a coming out party.”

Desmond Tutu, 84, a retired South African Anglican Archbishop who has previously spoken out in favour of gay marriage was present at the celebrations with his wife.

Asked how her father received the news of her marriage, Mpho said, “I think it has saddened him as well. It has saddened him as this is where the church is now and yes of course, he’s a father and I’m his child.”

She expressed the hope that her decision to come out would spark a conversation in the Anglican Church.

“We have gay, lesbian, transgender, bisexual and people of every description sitting in our pews and standing in our pulpits as well and yet very often they sit in fear in the pews and they stand in fear in the pulpits because they are not free to fully owe who they are and who they love.”

Same-sex marriage was legalised in South Africa in 2006.