The Church of Ireland’s Bishop of Cork Paul Colton has broken ranks with his colleagues and come out in favor of gay marriage.

The Church of Ireland’s Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross has broken ranks with his colleagues and come out in favor of gay marriage. On 18 May 2014 the Rt. Rev. Paul Colton told the BBC Northern Ireland’s ‘Sunday Sequence’ that “I certainly support civil same-sex marriage” and hoped the Church of Ireland would revise its marriage canons to permit gay church weddings. Shortly before last month’s unsuccessful vote to permit gay marriage by the Northern Ireland Legislative Assembly the CoI’s Church and Society Commission released a statement affirming its teaching that marriage can only be between one man and one woman. Dr. Colton told the BBC that he would “adhere to that discipline but that is not to say that everyone must be required to take the Church of Ireland’s view of marriage.” While the Church of Ireland in the Republic of Ireland often supports a more liberal theological agenda, the larger evangelically inclined dioceses of Ulster strongly oppose the innovation.