PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL
Mr Sam Margrave
By email: Reference 87282
2 February 2023
Dear Sam,
Our attention has been drawn to your comments on Twitter over the last few weeks.
We have read the comments. We have also both received correspondence about your
comments, as have others in the Church. It is clear that the comments you have made have
caused other members of the Church to feel intimidated, bullied and distressed and we are
dismayed by this. Not only have the things you’ve said lacked nuance, they have failed to
distinguish between serious allegations of criminal behaviour of specific individuals and
the wider law-abiding LGBTQI+ community.
We are writing as Archbishops to rebuke such behaviour and to ask that you:
• apologise publicly for your language and the offence it has caused;
• moderate your language in future on social media so that it remains within the spirit
of the Code of Conduct for Members of the General Synod;
• refrain from making generalised allegations of the behaviour of LGBTQI+ people.
Membership of the General Synod is a privilege and a way in which we serve before
God. Our code of conduct requires us to behave to “the highest professional standards of
integrity in order to maintain public trust and confidence”. I trust that we can expect you
to display this.
Yours sincerely,
The Most Revd & Rt Hon Justin Welby
Archbishop of Canterbury
The Most Revd & Rt Hon Stephen Cottrell
Archbishop of York