News Tutu forced to quit over gay marriage 
 
 Reverend Canon Mpho Tutu-Van Furth has revealed that her licence to preach is being revoked because she married a woman – so, she’s decided to quit instead. 
 
 Newlyweds Mpho and Marceline Tutu-Van Furth are on honeymoon on the Indian Ocean island of Bali after their wedding at a Franschhoek wine estate attended by Mpho’s parents, Leah and Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu. 
 
 “Bali is quite magical,” said Mpho in an email to City Press, adding that she had decided to “give up” her ministerial duties – her authority to preside at Holy Communion, and to officiate at weddings, baptisms and funerals in South Africa. 
 
 “Because the South African Anglican Church does not recognise our marriage, I can no longer exercise my priestly ministry in South Africa,” she said. “The bishop of the Diocese of Saldanha Bay [Bishop Raphael Hess] was instructed to revoke my licence. 
 
 “I decided that I would give it to him rather than have him take it, a slightly more dignified option with the same effect.” 
 
 While same-sex marriage was legalised in South Africa in 2006, the South African Anglican law on marriage states: “Holy matrimony is the lifelong and exclusive union between one man and one woman.” 
 
 Debate over same-sex marriage is dividing the Anglican Church around the world and, in South Africa, Mpho and Marceline’s high-profile union has brought the issue to a head. The couple legally tied the knot in Marceline’s home country, the Netherlands, in December. Soon after, Cape Town’s Archbishop Thabo Makgoba indicated that pastoral guidelines for same-sex marriage would be reconsidered in September. 
 
 Makgoba could not be reached for comment this week. His office manager, Wendy Kelderman, said he was away on a retreat. 
 
 Desmond Tutu said this week that Makgoba allowed him to give his daughter and her bride a “father’s blessing”. 
 
 “Archbishop Thabo permitted me to give the couple a father’s blessing, which we hoped would not be misconstrued as pre-empting decisions of the Provincial Synod, the church’s highest legislative structure,” he said. 
 
 Mpho pointed out that despite their obvious differences, ironically, it now is her and Marceline’s sameness that was causing distress. 
 
 “My wife and I meet across almost every dimension of difference. Some of our differences are obvious; she is tall and white, I am black and vertically challenged. Some of our differences are not apparent at a glance; she is Dutch and an atheist, I am South African and a priest in the Episcopal/Anglican Church. 
 
 “Ironically, coming from a past where difference was the instrument of division, it is our sameness that is now the cause of distress. My wife and I are both women,” she said. 
 
 Mpho said she and Marceline had been confronted with gender stereotypes, and the one that irked her most was the “who’s the man in the relationship?” question. She also criticised skewed power relationships in households and abusive men in South Africa. 
 
 “In the South African context, one could also ask: ‘Who gets to have multiple sexual partners (in or out of wedlock), and who gets to be drunk and violently abusive to his partner with little fear of religious sanction and no cultural consequence?’ 
 
 “We have decided that we will both be the woman in the relationship. We meet as mutually respectful equals who enjoy working together. 
 
 “Neither of us stays home. Both of us enjoy cooking. We share responsibility for cleaning and employ domestic workers. Parenting our four children on two continents is a joy and a challenge. Our marriage is for our mutual joy and support. We have decided to forgo the violence and infidelity.” 
 
 She added that she was still a priest in good standing in the Episcopal Church in the US, where same-sex marriage is recognised. Marceline is a professor of paediatric infectious diseases at the Vrije Universiteit medical centre in Amsterdam, while Mpho has been reinstated as executive director of the Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation in Cape Town. 
 
 They have described their relationship as a “laptop love affair”, saying the distance had done nothing to quell their passion. 
 
 TALK TO US 
 
 What do you think of the Anglican Church’s decision to revoke Tutu’s licence? 
 
 SMS us on 35697 using the keyword TUTU and tell us what you think. Please include your name and province. SMSes cost R1.50 ||||| 
 
 A photo of Mpho Tutu and her father, Desmond, sits on the bookshelf in her office in Alexandria, Va. (Carol Guzy for The Washington Post) 
 
 In a country still deeply riven by division over differences — in race, class, political affiliation and more — it is Mpho Tutu's "sameness" to her new wife that has created a stir. 
 
 Tutu (now Tutu-Van Furth) is the daughter of South Africa's first black archbishop and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, and is really only the "same" as her wife in one way — they are both women. But in almost every other imaginable way, they are different. Tutu is black, South African, a devout priest and, as she puts it, "vertically challenged." Marceline Tutu-Van Furth is lanky, Dutch, atheist and a professor of pediatric diseases in Amsterdam. 
 
 South Africa's Anglican church, where Tutu-Van Furth until recently practiced as a priest, isn't ready to accept those with alternative sexualities as members of its clergy. Tutu-Van Furth was ordained at the Historic Christ Church in Alexandria, Va., and since the Episcopal Church, the U.S.-based branch of the Anglican Communion, accepts priests who have entered into same-sex marriages, she can still practice in the United States. 
 
 [Anglican Communion suspends the Episcopal Church after years of gay rights debates] 
 
 “Because the South African Anglican church does not recognize our marriage, I can no longer exercise my priestly ministry in South Africa,” Tutu-van Furth told local media. “The bishop [of Cape Town] was instructed to revoke my license. I decided that I would give it to him rather than have him take it, a slightly more dignified option with the same effect.” 
 
 The Tutu-Van Furths were married on Dec. 30, 2015, but Mpho Tutu-Van Furth didn't reveal that she was being forced out of the South African clergy until recently. 
 
 The South African Anglican church will decide in the coming year whether to change its stance. South Africa legalized same-sex marriage in 2006, making it the first country to do so in Africa. Thabo Makgoba, the current archbishop of Cape Town — the role which Tutu-Van Furth's father held — has spoken about his church's refusal to accept priests from the LGBT community as a problem of discrimination to overcome, similar to anointing blacks or women in the past. 
 
 Desmond Tutu, renowned for his vocal opposition to apartheid, has also championed the cause of LGBT equality. 
 
 “I would refuse to go to a homophobic heaven. No, I would say sorry, I mean I would much rather go to the other place,” he said in 2013. “I would not worship a God who is homophobic and that is how deeply I feel about this. I am as passionate about this campaign as I ever was about apartheid. For me, it is at the same level.” 
 
 His newlywed daughter and her wife are currently honeymooning in Bali. 
 
 Read More: 
 
 Rape is black people’s ‘pastime,’ white South African judge says in Facebook rant 
 
 Zimbabwe is planning to print its own ‘U.S. dollars’ ||||| 1/30 19 July 2016 Turkey's Prime Minister Binali Yildrim addresses members of parliament from his ruling AK Party (AKP) during a meeting at the Turkish parliament in Ankara REUTERS 
 
 2/30 18 July 2016 Melania Trump, wife of Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump, waves as she arrives to speak at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland Reuters 
 
 3/30 18 July 2016 Britain's Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson listens to Spain's Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo (L) during an European Union foreign ministers meeting in Brussels REUTERS 
 
 4/30 17 July 2016 Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reacts after attending the funeral of a victim of the coup attempt in Istanbul Getty Images 
 
 5/30 16 July 2016 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, introduces Gov. Mike Pence, during a campaign event to announce Pence as the vice presidential running mate, in New York. Trump called Pence "my partner in this campaign" and his first and best choice to join him on a winning Republican presidential ticket AP 
 
 6/30 15 July 2016 French President Francois Hollande looks on as he speaks to journalists at the Prefectoral Palace the day after a gunman smashed a truck into a crowd of revellers celebrating Bastille Day in Nice, killing at least 84 people AFP/Getty Images 
 
 7/30 14 July 2016 Newly appointed British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson leaves his home in north London AP 
 
 8/30 13 July 2016 Queen Elizabeth II welcomes Theresa May at the start of an audience, where she invited the former Home Secretary to become Prime Minister and form a new government, at Buckingham Palace. Former Home Secretary Theresa May becomes the UK's second female Prime Minister after she was selected unopposed by Conservative MPs to be their new party leader Getty Images Europe 
 
 9/30 13 July 2016 Outgoing British Prime Minister David Cameron is accompanied by his wife Samantha and their children as they hug on the doorsteps upon their departure from No. 10 Downing Street for the last time EPA 
 
 10/30 12 July 2016 Pakistani Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai arrives to celebrate her 19th birthday at the Dadaab refugee camp near the Kenya-Somalia border REUTERS 
 
 11/30 11 July 2016 Britain's new Conservative Party leader Theresa May receives a kiss from her husband Philip John May, after speaking to members of the media at The St Stephen's entrance to the Palace of Westminster in London. Theresa May will become the prime minister who leads Britain's into Brexit talks after her only rival in the race to succeed David Cameron pulled out unexpectedly. May was left as the only contender standing after the withdrawal from the leadership race of Andrea Leadsom, who faced criticism for suggesting she was more qualified to be premier because she had children AFP/Getty Images 
 
 12/30 11 July 2016 Prime Minister David Cameron gestures as he addresses the media outside 10 Downing Street, where he announced that Theresa May would be Britain's new leader AFP/Getty Images 
 
 13/30 11 July 2016 Andrea Leadsom, a candidate to become the next Conservative Party leader and British prime minister, rules herself out of the leadership battle during a news conference in central London REUTERS 
 
 14/30 10 July 2016 Portugal's forward Cristiano Ronaldo reacts as he is carried on a stretcher off the pitch by team medics after an injury following a clash with France's forward Dimitri Payet (not pictured) during the Euro 2016 final football match between Portugal and France at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, north of Paris AFP/Getty Images 
 
 15/30 10 July 2016 Britain's Andy Murray kisses the winner's trophy after his men's singles final victory over Canada's Milos Raonic on the last day of the 2016 Wimbledon Championships at The All England Lawn Tennis Club in Wimbledon AFP/Getty Images 
 
 16/30 10 July 2016 British driver Lewis Hamilton celebrates with fans after climbing the paddock fence after winning the British Formula One Grand Prix at Silverstone motor racing circuit in Silverstone AFP/Getty Images 
 
 17/30 9 July 2016 Serena Williams celebrates beating Germany's Angelique Kerber in the women's singles final on the thirteenth day of the 2016 Wimbledon Championships in London AFP/Getty Images 
 
 18/30 8 July 2016 Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Prince George during a visit to the Royal International Air Tattoo at RAF Fairford Getty Images 
 
 19/30 8 July 2016 U.S. President Barack Obama delivers remarks on the police shootings in Dallas Reuters 
 
 20/30 7 July 2016 Justice Secretary Michael Gove makes a statement outside the Palace of Westminster, after he was eliminated in the second round of MPs' voting for the Conservative leadership PA 
 
 21/30 6 July 2016 Olympic and Paralympic track star Oscar Pistorius reacts with his sister Aimee Pistorius at his sentence hearing at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria. Pistorius has been sentenced to six years in prison for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp REUTERS 
 
 22/30 6 July 2016 Former Prime Minister Tony Blair responds to the Chilcot report Getty Images 
 
 23/30 6 July 2016 David Beckham and his sons Romeo Beckham (R), and Cruz Beckham watch the action on centre court on day ten of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London AP 
 
 24/30 5 July 2016 Will Smith and his daughter Willow Smith pose before Chanel 2016-2017 fall/winter Haute Couture collection fashion show in Paris AFP/Getty Images 
 
 25/30 4 July 2016 Nigel Farage steps down as a leader of Ukip Rex 
 
 26/30 3 July 2016 Andrea Leadsom and Britain's Justice Secretary Michael Gove, both candidates to succeed David Cameron as British prime minister, are seen appearing on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show REUTERS 
 
 27/30 2 July 2016 Queen Elizabeth II leaves with Ken Macintosh, Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament, following the opening of the fifth session of the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, Scotland AFP/Getty Images 
 
 28/30 1 July 2016 French President Francois Hollande, Prince William Duke of Cambridge, British Prime Minister David Cameron, Prince Harry and Britain's Prince Charles the Prince of Wales during the ceremony to mark the centenary of the Battle of the Somme at the Thiepval monument, in Thiepval, near Amiens, northern France. The Battle of the Somme remains as one of the most deadly battles of the First World War EPA 
 
 29/30 30 June 2016 Boris Johnson speaks during a press conference at St Ermin's Hotel in London, where he formally announced that he will not enter the race to succeed David Cameron in Downing Street PA
– The daughter of Africa's most famous archbishop is leaving the priesthood over her marriage to a woman. The Washington Post reports Reverend Mpho Tutu-Van Furth, daughter of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Desmond Tutu, married Marceline Furth in December. Same-sex marriage was legalized in South Africa in 2006, but the South African Anglican Church still defines marriage as between a man and a woman, according to the Independent. Tutu-Van Furth tells City Press that the church was going to take away her license to preach, so she decided to quit instead. She calls it "a slightly more dignified option with the same effect.” As the daughter of one of the leading voices against apartheid, Tutu-Van Furth finds her situation ironic. "Coming from a past where difference was the instrument of division, it is our sameness that is now the cause of distress," she tells City Press. "My wife and I are both women." The South African Anglican Church plans to debate changing its position on same-sex marriage within the next year. In the meantime, Tutu-Van Furth maintains her priesthood in the American Episcopal Church. Her father has called homophobia "the same level" of problem as apartheid. “I would refuse to go to a homophobic heaven," the Post quotes Desmond Tutu as saying. "No, I would say sorry, I mean I would much rather go to the other place. I would not worship a God who is homophobic and that is how deeply I feel about this."