The brief but bitter campaign to expose the hidden homosexuality of Anglican bishops in the
mid-1990s was framed as a contest about hypocrisy, with bishops – whether suspected of
homosexuality or not – condemned as hypocrites and the Church of England as hypocritical.
However, the activists behind this ‘outing’, and the media which covered the story with such
enthusiasm, were similarly attacked for hypocrisy. A neglected moment in recent
ecclesiastical history, it reveals the ongoing importance of hypocrisy in debates about the
nature of faith and the authority of the church. Still more, it sheds light on how contemporary
assumptions about authenticity both intensified the perceived importance of hypocrisy and
increased the chances of being accused of acting hypocritically.
