Dr. Carol Joyner

Dr. Carol Joyner (she/her) was born in 1971 in East Kilbride, Lanarkshire, Scotland. Her family was Scottish, but they moved to Swansea, in South Wales, when Carol was a child because of Carol’s father's work in the Civil Service.

Carol’s school years began in a very working-class primary school in a very tough working-class area of South Wales. This is where Carol experienced bullying in her primary and secondary school, because of her Scottish accent, her tomboyish outlook and her intelligence. Despite this, Carol excelled in her schoolwork academically. As a youth, Carol desired to have a motorbike, be in a rock band and travel the world. Further, as a teenager, Carol confessed her same-sex attraction to a friend, who later told everyone about Carol’s orientation. Sadly, this caused some former friends and acquaintances to shun Carol.

Carol came to faith at 17 years old, encouraged by a friend. This friend had gifted Carol a Bible after getting to know her. This meant a lot to Carol, as she was not used to receiving gifts like that. Carol started reading the Gospels and found Jesus to be incredibly approachable, which led her to embrace the Christian faith. She began praying and participating in church activities. Moreover, Carol’s parents followed the tradition of the Church of Scotland but lacked personal faith themselves. Her newfound faith did not interest her parents much, as they saw it as a passing phase.

Nevertheless, Carol’s parents questioned if Carol was a fundamentalist because of her faith, and the churches she visited later, like the fundamentalist Christian Union at Southampton University and the charismatic Central Southampton Vineyard Church in Southampton. Carol was drawn into these fundamentalist churches because of their contemporary worship music and the leaders’ warm welcome and interest in her.

In 1989, Carol was accepted at the University of Southampton at age 18, where she studied German. At that time, the Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher led the UK, and Section 28 legislation had recently been passed, banning the promotion of homosexuality. Carol recalls that liberal Christianity was not widely discussed, and queerness was generally considered a deeply inappropriate orientation. This impacted Carol’s life oppressively. She faced significant struggles during this period, often kissing queer women while intoxicated and then feeling intense guilt about it. She would then return to the Christian Union and seek out other evangelical organisations, where members would pray for her, trying to cast out what they believed to be evil spirits. Around this time, Carol got involved in the charismatic fundamentalist Central Southampton Vineyard Church in Southampton. There, she received kindness, yet also an intense condemnation of her same-sex desire. This led to healing prayers, both here and at associated conference venues, and Carol tried to convince herself that the prayers were working.

She met her husband at the University of Southampton and got married in 1996 at 25 years old. Yet, Carol deeply yearned to be held by a woman and embarked on a number of romantic relationships with women throughout the marriage. She started to visit the local Church of England church, which offered more activities for her three young children than the Vineyard Church. Carol began leading services and preaching here, which led her to be accepted into lay ministry training. However, Carol continued to struggle in her opposite-sex marriage and in 2016, she divorced her husband. She had already left lay ministry training in the Church of England, realising her sexual orientation was incompatible with the teaching of the church.

Carol started her Ph.D. in 2014, with innovative research into the mental health and well-being of USA and UK bisexual Christians. This groundbreaking research received funding from the American Institute of Bisexuality, which enabled Carol to complete a field trip to Dallas and Boston in the USA. Carol finished her Ph.D. research in just over three years and immediately found a leading academic publisher for her research. She also started her autobiography, which was later published under the pseudonym Jaime Sommers. Additionally, in 2016, Carol started to attend the European Forum of LGBTI+ Christian Groups. She successfully led her first bisexuality workshop at the European Forum that year in Gothenburg also, which was profoundly rewarding for her. After becoming European Forum Secretary, Carol also held a keynote speech at the Canterbury conference of the European Forum in 2019. She continued writing on the topic of bisexuality and Christianity, being published by several academic publishers in the UK and internationally, as well as publishing fiction and non-fiction independently during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Carol Joyner met her wife Siân in 2018. In July 2021, Carol moved to Scotland to join her wife, a Senior University Lecturer. The couple were married in 2022 in Augustine United Church, in Edinburgh. Augustine United Church is, according to her, the best church she has ever attended. Lately, she has become a part of their preaching team also. Nowadays, she enjoys hobbies such as beach walks, learning to play the guitar, writing fiction and non-fiction and travel.

Currently, Dr. Carol Joyner is co-writing an edited volume on Bisexual Christian Stories and looking forward to her studies to become an Assembly Accredited Lay Minister in the United Reformed Church, beginning in September 2025.

(This biographical statement written by Elina Mäkinen from an interview with Carol Joyner and was reviewed by Joyner.)

Biography Date: July 2025

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