From here:

A vicar who outraged his parishioners when he dressed as a ‘tart’ for a fundraising costume party has retired from the Church.

The Reverend Martin Wray left his position at St Lawrence the Martyr Church in Horsley Hill, South Shields, after being on sick leave for several months following his part in the charity bash.

The 59-year-old was photographed at the  ‘vicars and tarts’ party wearing a mini-skirt, gold leggings and high heels at the town’s Steamboat pub on the Mill Dam in August last year.

What was meant to be a fun event though caused a stir at the church, with some of the congregation believing the published photograph of the vicar as a ‘tart’ brought his  parish into disrepute.

But friends of Mr Wray, who entered into a gay partnership last May and who continues to live in the town, said the whole episode had ‘a whiff of homophobia’ about it.

It brings home just how muddled the Church of England has become when a vicar has to don a miniskirt and gold tights in addition to having a homosexual lover before his parishioners suspect something untoward is going on.