The United Methodist Church has overturned its ban on LGBTQ+ clergy.
As CNN reported:
The United Methodist Church overturned its 40-year ban on gay clergy Wednesday, marking a historic shift in the church’s stance on homosexuality.
[...]
In a 692-51 vote, church leaders passed several rules without debate, including overturning both its ban on gay clergy and the penalties for holding same-sex marriages, according to the United Methodist News service.
This was a long time in coming; the ban on the ordination of “self-avowed practicing homosexuals” was instituted in 1984, followed by a prohibition of performing or celebrating same-sex marriages. The intervening years saw bitter and angry debate within the UMC, and these issues were a major contributing factor to the schism that saw roughly 1100 conservative congregations leave the UMC for the Global Methodist Church, which was founded in 2022.
United Methodist News reported:
Also on the consent calendar, delegates voted that superintendents are not to penalize clergy or churches for holding— or refraining from holding — same-sex weddings.
Another change approved exhorts the Council of Bishops to be inclusive of gender, race, ethnicity, age, people with disabilities, sexual orientation and economic condition in naming representatives to ecumenical organizations .
The legislation approved on this morning’s consent calendar continues the trend of this General Conference, which is quietly reversing some of The United Methodist Church’s longtime restrictions against LGBTQ members.
The delegates seem to be moving quickly, now that the conservative congregations have departed:
On the April 30 consent calendar, General Conference removed a number of constraints on ministry with and by gay people. One of the key changes was eliminating a ban on using United Methodist funds to “promote acceptance of homosexuality.”
In 2016, General Conference delegates referred to that ban in not supporting the funding of suicide prevention efforts for LGBTQ youth.
It should be noted that nothing passed by General Conference or under consideration would compel churches to receive a gay pastor. The legislation approved this morning also explicitly protects the right of clergy and churches not to officiate at or host same-sex weddings.
With these changes, the UMC is granting significant autonomy to its local congregations. Now, I’m a Baptist, so this strikes me as “the way it should be”; with neither denominational fiat nor punishment hanging over their heads, congregations and individuals can continue to work through these issues at their own pace...and the larger UMC is giving them the ability to do just that. Back to CNN:
LGBTQ advocates within the church hailed the decision.
Matt Patrick, co-pastor at the University United Methodist Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, told CNN after the church announced the decision
“I did tear up this morning at the announcement of the vote because it was just a huge relief to see justice had been done after so many years,” he said. “There’s just been a lot of pain in order to get us to this place.”
Though the prohibition on gay clergy has been removed from the church bylaws, Patrick said the work will continue to ensure the Methodist church is as an inclusive place for everyone.
All in all, I think it’s a good day for my Methodist friends...