United Methodist Church Repeals Ban On LGBTQ Clergy – Mother Jones

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On Wednesday, the United Methodist Church repealed its 1984 ban on LGBTQ clergy with an awesome 692–51 vote by church leaders at its basic convention. The convention, which ends on Might 3, has additionally resulted within the church rolling again a number of different anti-LGBTQ insurance policies, together with bans on performing homosexual marriage and funding queer-friendly ministries. 

The passage of those measures heralded a brand new period for the church. On the conference in 2019, delegates, made up of each clergy and laypeople, voted 438 to 384 to affirm the bans struck down on this 12 months’s convention and heightened penalties for breaking them. However 2024 marks the primary conference after an ideological schism between conservative and progressive Methodists led some parishes to buck restrictions on LGBTQ worshippers whereas others doubled down. 

Between 2019 and 2023, one-quarter of US Methodist denominations disaffiliated from the United Methodist Church. Because the progressive arm of the church gained energy, many conservative parishes disaffiliated from the United Methodist Church, clearing the trail for progressives to reverse anti-LGBTQ bans with overwhelming help. 

Nonetheless, the combat for parity shouldn’t be over. Wednesday’s repeal doesn’t mandate that every one parishes settle for queer clergy. It could additionally apply solely to Methodist church buildings within the US, since parishes from different nations management their very own governance. But even this measured win sparked an enthusiastic response from the group. Advocates embraced and applauded teary-eyed, in line with the Related Press, and celebrations rang out outdoors the conference middle. 

Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons, creator of Simply Religion: Reclaiming Progressive Christianity, wrote in a NBC Information op-ed that these modifications ought to mark a shift within the cultural understanding of queerness in faith. “We will put to relaxation the concept that faith and LGBTQ rights are inherently in battle,” he wrote. “Simply as optimistic views on LGBTQ rights have trended upward, so, too, have Christian teams advanced their theological understandings of human sexuality and gender id.”