By PETER SMITH (Associated Press)
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — United Methodist delegates voted on Friday to abolish their church’s long-standing ban on the celebration of same-sex marriages or unions by its clergy and in its churches.
The decision represented the final major reversal of a set of LGBTQ bans and disapprovals that had been present in the laws and social teachings of the United Methodist Church for the past fifty years.
The UMC’s General Conference approved the change with a 447-233 vote, one day after delegates voted overwhelmingly to repeal a 52-year-old statement that declared the practice of homosexuality as “incompatible with Christian teaching,” and two days after they lifted the ban on LGBTQ clergy. It’s the UMC’s first legislative gathering since 2019, and it featured its most progressive group of delegates in memory following the departure of more than 7,600 mostly conservative congregations in the United States because the church had essentially stopped enforcing its bans on same-sex marriage and LGBTQ ordination..
The delegates agreed to eliminate a section in their Book of Discipline, or church law, which states: “Ceremonies that celebrate homosexual unions shall not be conducted by our ministers and shall not be conducted in our churches.”
Clergy will not be required or forbidden from conducting any marriage, according to the existing law affirmed with minor revisions on Friday.
On Thursday, delegates approved Revised Social Principles, or statements of the church’s values. In addition to removing the language about homosexuality being “incompatible with Christian teaching,” the revision also defined marriage as a covenant between two adults, without restricting it to heterosexual couples, as the previous version had.
Although Social Principles are not binding, the clause that was removed on Friday had the force of law.
However, regional conferences outside the United States have the authority to establish their own rules, so churches in Africa and other regions with more conservative views on sexuality could maintain bans on same-sex marriage and LGBTQ clergy. A proposed amendment to the church constitution could also allow the U.S. region to make such adjustments.
The change does not mandate or explicitly affirm same-sex marriages, but it eliminates their prohibition. It will come into effect on Saturday at the close of the General Conference.
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partnership with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. United Methodist delegates have overturned their church’s long-standing ban on the celebration of same-sex marriages or unions by its clergy. This decision represented the final major overturning of a half-century's collection of LGBTQ bans and disapprovals embedded in the laws and social teachings of the United Methodist Church. The 447-233 vote by the UMC’s General Conference came one day after delegates overwhelmingly voted to repeal a 52-year-old statement that declared the practice of homosexuality as “incompatible with Christian teaching,” and two days after they lifted the ban on LGBTQ clergy.
