EDITOR’S Note: In the research the Outlook has done we were unable to find Bible scriptures that United Methodist officials that that were considered in making the changes in the story below.

Story from UM News – 40-year ban on gay clergy struck down

(5-1-24) Without debate, General Conference has removed The United Methodist Church’s ban on the ordination of clergy who are “self-avowed practicing homosexuals” — a prohibition that dates to 1984.

General Conference during the morning plenary approved the change alongside 22 pieces of legislation on the consent calendar, which allows delegates to pass multiple petitions in bulk if they have overwhelming support in legislative committee and have no budgetary or constitutional impact.

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The vote on the consent calendar was 692-51, with approval at 93%.

Delegates and observers applauded after the vote.

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.

More potential changes are to come — possibly later today.

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.”

Changes approved on the April 30 consent calendar:

  • Remove a ban on annual conferences and denominational agencies from giving United Methodist funds to any “gay caucus group” or using funds to “promote the acceptance of homosexuality.” Instead, the provision now says annual conferences and agencies should honor the denomination’s commitment not to reject lesbian or gay members.
  • Eliminate the requirement that the General Council on Finance and Administration, the denomination’s finance agency, enforce the ban. Instead, the provision says the agency should ensure that church funds do not go to anything that rejects LGBTQ people or limits the response to the HIV epidemic.
  • Strike the ban on boards of ordained ministry from even considering candidates without evaluating whether they are “self-avowed practicing” gay people, and strike the requirement that bishops rule gay candidates ineligible.
  • Erase the mandatory penalty of at least a one-year suspension without pay for clergy found guilty of officiating at same-sex weddings or unions. This was the denomination’s only chargeable offense with a mandatory penalty.
  • Allow gay clergy in good standing to be appointed across annual conference lines when their bishop can’t locate an appointment in their conference.
  • Set a moratorium on judicial proceedings related to the denomination’s bans against “self-avowed practicing” gay clergy and same-sex weddings. The moratorium will last until General Conference alters it.

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.

Retired Bishop Hope Morgan Ward — a longtime advocate for including LGBTQ people in church life — offered a prayer after the significant vote. She invited everyone to place their hands on their hearts as they remember those in their location of ministry and service.

“You every day are great, God, and every day you are working for good in the world. Stir up in us a desire to serve you, to live peacefully with our neighbors and all creation, and devote this day to your service,” she prayed.

During break, delegates and observers formed a circle of easily 200 to 300, clapping and singing such hymns as “Child of God” and “Draw the Circle Wide.”

Many hugged and more than a few cried, in a mass release of joy for those who had pushed, some for decades, to make The United Methodist Church fully inclusive.

The scene was a marked contrast to that of the special General Conference in St. Louis in 2019, which left progressives and many centrists in the denomination distraught at the tightening of restrictions against LGBTQ participation. 

Marilyn Murphy, an observer from the South Carolina Conference who has seen the church debate this issue for decades, said she was surprised it was embedded in the consent calendar but not surprised it passed.

“We’ve been going on like this since the ’70s and, finally, in just a brief few minutes with no debate, it was gone. And now we can get on about the business of the church.”

Virginia Lee, an observer from the Virginia Conference, shared her joy.

“It’s a great day! And that just says it all.”

In addition to affirming the basic human rights of all people, the revised Social Principles passed on April 27:

  • Reject governmental use of threats, extortion, unlawful detentions, extrajudicial killings and other forms of coercion to silence political opponents.
  • Speak out against slavery, torture, genocide and war crimes.
  • Reaffirm the longtime opposition to the death penalty proclaimed by The United Methodist Church and its predecessors.
  • Commit to fair and proportional sentencing and to the humane treatment of those who are imprisoned, while insisting on accountability.
  • Support civil disobedience in protest of “unjust or immoral laws.”
  • Deplore war and all other forms of violent conflict and support people who follow the nonviolent example of Jesus.
  • Also support people who choose military service as a result of personal conviction and urge “that they perform their duties in harmony with the tenets of the Christian faith and in accordance with the laws of the Geneva Conventions.”
  • Affirm health care as a basic human right.
  • Call on church and society to support and advocate for the well-being of all children and young people.
  • Support the rights of Indigenous, native and aboriginal communities.
  • Affirm the dignity, worth and rights of migrants, immigrants and refugees, including displaced and stateless people.