United Methodists overturn ban on LGBTQ+ clergy

What happened

The United Methodist Church's quadrennial general conference voted 692-51 on Wednesday to repeal a 40-year-old ban on ordaining "self-avowed practicing homosexuals" as ministers. The delegates also barred local UMC leaders from penalizing congregations and clergy that facilitate same-sex weddings.

Who said what

It seems like a "simple vote," but Wednesday's motion "carried so much weight and power, as 50 years of restricting the Holy Spirit's call on people's lives has been lifted," said Karen Oliveto, the UMC's first openly lesbian bishop.

The commentary

The new policy does not require or "explicitly affirm LGBTQ clergy" but does mean the global church "no longer forbids them," The Associated Press said. The UMC tightened its ban on LGBTQ+ clergy in 2019, but a quarter of U.S. churches then left the denomination "in anticipation of the loosening of strictures around homosexuality," The New York Times said.

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What next?

The ban will be lifted as soon as the meeting ends May 3, though under a plan approved last week to break the global UMC into four semi-autonomous regions, "in practice it may primarily affect churches in the United States," the Times said.