Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) changes its constitution to include same-sex marriage

On Tuesday, members of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) voted to change the definition of marriage in the church's constitution to include same-sex marriage.

The constitution will change the definition of marriage from being between "a man and a woman" to "two people, traditionally a man and a woman," The New York Times reports. The modified language was approved by a majority of the church’s 171 regional bodies, known as presbyteries, and finalizes a change that the church's General Assembly recommended in 2014. "Finally, the church in its constitutional documents fully recognizes that the love of gay and lesbian couples is worth celebrating in the faith community," Rev. Brian D. Ellison, executive director of the Covenant Network of Presbyterians, told The Times. "There is still disagreement, and I don't mean to minimize that, but I think we are learning that we can disagree and still be church together."

Some conservatives left the denomination in and after 2011, when the presbyteries ratified a decision to ordain gays and lesbians as pastors, elders, and deacons, The Times reports. Paul Detterman, national director of the conservative group The Fellowship Community, said that the group's objection to the marriage amendment "is in no way, shape, or form anti-gay. It is in no way intended as anything but concern that the church is capitulating to the culture and is misrepresenting the message of Scripture."

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