United Methodists preparing for votes on lifting LGBTQ+ bans at General Conference
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — United Methodist delegates are heading into the homestretch of their first legislative gathering in five years — one that appears on track to make historic changes in lifting their church’s longstanding bans on same-sex marriage and the ordination of LGBTQ+ clergy.
After a day off on Sunday, delegates to the General Conference of the United Methodist Church resumed their work Monday and will be meeting all this week before wrapping up their 11-day session on Friday
They’ve already begun making historic changes: On Thursday, delegates overwhelmingly endorsed a policy shift that would restructure the worldwide denomination into regional conferences and give the U.S. region, for the first time, the same right as international bodies to modify church rules to fit local situations.
That measure — subject to local ratification votes — is seen as a way the U.S. churches could have LGBTQ+ ordination and same-sex marriage while the more conservative overseas areas, particularly the large and fast-growing churches of Africa, could maintain those bans.
But whether that measure maintains church unity remains to be seen. The General Conference comes as the American portion of the United Methodist Church, long the nation’s thirdlargest denomination, has shrunk considerably. Onequarter of its U.S. churches left between 2019 and 2023 amid conservative dismay over the church’s failure to enforce its LGBTQ+ bans amid widespread defiance.
A proposal to overturn those bans is headed to the delegates this week, and progressives are optimistic that they have the votes to realize their long-held dream.
“It will say to the world about us that we really stand behind our statement that we are a church of open hearts, open minds, and open doors,” said Tracy Merrick, a delegate and member of First United Methodist Church of Pittsburgh, which has committed to ministry with LGBTQ+ people.
The denomination has debated homosexuality for more than half a century. Its Book of Discipline bans “self-avowed practicing homosexuals” from the clergy and forbids clergy from presiding at same-sex marriages. It also forbids church funding of any advocacy for the “acceptance of homosexuality.”
The delegates will also vote on a new set of Social Principles — a wholesale revision of an existing set of non-binding statements — which received a committee approval last week. The new version omits the previous version’s declaration that homosexuality is “incompatible with Christian teaching.” And it defines marriage as a sacred covenant between “two people of faith,” without specifying gender.
Such changes could portend a further fragmentation of the international church. Delegates last week approved the departure of a small but notable part of the body — about 30 churches in Russia and other former Soviet countries, where conservative views on LGBTQ+ issues are strong.
Opponents say they already have mechanisms to depart, as some have recently done, but proponents say existing rules are burdensome.