The United Methodist Church, one of the largest Protestant denominations in the U.S., has voted to repeal its ban on LGBTQ clergy as well as prohibitions on its ministers from officiating at same-sex weddings.
Delegates overwhelmingly approved the changes, 692 to 51, during the United Methodist Church’s General Conference.
The meeting is taking place this week in Charlotte, N.C. after the pandemic delayed the 2020 General Conference where these decisions had been slated to take place.
The tone of the Charlotte meeting has been decidedly upbeat, in sharp contrast with the last, highly contentious global meeting back in 2019, when heated floor debates left many feeling hurt.
In fact, there was no floor debate over the clergy and marriages rules this time around. Rather, they were included on a consent agenda.
However, in the years leading up to this General Conference, about one-quarter of United Methodist congregations in the U-S left the denomination. Those congregations tended to be among the most conservative in the church. Their departure made the decisions this year less fraught.
Some of those departing congregations left to form the more conservative Global Methodist Church and others decided to become independent. The main reason many of those congregations left the denomination is that despite the church’s official rules against LGBTQ clergy and same-sex weddings, some local geographic conferences chose to not enforce them.
Last week, the United Methodist Church voted on a “regionalization” plan that would allow various geographic regions of the church — North America, Europe, Africa, and elsewhere — to make their own rules regarding LGBTQ clergy and same-sex weddings. That move eased the way for United Methodists in more conservative parts of the world to develop their own rules for ministers and marriages.
Shortly after the vote today in Charlotte, spontaneous celebrations erupted on the conference center floor. Hundreds of people began cheering and singing. One of the hymn lyrics distinguishable in the crowd was, “You are a child, you are a child of God.”
Transcript:
AILSA CHANG, HOST:
The United Methodist Church has repealed its bans on LGBTQ clergy and same-sex marriage. Delegates meeting in Charlotte, N.C., voted in a landslide to make those changes. And joining us now to talk about this move in one of the largest Protestant denominations in the U.S. is NPR religion correspondent Jason DeRose. Hey, Jason.
JASON DEROSE, BYLINE: Hello.
CHANG: OK, so what was the vote in the end?
DEROSE: Well, 692 votes in favor of repeal compared to just 51 votes to keep the ban.
CHANG: Wow, decisive. OK.
DEROSE: Quite an overwhelming vote in favor of LGBTQ clergy and same-sex weddings. In fact, there wasn’t even any floor debate. The consensus was so strong that the organizers of the United Methodist General Conference put the items on a consent agenda this morning. What some had worried would be a contentious time turned out very differently. In fact, as soon as the vote was taken, the room burst into cheers and people started spontaneously singing.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: (Singing) You were meant to be a child, a child of God.
DEROSE: It’s a bit hard to make out there but they’re singing, you were meant to be a child of God.
CHANG: Wow. Well, you said that many people thought this would be a contentious vote. Like, how did the church get to such a decisive vote today, you think?
DEROSE: Well, the last time the United Methodists met to discuss and vote on these issues was back in 2019, and there was a lot of disagreement, a lot of anger and the sense the church was heading toward a schism. They were supposed to come together again in 2020 to finalize these big decisions. But then the pandemic intervened and the 2020 meeting was postponed until now.
CHANG: Well, what happened during all that time that might have changed things?
DEROSE: Well, Ailsa, in the intervening five years, a number of local geographic conferences simply stopped enforcing the ban on LGBTQ clergy and same-sex marriage. And the most conservative congregations in the denomination were upset about that non-enforcement and they left. What that meant for today’s vote is that those most opposed to same-sex marriage and LGBTQ clergy were already gone.
CHANG: Oh, interesting. So what’s been the reaction to today’s vote so far?
DEROSE: Well, I spoke with Reverend Israel Alvaran. He’s a gay Methodist minister who lives in the California Bay Area.
ISRAEL ALVARAN: I just feel liberated (laughter). It still hasn’t really sunk in. But the joy that transpired, not just for me, but for my queer siblings right after that vote, that is a lot of happy tears.
DEROSE: Happy tears, he says. Alvaran says there’s still a lot of work to do, though, in the U.S. and in his home country of the Philippines, where LGBTQ issues are still extremely divisive.
CHANG: Exactly. Well, Jason, you have covered LGBTQ clergy and same-sex weddings across many denominations over the years. And I’m just curious, like, how would you characterize these changes in the larger context of things?
DEROSE: Well, I think back to when the Episcopal Church had this debate in the 1990s and how the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America had this debate in the early 2000s, and then the Presbyterian Church USA as well. Now, in all those denominations, like the United Methodist Church, there were deep, deep divisions. But each ended up allowing LGBTQ clergy and same-sex weddings. And each church has lost significant numbers of members since then.
But overall, I would have to say, the tenor of these denominations has changed. Clergy and laity there now say they’re able to move on from decades of strife and really focus on ministries they felt that they were distracted from for so many years, ministries like racial justice, poverty and immigration reform.
CHANG: That is NPR’s Jason DeRose. Thank you so much, Jason.
DEROSE: You’re welcome.
