Methodist Rulings Reinforce Traditional Church Policy on Ministers in Non-Celibate Same Sex Partnerships

An openly gay United Methodist minister lost her bid to return to the pulpit Monday (Oct. 31) when the church’s highest court upheld her conviction on charges of being a “self-avowed practicing” lesbian.

And, in a separate decision that could have even wider implications, the church’s Judicial Council said gays and lesbians have no automatic right to church membership and upheld the power of local pastors to turn them away.

The twin rulings represent a major setback for liberals who advocate greater inclusion of homosexuals in the nation’s second-largest Protestant denomination, and served to reinforce church policy on homosexuality as ironclad.
The rest at titusonenine