Lutheran Panel Votes to Expel Gay Minister
By Alan Cooperman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, February 9, 2007

A disciplinary committee of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America ruled yesterday that a gay pastor in Atlanta must give up his pulpit, saying it was reluctantly enforcing a "bad policy."

Following a five-day church trial last month, seven of the committee's 12 members voted to remove the Rev. Bradley E. Schmeling, 44, from the clergy as of Aug. 15.

The committee set that date to give the denomination an opportunity to reconsider its policies on homosexuality at its next churchwide assembly, Aug. 6-12 in Chicago. Activists on both sides of the issue predict that Schmeling's case will stir vigorous debate at the Chicago session.

The 4.9 million-member ELCA allows gay men and lesbians to serve as ordained clergy as long as they remain sexually inactive. Schmeling formally notified his bishop last year that he was in a committed, monogamous relationship with Darin Easler, a former ELCA pastor who has since joined the United Church of Christ, which welcomes gay clergy. The bishop brought charges, leading to the trial. the rest