United Methodists, at major conference, repeal their church’s longstanding ban on LGBTQ clergy

David Oliver, left, and David Meredith wipe away tears after an approval vote at the United Methodist Church General Conference Wednesday, May 1, 2024, in Charlotte, N.C. United Methodist delegates repealed their church’s longstanding ban on LGBTQ clergy with no debate on Wednesday, removing a rule forbidding “self-avowed practicing homosexuals” from being ordained or appointed as ministers.

The consensus was so overwhelmingly that it was rolled into a “consent calendar,” a package of normally non-controversial measures that are bundled into a single vote to save time. Delegates are also expected to vote as soon as today on whether to replace their existing official Social Principles with a new document that no longer calls the “practice of homosexuality … incompatible with Christian teaching” and that now defines marriage as between “two people of faith” rather than between a man and a woman.

Bishop Karen Oliveto, the first openly lesbian bishop in the United Methodist Church, was among those celebrating. Tracy Merrick, a delegate from Pittsburgh who has advocated for LGBTQ inclusion at several previous conferences, said with emotion that there were “many times when I thought we would never see this day.”

More than 7,600 mostly conservative congregations in the United States disaffiliated between 2019 and 2023 reflecting dismay over the denomination not enforcing its bans on same-sex marriage and LGBTQ ordination.

LGBTQ Clergy Policy General Conference

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