United Methodist Church delegates on Wednesday overwhelmingly voted to strike down a longstanding ban on the ordination or appointment of “self-avowed practicing homosexuals” — a prohibition put in place in 1984.
In a 692-52 vote, delegates on Wednesday approved the change alongside 22 pieces of legislation, or the “consent calendar,” which included getting rid of penalties for clergy or churches for holding same-sex weddings as well as removing language stating that “the practice of homosexuality … is incompatible with Christian teaching.”
The vote was passed with no floor debate at the church’s 2024 General Conference in Charlotte, N.C., the church’s first such gathering in nearly five years.
Another change exhorts the church’s Council of Bishops to be inclusive of gender, race, ethnicity, age, people with disabilities, sexual orientation and economic condition when naming representatives to ecumenical organizations.
Delegates of the 12 million-member church celebrated the “glorious day” for one of the largest Protestant denominations in the U.S.
“As a worldwide denomination, we have now publicly proclaimed the boundless love of God and finally slung open the doors of our church so that all people, no matter their identities or orientations, may pursue the calling of their hearts,” the Reverend Kipp Nelson, of St. John’s on the Lake Methodist Church in Miami, told the Daily News via email.
“Truly, all are loved and belong here among us. I am honored to serve as a pastor in the United Methodist Church for such a time as this, for our future is bright and filled with hope,” Nelson added.
The approval of the changes continues an ongoing trend among delegates to “quietly” reverse some of the church’s “longtime restrictions against LGBTQ members,” according to UM News, the official newsgathering agency of the United Methodist Church.
Another scene from the celebration. #UMC #UMCGC pic.twitter.com/wEm5Giv720
— Liam Adams (@liamsadams) May 1, 2024
After the vote, a group of more than 200 church members, including LGBTQ people and allies, formed a circle to pray and sing “hymns in joy” in celebration of a more inclusive church.