Delegates reaffirm homosexuality stands

United Methodist News Service
PITTSBURGH—In vote after vote May 4, United Methodist policy-makers retained the denomination’s current positions on homosexuality.
Actions by delegates to the April 27-May 7 General Conference reaffirmed that The United Methodists Church officially regards homosexual practice incompatible with Christian teaching.
Church lawmakers did vote to alter slightly language in The United Methodist Church’s Social Principles concerning homosexuality (The Book of Discipline Paragraph 161.G). They added a clause saying that United Methodists “will seek to live together in Christian community.”
But laity and clergy delegates to the denomination’s top policy-making body rejected a proposal to add a sentence to the paragraph that would have read, “We recognize that Christians disagree on the compatibility of homosexual practice with Christian teaching.”
The Rev. Eddie Fox of Nashville, Tenn., said in a news conference after the 579-376 vote that if delegates had not retained the language of Paragraph 161.G, “serious consequences could have happened (and) a possible hemorrhage could have occurred.”
Fox said the denomination was in “desperate” need of a clear, authoritative, declaratory statement made with compassion.
The Rev. James Preston of Rockford, Ill., declared that “hemorrhaging has already occurred.” The denomination did not speak the truth about itself, he said. Delegates had a “healing option” but chose not to use it.
Only the General Conference can speak for The United Methodist Church as a whole.
Numerous delegates from Africa spoke against homosexuality and asked that the church move forward in proclaiming the gospel.
One said that in African culture, it is “taboo” to speak about sexuality.
“We do not want to be drawn into the issue,” said Kasap ’Owan Tshibang of the North Katanga Area in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Muland Aying Kambol, delegate from the southern Congo, asked if it is “permissible to spend so much time speaking about sin.” If that is the vision of the church, he said, then “our church will surely die.”
Samuel Quire of Liberia said that the church “cannot license people to go to hell.”
While delegates made a few minor adjustments to wording in The Book of Discipline, prohibitions against ordination of self-avowed practicing homosexuals were retained.
The language in the 2004 Book of Discipline is to read: “The practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching. Therefore, self-avowed practicing homosexuals are not to be accepted as candidates, ordained as ministers or appointed to serve in the United Methodist Church.”
Following much debate, delegates defeated a proposal that would have given each annual conference the responsibility of determining how it would approach homosexuality as it relates to a person’s fitness for ministry.
Attempts to change language in Paragraph 162H—which deals with equal rights regardless of sexual orientation—were defeated by 2-1 margins.
One defeated petition suggested the addition of a sentence supporting the right of same-gender couples to the same protections and benefits as married couples. Another petition would have added a sentence opposing “heterosexism in all its forms.”
Speaking to the equal-rights issue, Tom Wilson, a lay delegate from the Pacific Northwest Conference, voiced concern about the treatment of gays and lesbians by the denomination.
“How much longer are we going to slam our church doors on them because of who they love?” asked the married father of three. “We need these people to share their stories in our homes, our churches and, yes, our pulpits.”
In a 497-418 vote, delegates approved legislation prohibiting promotion of the acceptance of homosexuality and added a new section to the responsibilities of annual conference councils on ministries in The Book of Discipline.
Wanting to ensure that no annual conference group gives church money to promote homosexuality, delegates gave conference treasurers and councils on finance the authority to stop such transactions. The only exceptions to the rule are for ministries addressing HIV/AIDS or educational events where the denomination’s official position on homosexuality is evident.
“This was a long, painful day,” said the Rev. Virgilio Vazquez-Garza from the Southwest Texas Conference. “The sisters and brothers who were pushing for an open stance toward homosexuals were hurt. The delegates from Africa, Latin America and other parts of the world were hurt and confused. This is an issue that for them stirs strong emotions. They cannot conceive the Americans even talking about the issue of homosexuality.
“The sisters and brothers who want to be faithful to their tradition and the stance that homosexuality is wrong were hurt that they were being ‘painted’ as oppressors and other negative images. I feel sorry for those who feel rejected, but I have to recognize that the church has to set standards.”