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Stances of Faiths on LGBT Issues: United Methodist Church

The United Methodist Church, with an estimated 10.4 million members, welcomes gays and lesbians as church members and supports their basic human rights. However, the church prohibits ministers from blessing same-sex unions and condemns gay sex. The denomination also officially excludes gay and lesbian people from ordination, though this rule has been the subject of recent controversy.

The church has, to date, been silent on transgender members.

Rights for Gays and Lesbians
Regarding church membership for LGBT people, the 2008 Book of Discipline states this:
“The United Methodist Church is a part of the church universal, which is one Body in Christ. The United Methodist Church acknowledges that all persons are of sacred worth. All persons without regard to race, color, national origin, status,4 or economic condition, shall be eligible to attend its worship services, participate in its programs, receive the sacraments, upon baptism be admitted as baptized members, and upon taking vows declaring the Christian faith, become professing members in any local church in the connection.”

The church has officially denounced homophobia and heterosexism.  It has also explicitly states that gays and lesbians are of equal sacred worth as heterosexuals and should be welcomed into United Methodist families and congregations.

The United Methodist Church also supports “certain basic human rights and civil liberties” for gays and lesbians, including some limited recognition of same-sex relationships. For example, the 2008 Book of Discipline states:

“Certain basic human rights and civil liberties are due all persons. We are committed to supporting those rights and liberties for all persons, regardless of sexual orientation.
We see a clear issue of simple justice in protecting the rightful claims where people have shared material resources, pensions, guardian relationships, mutual powers of attorney, and other such lawful claims typically attendant to contractual relationships that involve shared contributions, responsibilities, and liabilities, and equal protection before the law.
Moreover, we support efforts to stop violence and other forms of coercion against all persons, regardless of sexual orientation.”

Sexual Relations
The 2008 Book of Discipline frames the UMC’s beliefs about human sexuality, “Although all persons are sexual beings whether or not they are married, sexual relations are affirmed only with the covenant of monogamous, heterosexual marriage.”

Blessing of Same-Sex Unions
The church forbids United Methodist ministers from performing weddings or commitment ceremonies for same-sex couples. But some United Methodist ministers have publicly performed same-sex weddings, despite the church’s regulations.

At the 2004 General Conference, the policy forbidding the blessing of same-sex unions was challenged but upheld. The conference delegates also added a line to the church’s official doctrine declaring support for “laws in civil society that define marriage as the union of one man and one woman.” The delegates, however, rejected a proposal that would have expressed support for the Federal Marriage Amendment to the U.S. Constitution defining marriage as between a man and woman only.

Ordination of Gay and Lesbian Ministers
The UMC’s official doctrine bars “self-avowed practicing homosexuals” from the clergy.
In December 2004, in a church court trial in Pennsylvania, the jury voted to remove the Rev. Irene Elizabeth Stroud from the ministry. Stroud had come out to her congregation more than a year earlier, saying that she lived in a “covenant relationship” with her same-sex partner. In April 2005, however, the church appeals committee overturned the decision, voting to let Stroud continue to serve as a minister.

Earlier, in March 2004, an openly lesbian pastor in Seattle, the Rev. Karen Dammann, was acquitted on charges of violating church law. Her trial and acquittal stirred up furor among UMC leaders on both sides of the issue. In May 2004, the church’s highest court, the Judicial Council, declared that bishops could not appoint ministers who had been found to be “self-avowed practicing homosexuals.” The court also said that it did not have the authority to reverse Dammann’s acquittal.

Prior to 2004, the last time a United Methodist minister had been defrocked because of his or her sexual orientation was in 1987, when a church court in New Hampshire ruled against another out lesbian, the Rev. Rose Mary Denman.

Resources for LGBT United Methodists

Headquarters Location
If you would like to communicate with the United Methodist Church in the United States, here is their mailing address:

United Methodist
Office of Public Information
810 Twelfth St. South
Nashville, TN 37203