United Methodist delegates voted overwhelmingly at this year’s General Conference to lift the ban on LGBTQ+ people serving as clergy. This is major change for the religious organization: attempts to embrace the LGBTQ+ community had fallen on deaf ears at the last conference held over five years ago.
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According to the Associated Press, many of the church’s more conservative delegates have since left the organization over the past few years. This has allowed for new, more progressive, delegates to join the governing body of the church. Some LGBTQ+ advocates see the change as a step in the right direction.
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“It seemed like such a simple vote, but it carried so much weight and power, as 50 years of restricting the Holy Spirit’s call on people’s lives has been lifted” said Bishop Karen Oliveto, the first openly lesbian Bishop for the church.
Although the change doesn’t affirm LGBTQ+ people to serve as clergy, it does lift the long-standing ban. The change only impacts denominations in the United States. United Methodist delegations in other countries are allowed to determine their own rules for clergy.
Sources: AP, United Methodist Church
