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Gay Methodists Protest
Church Stand
by The Associated Press
Posted: May 5, 2008 - 8:00 am ET
(Fort Worth, Texas) More than 200 Methodists
attended a lesbian couple's commitment ceremony in defiance of a vote to
uphold a church law that says gay relationships are "incompatible with
Christian teaching."
The ceremony, Friday, was at a park across from the Fort Worth
Convention Center, where some 3,000 people are meeting for the United Methodist
Church's general conference. It is held every four years to set church policy.
Methodists last week rejected replacing a sentence in its
Book of Discipline - which says the church "does not condone the practice
of homosexuality" - with other phrases, including one saying Christians
differ on the issue. The measure to change the language also was rejected at the
last conference in 2004.
Methodists also voted against a proposal to
change a policy allowing pastors to keep gays and lesbians from joining the
denomination's churches.
"There was a lot of robust debate as there has been
for 36 years, particularly over the phrase that refers to 'incompatible,'"
said the Rev. Gregory V. Palmer, president of the church's Council of Bishops.
He also called for finding common ground.
At the ceremony, some said that acceptance of gays in some
churches encouraged them but that the denomination as a whole had a long way to
go.
No clergy member presided over the commitment ceremony of
Julie Bruno and Sue Laurie of Chicago, a couple for 25 years, although about
three dozen ministers attended.
Officiating at a same-sex union ceremony violates church
rules for clergy and would leave them vulnerable to being charged in Methodist
church courts. In 1999, a senior pastor in Omaha, Neb., was defrocked after a
church trial for performing a same-sex union.
"The United Methodist Church has been and continues
to be both blessing and burden to us," said Julie Bruno, one of the women
getting married. "When the church turns her back on us, withholds blessing
from us, does God withhold blessing? Does God stop loving us? We continue to be
the church to and for each other. We continue to be the instruments of God's
light and love."
The Rev. Julie Todd spoke during the Friday ceremony and
led the communion. Afterward, she said she doubted her role would subject her to
any church disciplinary action, but if so she was prepared.
"I believe so strongly that this is the role of the
church and of the ordained clergy in blessing loving relationships that I am not
concerned about the consequences," Todd said.
After the service, Laurie and Bruno said they turned down
many ministers' offers to officiate.
"The message was less about upsetting people and more
about being role models and for people to know that these ceremonies are going
on," Laurie said.
©365Gay.com 2008
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