Press Release: Presbyterians Celebrate Progress in LGBT Equality

MLP Press Kit

Coalition Media Contacts:   

Michael Adee, More Light Presbyterians (505) 577-0086
Pam Byers, Covenant Network of Presbyterians (415) 310-0371
Lisa Larges, That All May Freely Serve (585) 615-0613
Mieke Vandersall, Presbyterian Welcome (917) 776-0292

July 1, 2010 — Presbyterian advocates of equality for all members of the church, including lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people (LGBT), are announcing they are ready to celebrate continuing progress at the upcoming General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA), July 3-10, in Minneapolis. 

 “We have come so far toward fully including everyone in the denomination, we have reason to celebrate, even as we work for fuller inclusion.  As we move forward, we will continue to lift up our core belief that we are all created in the image of God.  We know that the church is living into a future that allows Presbyterians to follow their God-led consciences as they consider each candidate, rather than requiring exclusion,” said the Rev. Tricia Dykers Koenig, National Organizer of the Covenant Network of Presbyterians.

As the denomination gathers in Minneapolis, Minnesota, many are aware that in the same hall, one year earlier, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in American voted to allow ministers in partnered same-sex couples to be listed on the official roster and to serve the church.  All requirements to limit participation were dropped and Lutherans are living into the new policies by receiving clergy back into the church.

Lisa Larges, head of That All May Freely Serve, said, “Faith traditions are moving toward a new understanding of God’s diverse creation.  The time for policies based on our love of God and call to serve has come.  Churches are learning to affirm gifts for ministry rather than reject ministers because of whom they chose as a life partner.”

The PCUSA currently allows gay and lesbian people to serve in official capacities if they maintain “chastity.”  An amendment to lift the requirement for “fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman, or chastity in singleness” was passed at the 2008 General Assembly, but after the long process of voting by regionally based presbyteries, the constitutional amendment did not garner the required number of presbytery votes. 

What was impressive was that presbyteries in relatively conservative areas like Alabama, Texas, North Carolina, Arkansas, Kentucky, southern Illinois, rural Michigan, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, and Montana voted to support equal acceptance of all those who feel called to serve the church, including those in same-sex committed relationships. 

“There is a growing consensus among Presbyterians that we have spent enough time trying to keep people out of church leadership and it is time to celebrate our progress and our common heart for service,” said Mieke Vandersall, head of Presbyterian Welcome.

• The General Assembly will consider a wide array of business items requiring a vote, including:Possible provision of benefits to same-gender spouses and domestic partners of employees in church positions.
• Affirmation of the right of clergy to provide pastoral care to their members by performing legal weddings and services, in the growing number of states allowing same-sex marriage or domestic partnerships with all the rights of marriage.
• Removal of all barriers to ordination for lesbian and gay Presbyterians.
• Continued review of translations of a creedal statement containing a misleading anti-gay phrase that was not present in the original language.

"Only God knows what decisions will be made at this General Assembly," said Michael Adee, Executive Director, More Light Presbyterians, "but we do know that the Presbyterian Church (USA) understands now that it baptizes and nurtures the faith of its own gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender daughters and sons. Presbyterians, from all walks of life, are expressing their faith and believing out loud that we are all children of God.

LGBT and Christian Communities Seek Common Ground

The work at General Assembly is really about Nick Koberstein, a freshman at the University of Illinois, who wanted to find a church in which he could be open about his sexual orientation and be fully accepted. Fortunately for Nick, there is such a place in Champaign, Illinois.

Like the United Church of Christ, the Presbyterian Church has a process and a title for individual parishes to become more welcoming to the LGBT community.

McKinley Memorial Presbyterian Church, 809 S. Fifth St., is a More Light Presbyterian church — part of a program whose mission is “to work for the full participation of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people of faith in the life, ministry and witness of the Presbyterian Church,” according to the More Light website.

“For us, there’s much more focus on the spirit of the law than on the letter of the law,” the Rev. Keith Harris, associate pastor for campus ministry said.

Although McKinley has been a More Light Presbyterian church since the 1980s, not all Presbyterian churches are this way. Harris said the denomination as a whole is continuing to struggle with answering whether being a pastor and a member of the LGBT community negates their ministry.

People that are openly gay or lesbian are currently not allowed to serve as ministers in the church, but discussion is taking place among church authorities about whether this should be changed, Harris said.

Yet Harris said to only highlight McKinley's open stance on the LGBT community would be to overlook the real purpose of the church as he sees it.

“It’s more to reach out in the name of love and justice to people in need,” Harris said.

The Candidates for Moderator

Rev. John Shuck, pastor at First Presbyterian Church of Elizabethton, TN, ranked moderator candidates from the most to least friendly for helping to advance spiritual, ordination and marriage equality for LGBT persons in the Presbyterian Church (USA). He based his ranking (for the most part) on Presbyterian Voices for Justice's questions to the candidates. (Photo: Candidates, left to right--top row: James Belle, Cynthia Bolbach, Jin Kim; bottom row: Maggie Lauterer, Julia Leeth, Eric Nielsen).

Here is my rank from friendliest to least based on their comments:

Maggie Lauterer (Pro-Equality) "Perhaps when we can speak with a strong majority on matters of human sexuality, we can move on with our mission."

Cynthia Bolbach (Pro-Equality) "Those in favor of the full inclusion of gays and lesbians in our life together – and I include myself in that group – believe that we fail to satisfy the Gospel imperative of inclusiveness as we continue to exclude gays and lesbians from leadership in our church."

Eric Nielsen (Dodge but...) "Assessment of the gifts for ministry of Elders, Deacons, or Ministers of Word and Sacrament should be returned to congregations and presbyteries. They know their people and churches best." (Not sure if Eric agrees but the only way to succeed at this is to remove G-6.0106b. Didn't see any comment on marriage equality)

James Belle (Dodge) He quotes the Bible and Westminster with the slickest non-answer to the question.

Jin Kim (Anti-equality, but keep chatting) "My reflections on the life of Jesus lead me to reject both complete equality in the matters of either ordination or marriage, and ruling out any further GA consideration of these questions for years to come."

Julia Leeth (Anti-equality) "I pray the Assembly maintains the traditional definition of marriage as supported by the Bible..."

John's blog is much more entertaining to read than ours, so be sure to read his whole entry about the moderator candidates.

A Soulforce Equality Rider's Perspective on GA

In 10th Grade, Brian heard his Presbyterian youth pastor say, "We don't even need to talk about why gay is wrong, right?" Years later with a Soulforce Equality Ride under his belt, Brian writes about where he is today and what he hopes for at the 219th General Assembly.

Today, I attend Marble Collegiate Church in New York City. Marble is the oldest Protestant church in North America and the founding member of the Reformed Church in America, a denomination which, like the Presbyterian Church (USA), still does not treat LGBT people as equals. My faith, and passion for justice, has been kindled at Marble, mostly by my pastor David Lewicki, who is ordained in the PC(USA) church. I recognize now that the prophets of the Hebrew Bible, the Christ we worship, the early Church, and Christians throughout the ages have been voices for an ever-widdening circle of inclusion and acceptance and of justice for the oppressed. We are convinced that the circle must include queer, trans, and gay people.

I would not be where I am today if it were not for the inspiration of Jack Rogers, the guidance of David Lewicki, and countless other saints and sheroes. I do not know where I would be, but I am almost certain that I would not be a Christian. It is also under Rev. Lewicki that I have returned to many traditional aspects of Christian teaching: prayer, ritual, original sin, repentance, action, and the importance of church communities.

And so I look with expectation to the upcoming General Assembly in Minneapolis. The Presbyterian Church (USA) has a remarkable opportunity before her. She can join with voices throughout the ages who have struggled for justice, she can boldly speak the truth even if it is unpopular or costly, she can be a light for the world, and she can save the lives of untold young people who are sitting in their churches and classrooms wondering “Is there something wrong with me?”

Soulforce plans to hold a pray in at the 219th General Assembly.

15 Overtures, Years of Debate; Gay Ordination on GA Agenda

The Presbyterian Outlook takes a look at the 30-year conversation about sexual orientation in the Presbyterian Church (USA). As this General Assembly approaches, there are some significant changes all around.

But the persistence of the debate, and the glazed-over look some Presbyterians develop when it revs up again, can mask some incremental but significant developments that observers are noting.

Among them:

• Last August, in a dramatic and emotional vote, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America – the third-largest Protestant group in the country, with 4.6 million members – voted to lift a rule that forbade gays and lesbians to serve as pastors unless they were celibate. The denomination’s Churchwide Assembly removed the ban on pastors living in “lifelong, monogamous, same-gendered relationships.” Almost immediately, some Lutherans who say the new policy does not conform with Biblical teaching began to discuss the possibility of leaving the denomination. 
• In July 2009, the Episcopal Church’s House of Bishops voted that any ordained ministry is open to gays and lesbians – ending a moratorium on ordaining gay bishops passed in 2006. This spring, a majority of bishops and dioceses in the Episcopal Church approved the election as suffragan, or assistant, bishop of Mary D. Glasspool, a lesbian from Los Angeles who has been involved in a same-sex partnership for more than 20 years. That’s likely to further accelerate divisions within the global Anglican family. The Anglican Church in North America, officially organized in 2009 with 700 congregations and in disagreement with the direction of the Episcopal Church, has elected Robert Duncan as its archbishop and established full communion with Anglican churches in Uganda and Nigeria.
• In 2009, a majority of the PC(USA)’s 173 presbyteries voted, for the third time, not to remove the “fidelity and chastity” standard. But there are some signs of shifting opinion – the vote of 94-78 was by a narrower margin than the last time the presbyteries considered it, in 2001-2002, and includes more than 25 presbyteries that flipped from wanting to keep the current standards to favoring change. Some interpret the vote as the PC(USA) standing firm, yet again, on fidelity and chastity. Others say it’s only a matter of time until the rules change – for them, the question is not if, but when.
• Some of the congregations most opposed to gay ordination have already left the PC(USA) – many of them moving to the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. That represents a dynamic other mainline denominations are experiencing as well – with debates over gay ordination in the Episcopal, Methodist, and Lutheran denominations leading to shifting alignments. Following the Lutheran vote last summer, for example, a conservative group called the Lutheran Coalition for Renewal began developing a proposal for the “reconfiguration of North American Lutheranism” and is discussing forming a new denomination, the North American Lutheran Church (NALC).
• A case now is pending in the PC(USA)’s judicial system that could present a direct test of whether the denomination will allow the ordination of a gay man in a committed partnership. In February, John Knox Presbytery voted 81-25 to ordain to the ministry Scott D. Anderson, who has been in a committed relationship for close to 20 years and who set aside his ordination as a minister in 1990, after members of his congregation publicly revealed that he is gay.
• Following the approach suggested by the Theological Task Force on the Peace, Unity and Purity of the PC(USA), of which he was a member, Anderson had declared a “scruple,” or an objection based on conscience, to the fidelity and chastity standard. Some who disagree with the presbytery’s decision have filed a remedial case with the Permanent Judicial Commission of the Synod of Lakes and Prairies, and a stay of enforcement has been entered until that case is resolved.
• Depending on how things proceed, Anderson’s case could present the first direct question to the General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission of whether a governing body can ordain a gay or lesbian in a committed partnership who has declared a conscientious objection to the fidelity and chastity standard.

 All of this is just the back story.

MLP's Legislative Goals

To Create a Church for All.

1. Removal of G-6.0106b from the Book of Order
This addition to our constitution, passed in 1997, was intended to exclude LGBT Presbyterians from serving as ordained officers of the church (Deacons, Elders, and Ministers of Word and Sacrament). It imposed a requirement of celibacy on people who are gay and lesbian, and denied their calling to “the rights and duties of membership.” It heretically implies that we can achieve our own grace by heterosexual marriage or chastity in singleness.

We support the deletion of G-6.0106b (Overture from Hudson River Presbytery and others). We also support those overtures that suggest replacement language that eliminates the exclusionary intent of the paragraph (Overture from Detroit Presbytery and many others). We support the overture from San Fernando Presbytery calling for full inclusion of all members under the proposed new Form of Government.

We oppose any overture or concurrence, including 06-04 from San Diego Presbytery that would re-establish the exclusionary standards and language of the 1978 Assemblies, in effect declaring the Gospel and the church open only to heterosexuals.

We are in agreement with the 218th General Assembly which removed the “force and effect” of these interpretations and definitions, and we believe this Authoritative Interpretation should stand.

2. Establishing Marriage as a Blessing and Covenant Available to All People
Marriage is already being redefined in our civil life, as several states in our country and several other countries, have made marriage legal for same-gender couples. Even more government entities have supported equal benefits for registered Domestic Partners. Equal marriage is being lived out by many families, gay and straight, who have affirmed their covenant relationship in loving partnerships of many years’ duration, with and without benefit of legal or religious sanction.

We support the amendment of W-4.9000 to define marriage as a covenant that is not restricted to heterosexual couples. We support the Boston, East Iowa, Albany, Chicago and Des Moines presbyteries’ overtures and concurrences that allow pastoral/session discretion in performing weddings in those states that have legalized marriage for all couples.

Finally, we support those overtures that call on the Pension Plan to provide Domestic Partner benefits for all church employees, including same- gender couples.

3. Affirm the Authoritative Interpretation of G-6.0108
We support the ability of candidates for ordained office to declare a “scruple” or dissent from either the belief or practice of the ordination standards of the Book of Order. This is a very old practice of the church to protect the conscience of individuals, and was raised up to new uses by the Task Force on the Peace, Unity and Purity of the Church. We support the Authoritative Interpretation passed by the 218th GA, re-affirming this provision. We oppose the Mid-South overture that would overturn it.

4. Affirm the Correction of the Heidelberg Catechism Translation
We support the continuing work of the committee on the Heidelberg Catechism, and their collaboration with colleagues in the Christian Reformed Church and Reformed Church in America, to provide a new and uncorrupted translation to be a part of our Book of Confessions.

Legislative Analysis by Presbyterian Voices for Justice

While MLP focuses upon spiritual, ordination and marriage equality, we care about all important matters facing our Church. For analysis of all justice matters, we commend the analysis from Presbyterian Voices for Justice from Sylvia Thorson-Smith and Doug King.

Legislative Analysis by Presbyterian Voices for Justice
by Doug King and Sylvia Thorson-Smith