Methodists split on gay clergy

Methodists, with 8.3 million members, form the nation's third-largest denomination and are among many Protestant churches struggling with what the Bible says about gay sex.

Officially, Methodists haven't altered their stand against homosexuality since they first took up the issue three decades ago. Delegates to the General Conference in Pittsburgh have voted to reinforce that position.

Among the legislation they have adopted is a measure making it a chargeable offense for clergy to perform weddings for same-gender couples and for ministers to have sex outside of marriage.

The Judicial Council, the top church court, weighed in with two rulings that reaffirm the ban on ordaining and appointing homosexuals -- and warned violators could face disciplinary action.

But competing events at the General Conference show how this policy-making has done little to settle the issue. While gay advocates have defiantly lined the entrance to the meeting on their knees in prayer, evangelicals have been the hosts for talks nearby about why gays should change their sexual orientation.

No one knows how many gays serve as Methodist clergy and in leadership positions, but both sides agree they are working throughout the church.

The Rev. Mark Williams, a gay minister in the Pacific Northwest Annual Conference, said it was too soon to know whether this week's votes would push homosexual clergy further underground or compel them to protest the church's position.

"It was extremely painful to experience this as a gay pastor and as a pastor of people who are awaiting word of grace and word of acceptance from their denomination," Williams said, between legislative sessions yesterday.

Looking to the future, much depends on the regional Methodist districts, called annual conferences, where the clergy work. Some districts are more sympathetic to homosexuals than others.

In March, a jury of 13 pastors at a church trial in Bothell, Wash., acquitted the Rev. Karen Dammann, an openly lesbian pastor in the Pacific Northwest Conference.