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A UMNS Report
By Kathy L. Gilbert*
3:00 P.M. ET Nov. 16, 2012
Maine, Maryland and Washington approved same sex marriage at the ballot
box. Minnesota reject an amendment that would have defined marriage as
only between a man and a woman. UMNS photo illustrations by Kathleen
Barry.
View in Photo Gallery
United Methodists have been grappling with acceptance of same-sex marriage for decades
and many United Methodists were on both sides of the issue in the
voting booth Nov. 6 as the vote in four states indicated support for
same-sex unions.
“My heart and mind are all mixed up with United Methodist and State
of Washington thoughts today (Nov. 7),” said Amory Peck, a member of
the Pacific Northwest Annual (regional) Conference.
Maine, Maryland and Washington approved same-sex marriage at the
ballot box while Minnesota rejected an amendment that would have
defined marriage as solely between a man and a woman. It is still
illegal for same-sex couples to marry in Minnesota.
“What our citizens did do was vote down a proposed state
constitutional amendment that would write into the constitution that a
marriage is between one man and one woman,” said the Rev. Tyler
Christiansen, pastor of Lake Harriet (Minn.) United Methodist Church.
The final tallies in the three states approving same-sex unions were
almost identical. In Maine, the vote was 52 percent for and 47 percent
against; in Maryland, the vote was 52 percent for and 48 percent
against; and in Washington, the vote was 53 percent approved, 47
percent rejected.
President Barack Obama entered the public debate by becoming the first president to support gay marriage.
Debates have been simmering inside the church and in society for
years. At the center of the issue for many in The United Methodist
Church is how to offer ministry to gays and lesbians.
‘Years of yearning’
During the annual meeting of the Pacific Northwest Conference, June 21–24,
delegates voted to support Referendum 74 on the November ballot. The
governor had signed a law to make same-sex marriage legal in Washington
but those opposing the law got enough signatures to put the law on
hold until the November ballot.
Peck was a delegate to the 2008 and 2012 General Conferences and
attended the 2000 and 2004 gatherings. General Conference is the
denomination’s top lawmaking assembly. She said she was encouraged by
the Pacific Northwest Conference’s decision to support the referendum
and the Western Jurisdiction’s decision “to commit to a spirit of biblical obedience.”
“So, today, all those years of yearning, and all the years of
working to bring God’s message of love, of inclusion, into being, the
people of Washington state have voted for marriage equality,” she said.
“My partner, Linda, and I will be married in the spring. I know that
we’ll be surrounded by our church family and friends. Surely, the
spirit of the Lord will be in that place, at that time.”
Video from the 2012 General Conference of The United Methodist Church captures the ongoing division about
statements in the church’s Book of Discipline related to homosexuality.
United Methodists not of one mind
At the denomination’s 2012 General Conference
in April, delegates kept the language in The United Methodist Church’s
law book that states marriage is between one man and one woman. The
church also forbids United Methodist pastors from officiating at
same-sex unions or holding such unions in United Methodist churches.
However, during the summer’s annual (regional) conference meetings,
15 states/regions approved legislation that rejected the
denomination’s stance in response to the General Conference action even
though those votes do not override The United Methodist Book of
Discipline.
In October, Seattle Area Bishop Grant Hagiya wrote a letter supporting the referendum.
“Washington state’s marriage equality bill has my support because it
does not mandate anyone to do anything they do not want to do, and
this is in harmony with my own stance on religious freedom. I believe
that it is also consistent with our United Methodist heritage and our
shared practice of honoring the deeply held beliefs of others, even
when we do not fully agree with them.”
The Western Jurisdiction, which encompasses the eight westernmost
regional conferences of the United States including Alaska, Arizona,
California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah,
Washington, Wyoming, Guam, and other territory in the Pacific, issued a
“Statement of Gospel Obedience” calling the church’s stand wrong. The
jurisdiction took the action during its quadrennial meeting in July.
Committed relationships
The Rev. Allen Ewing Merrill and his wife, Sara Ewing Merrill, are
co-pastors of Hope.Gate.Way., a United Methodist community of faith in
Portland, Maine, and are part of a movement of United Methodist pastors who have signed a statement expressing their willingness to defy the denomination’s ban on officiating at same-sex unions.
Allen Ewing Merrill said there were a number of gay and lesbian people in his congregation in loving, committed relationships.
“There is nothing to condemn about these relationships. These are
people who love one another. They are faithful to one another. They
desire to spend the rest of their lives together. There is so much to
celebrate about their relationships. The love expressed through these
relationships is an inspiration to us in our own marriage,” he
said.
Erica Tobey, a member of the congregation who married her
girlfriend, Ali, in September, said she has always felt welcome and
loved at Hope.Gate.Way.
“Words cannot describe the excitement that comes with knowing that
along with the blessings and support of our incredible faith community,
my family can also have all of the legal protections of any other
marriage,” Tobey said after the state vote. “We are so grateful to live
in a world where we feel completely included and surrounded in love.”
Covenant blessed by Scripture
The Rev. Neil Gastonguay, pastor of Bath (Maine) United Methodist
Church, said he opposed the vote in Maine that legalized same-gender
marriage.
“I believe that marriage is a covenant between a man, a woman, and
God, and that is supported in Scripture. By this I do not mean that
there is any reason to treat homosexual persons with anything less than
love and respect, just as the Scriptures say.
“But when it comes to marriage, this is a unique and special
covenantal relationship between people and God, intended for the
sustaining of the human race in the context of loving relationships of
mother and father, and for those relationships to be a witness to the
love of Christ.”
The Rev. Kevin Dunn, pastor of First United Methodist Church in New
Ulm, Minn., agrees that Scripture does not support same-gender
marriage.
“We are supportive of the civil rights of LGBT persons, and we would
favor civil unions if their civil rights could be addressed in that
way,” Dunn said. “I would have to change a lot of my beliefs in
Scripture in order to support gay marriage since I don’t see the
practice of homosexuality affirmed anywhere in the teachings of
Scripture.”
Same-sex marriage still illegal in Minnesota
Minnesotans neither affirmed nor approved same-sex marriages, said Christiansen.
“Under current state law, same-sex couples are not allowed to marry.
While it is exciting for many of us who wanted to see this amendment
defeated, it does not mean that the law is changing,” Christiansen
said.
Members of the Minnesota Annual (regional) Conference,
meeting May 30–June 1, voted to send a resolution opposing the
proposed amendment to the Minnesota state constitution that only a
union of one man and one woman be recognized as marriage.
Those submitting the resolution stated that civil rights such as
health insurance, equal taxation, retirement benefits and health-care
directives are based on one’s marital status.
United Methodists in Minnesota are not of one mind on this issue,
said the Rev. Elizabeth Macaulay, pastor of Richfield United Methodist
Church, Minneapolis.
“How do we feel? Certainly many of us feel moved that the Conference
was willing to speak publicly about a contentious justice
issue. Collectively many felt that we lived our membership vows to
‘resist evil, injustice and oppression in whatever forms they present
themselves.’
“On All Saints Eve our flagship church in Minneapolis (Hennepin
Avenue) hosted an interfaith gathering at which we worshiped, prayed
and committed to speaking out for full inclusion in community for all
families seeking to raise children and live in covenant. There
were over 200 clergy of many denominations and over 1,000 persons in
attendance.”
Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church
was among several faith groups that participated in “Celebrating
Healing Minnesota,” an event celebrating the defeat of the marriage
amendment.
The Northeastern Jurisdiction also affirmed its commitment to the rights of all persons at its 2012 meeting.
In a resolution, the jurisdiction stated, “Clergy, lay persons and
congregations may feel bound by conscience to offer the ministries and
sacraments of the church to all persons on an equal basis and that even
though bound to the Book of Discipline, we are also bound by Jesus’
commandment to stand with the marginalized and the oppressed in our
midst.”
The resolution was approved by 61 percent.
The Northeastern Jurisdiction
includes the states of Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland,
Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode
Island, Vermont, West Virginia and the District of Columbia.
In his address to the Baltimore-Washington Annual (regional) Conference,
Bishop John Schol said he believes “gay and lesbian people are
children of God … (who) can live in loving, committed relationships
that reflect God’s grace-filled love.
“I do not understand all of the mysteries of human sexuality,” Schol
said. “I believe that our sexuality is a gift from the Creator to be
shared in loving, committed relationships.”
Other United Methodist annual conferences made statements in their
annual meetings about same-gender marriage that did not have
legislation on the ballot.
At the Iowa Conference June 2–5,
two documents with hundreds of signatures expressed compassion for
gays. More than 500 signed a “Do No Harm” covenant stating the
denomination’s top lawmaking body made decisions that violated John
Wesley’s first General Rule by failing to acknowledge that members of
The United Methodist Church are divided on homosexuality.
Iowans did vote to retain state Supreme Court Justice David Wiggins, who faced a heated campaign for joining in the 2009 decision that legalized same-sex marriage in the state.
“God is love. God calls us to love. God blesses love. I can only
hope that The United Methodist Church will follow where the Spirit is
leading, in the name of love and for the sake of love,” Allen Ewing
Merrill said.
*Gilbert is a multimedia reporter for the young adult content team at United Methodist Communications, Nashville, Tenn.
News media contact: Kathy L. Gilbert, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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