United Methodist delegates began making historic changes in their policies on sexuality on Tuesday — voting without debate to reverse a series of antiLGBTQ policies.

The delegates voted to delete mandatory penalties for conducting samesex marriages and to remove their denomination's bans on considering LGBTQ candidates for ministry and on funding for gayfriendly ministries.

The 66754 vote, coming during their legislative General Conference, removes some of the scaffolding around the United Methodist Church's longstanding bans on LGBTQaffirming policies regarding ordination, marriage and funding.

Still to come later this week are votes on the core of the bans on LGBTQ clergy and samesex marriage in church law and policy, which may draw more debate. However, the large majority achieved by Tuesday's votes indicate the tenor of the General Conference. The consensus was so overwhelming that these items were rolled into the legislative “consent calendar," normally reserved for noncontroversial measures.

The actions follow a historic schism in what was long the thirdlargest denomination in the United States. About onequarter of U.S. congregations left between 2019 and 2023, mostly conservative churches dismayed that the denomination wasn't enforcing its longstanding LGBTQ bans. With the absence of many conservative delegates, who had been in the solid majority in previous general conferences and had steadily reinforced such bans over the decades, progressive delegates are moving quickly to reverse such policies. #Politics #LGBTQ #News

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