Oklahomans waiting decades for change celebrate United Methodist vote on same-sex marriage

The United Methodist Church removed anti-LGBTQ+ language from the denomination's Social Principles guide on Thursday and affirmed same-sex marriage with historic votes applauded by Oklahomans who have been waiting for such change for decades.

"Such a harsh divisive part of our history is actually over," said the Rev. Trina Bose-North, senior pastor of Crown Heights United Methodist Church, 1021 NW 37.

Bose-North said she felt she could fully celebrate the full LGBTQ+ inclusion with Thursday's vote by the denomination's General Conference delegates. The delegates meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina, did away with wording stating that homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching that had been part of the United Methodist Church's Social Principles. Delegates of the denomination's legislative body also voted to revise the principles to remove language that solely affirms marriage between a man and a woman. Instead, the lawmaking assembly inserted wording that affirms both heterosexual unions and same-sex unions:

"Within the church, we affirm marriage as a sacred lifelong covenant that brings two people of faith [adult man and woman of consenting age or two adult persons of consenting age] into union with one another," the revised statement said.

"It's good news but this comes after decades of our Church rejecting LGBTQ+ people in devastating ways," Bose-North said. "So many wanting to be married in their home churches denied. So many called people turned away from the church they loved. So many put their jobs and hearts on the line to advocate for these changes."

United Methodist Church also lifted ban on LGBTQ+ clergy

Thursday's changes came on the heels of other historic votes delegates took the day before. Wednesday, delegates lifted a ban on LGBTQ+ clergy ordination that had been in effect since 1984. The group also removed penalties for ministers officiating at same-sex unions and churches choosing to host same-sex weddings. The anti-LGBTQ+ wording removed on Thursday regarding same-sex marriage had been in place since 1972.

The denomination's Social Principles represent the United Methodist Church's public stands on issues of the day and are not church law, according to United Methodist News, the official outlet of the United Methodist Church.

The news outlet said General Conference delegates that met in 1972 voted to add the following words to the Social Principles: “We do not condone the practice of homosexuality and consider it incompatible with Christian teaching.” The new statement came after the phrase “persons of homosexual orientation are persons of sacred worth.”

The 1972 General Conference delegates also adopted the statement: “We do not recommend marriage between two persons of the same sex.”

For some gay couples like Craig Jackson and Laron Chapman, of Oklahoma City, the news about their former denomination was "bittersweet." The couple married in 2022 at what was then Mosaic United Methodist Church, painfully aware that the retired minister who officiated and, perhaps, their church, might pay negative consequences. Their church, currently known as Mosaic Community Church, 3131 NW 50, disaffiliated from the denomination in 2023.

"I'm kind of shocked, but it's good news," Jackson said on Thursday.

More: United Methodists strike down 52-year-old statement on homosexuality and Christianity

"It's bittersweet in a way because Mosaic did disaffiliate — we just couldn't get any certainity about what was going to happen (at General Conference)."

The Rev. Scott Spencer, Mosaic's senior minister, said he was excited for the United Methodist Church though he is no longer a member of the denomination.

"Today, the church has said what many of us have know, and what queer people have always known, and that is that they have never been incompatible to God," Spencer said.

"My prayer is that people's hearts would be open even in areas where exclusionary policies will remain in place or where civil laws do not protect the rights of LGBTQ+ persons in the United Methodist Church. I celebrate how God is continuing to speak to the church and what God is doing in the church and the world."

Meanwhile, several General Conference delegates representing the Oklahoma United Methodist Conference, shared their views.

"Today's wording gives us the ability to continue to be a worldwide church, which is a strength," said the Rev. Derrek Belase, the Oklahoma conference's director of connection ministries.

"I do believe that we have enacted (John) Welsey's first rule of 'Do no harm' throughout this conference.  We can be a church which allows for inclusion of all God's people and still allows our local churches and individual pastors to follow their conscience. "

Belase said there was one aspect of note that he wanted to convey. He said he discussed it in a video posted on the Oklahoma United Methodist Conference's Facebook page.

"The key takeaway for me is that this is a stance of neutrality as I stated on our Facebook video," he said.

Another delegate, the Rev. Adam Shahan, senior pastor of Wesley United Methodist, 1501 NW 24, also weighed in on the matter.

Belase said there was one aspect of note that he wanted to convey. He said he discussed it in a video posted on the Oklahoma United Methodist Communication's Facebook page.

"The key takeaway for me is that this is a stance of neutrality as I stated on our Facebook video," he said.

Another delegate, the Rev. Adam Shahan, senior pastor of Wesley United Methodist, 1501 NW 24, also weighed in on the matter.

"The work accomplished today is a significant step forward in repentance for the harm done to the queer community by the United Methodist Church, the Book of Discipline, and the Social Principles," he said. "The changes today actually return us to the language in our general church rules prior to 1972."

"With disaffiliations behind us and codified prejudices removed, those consenting adults who feel called to the Christian marriage covenant may pursue it in the United Methodist Church. Those who feel called by God to ordained ministry may pursue discernment and the credentialing process regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity."

Contrasting stance

The Rev. D.A. Bennett, senior pastor of St. Andrew's Community Church, weighed in on Thursday's decisions by the United Methodist's legislative body. Bennett's church at 2727 SW 119 in south Oklahoma City disaffiliated from the United Methodist Church in 2022 and joined the Global Methodist Church, a Methodist denomination that launched in 2022. He said he was not authorized to speak on behalf of the Global Methodist Church, but noted that his new denomination offers a clear contrast to his former denomination.

"These quotes are from the Transitional Book of Doctrines and Discipline of the Global Methodist Church, and thus, constitute our standards," he said.

"In the Global Methodist Church we profess that 'we believe that human sexuality is a gift of God that is to be affirmed as it is exercised with the legal and spiritual covenant of a loving and monogamous marriage between one man and one woman.' We also are 'committed to be a safe place of refuge, hospitality and healing for any who may have experienced brokenness in their sexual lives.'"

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: United Methodist Church LGBTQ vote applauded by Oklahoma clergy