United Methodists come to Charlotte to weigh a milestone measure on LGBTQ acceptance
Institutions across the country have become tepid or downright hostile toward the LGBTQ+ community in the past couple of years. It’s a stark regression after years of positive momentum.
But the United Methodist Church will attempt to do the opposite. At its upcoming General Conference, to be held later this month here in Charlotte, the church will discuss whether to officially liberalize its stance on sexuality, the culmination of a long-standing theological battle over LGBTQ+ rights.
The Methodists’ Book of Discipline currently states that “the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching.” It also prohibits ministers from performing same-sex marriages and the ordaining of openly LGBTQ+ people. That language, which wasn’t adopted until 1972, could be removed at the General Conference.
It’s a move that has been in the making for years, and it’s one that has yielded a messy divorce among Methodists as more conservative congregations displeased with the impending changes have left the denomination in droves. Since 2019, a quarter of Methodist congregations in the U.S. have disaffiliated, including hundreds in North Carolina alone. Methodists aren’t the first denomination to split over LGBTQ+ issues in recent years, but this particular rift marks the largest denominational schism in U.S. history, according to USA Today.
The divide within the church over LGBTQ+ rights mirrors a national political divide, Bishop Ken Carter of the Western North Carolina Conference told the Editorial Board. Many of the departing congregations in North Carolina and beyond come from rural or suburban areas that generally lean more conservative.
But Carter said that the change is necessary for the global church to adapt to the realities of local churches and the lives of its members and its youngest generations. Many progressive churches in the denomination have already chosen not to enforce rules prohibiting LGBTQ clergy and same-sex weddings, and some conferences, have elected openly gay bishops. Many people of faith have a loved one that belongs to the LGBTQ+ community, or they identify as LGBTQ+ themselves.
“They already have LGBTQ people in their membership, active in their churches, yet we have sentences in our discipline that say, ‘We don’t accept you,’ or ‘We don’t fully see you in our church,’” Carter said. “We’re trying to hold together our faith and relationships with people we love, who make major contributions to our churches and our communities, and they’re the only group that is singled out in this way.”
United Methodists are not the only denomination divided over LGBTQ+ rights or other social issues. Carter noted the Catholic Church’s stance on birth control — another example of a policy that does not match the lives of many of its members. A recent Pew Research study found that 83% of U.S. Catholics say the Catholic Church should allow its members to use birth control.
The potential Methodist change, of course, comes during a regression of sorts on LGBTQ+ issues across the country. Hate and violence toward LGBTQ+ people is on the rise, including in schools, and an onslaught of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation has surfaced in state legislatures across the country. Companies who express support for the LGBTQ+ community, such as during Pride Month, face backlash that’s louder and more forceful than it was just five years ago.
“There’s just been a sea change in the way our culture has seen gay and lesbian persons across a generation,” Carter said. “I watched the church change its mind in how it treated persons who’ve been through divorce, the same way the church changed its mind about women being ministers. And I feel like this is a part of that DNA.”
The United Methodist Church has members across the globe — and more than than 6 million members in the U.S. alone. So it’s significant to see a major denomination — or any institution, for that matter — moving forward instead of back on embracing the LGBTQ+ community. We should welcome that willingness to evolve, especially when the world around us remains more rigid than ever. We should embrace the decision to say, “We were wrong before, but you are welcome here now.” It’s an important, meaningful moment, and for Methodists, it’s a historic one.
