Methodists maintain policies on sexuality
Despite emotional protests and fierce lobbying from LGBTQ rights groups, United Methodists voted to maintain their denomination’s stance that “the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching”—an expected outcome as the denomination becomes increasingly international in membership.
Two “agree-to-disagree” proposals were soundly defeated in separate votes by the nearly 1,000 delegates gathered in Tampa, Florida, for the United Methodist Church’s ten-day General Conference that ended May 4.
One proposal would have replaced the “incompatible” phrase in the Book of Discipline, which contains the denomination’s laws and doctrines. Both proposals sought to soften the doctrine by adding statements about homosexuality that were more ambiguous.
