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Defrocked UMC pastor reinstated after LGBTQ bans lifted

On May 3, its final day, the United Methodist Church’s general conference voted to allow for the reinstatement of clergy who previously were defrocked under the denomination’s LGBTQ bans.

About three weeks later, on the first evening of the Eastern Pennsylvania annual conference, a closed session of about 200 ordained clergy voted overwhelmingly to readmit former clergywoman Irene Elizabeth “Beth” Stroud as a full member of its body.

Stroud’s ministerial orders as an elder were removed in 2004 after a church trial in which she admitted to being in a committed relationship with another woman.