UMC court ruling upholds restrictions on LGBTQ clergy and couples
In a separate ruling, the Judicial Council upheld an exit plan that allows churches to leave the denomination with their property.
The United Methodist Church’s top court upheld much of the Traditional Plan approved earlier this year, continuing the global denomination’s ban on the ordination and marriage of its LGBTQ members.
Approved by delegates to a special session of the United Methodist Church’s top legislative body in February, the Traditional Plan, as upheld by a Judicial Council decision on April 26, strengthens language in the denomination’s Book of Discipline that bars LGBTQ clergy and forbids same-sex marriage.
The rule book currently states that “the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching” and that “self-avowed practicing homosexuals” cannot be ordained as ministers, appointed to serve, or be married in the church.
