Both the
Episcopal Church and the Presbyterian Church voted on
Tuesday in favor of a role for gays and lesbians in
their faith communities. At its triennial general
convention in Columbus, Ohio, the Episcopal House of
Deputies decided not to follow the wish of worldwide
Anglican leaders and enact a moratorium on electing
openly gay bishops, while the Presbyterian national
assembly voted in Birmingham, Alabama, to allow individual
congregations and regional presbyteries to make their own
decisions regarding gay bishops and others, the
Associated Press reports.
"The vote says
we're not willing to make sacrificial lambs of our gay
and lesbian sisters and brothers and that has to leave me
feeling pretty grateful and very proud," the Reverend
Susan Russell of Integrity, the Episcopal LGBT caucus,
told the AP of her church's vote. The Episcopal Church
is the American branch of the 77-million-member
international Anglican Communion, which has been in turmoil
since the election of openly gay Gene Robinson as
bishop of New Hampshire in 2003.
With the Episcopal vote, the turmoil will only
continue, said conservatives. "Unhappily, this
decision seems to show that the Episcopal Church has
chosen to walk apart from the rest of the Anglican
Communion," Canon Martyn Minns said to the AP, alluding to
concerns over a possible permanent split in the church
over the inclusion of gays and lesbians. Many dioceses
around the world have threatened to secede if the
issue were not resolved in favor of those who would exclude
gay people.
In response to the grave situation prompted by
the vote, outgoing presiding bishop Frank Griswold
intends to call a special session today before the
Episcopal general convention ends to try to find some kind
of solution. The session will include both the House
of Deputies as well as the church's other policymaking
body, the House of Bishops.
Meanwhile, the Presbyterian Church, another
major American Protestant denomination, moved further
to the side of gays and lesbians when its national
assembly, by a 298-221 vote, approved legislation that will
let churches and regional presbyteries appoint gay
clergy, lay elders, and deacons, the AP reports.
Although the legislation also affirmed Presbyterian
law stipulating that individuals in such positions must
restrict sexual relations to opposite-sex marriage, the
measure will at least allow LGBT members of the church
to serve in such capacities. (The Advocate)
