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)
