Presbyterians Drop Anti-Gay Policy Barring GLBT Clerics

American people of faith celebrated another milestone on July 10, when the Presbyterian Church (USA) officially eradicated an anti-gay policy barring openly gay and lesbian clerics, a More Light Presbyterians media release said.

"This Sunday, Presbyterians from Seattle to Nashville are praising God and celebrating," said the group's co-moderator, Rev. Janet Edwards. "Our church has moved another step closer to fully embracing the love and inclusion taught to us by Jesus Christ."

More Light Presbyterians are that church's oldest GLBT-friendly group, the release noted.

"We know God is at work when almost all presbyteries voted more strongly for the welcome and inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender members than ever before, in the history of the Presbyterian Church," added Edwards.

The church's constitution officially changed on July 10 to allow "the ordination of openly lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender ministers, elders and deacons," the release said.

"Ratification of these constitutional changes was assured in May of 2011, when a majority of the 173 presbyteries voted to change the policy through a nationwide ratification process," recounted the release. "Voting on the amendment continued through July. Ninety-seven presbyteries approved the amendment," and it subsequently became official policy for Presbyterians across the United States.

"More Light Presbyterian congregations across the country marked the moment with prayer and rejoicing in their worship services," the release added.

"This historic moment reminds me of when Presbyterians affirmed women as ordained leaders in the church a generation ago," said the group's head, Michael Adee. "Across this country members of welcoming and affirming congregations and ministries are telling the stories of faithful candidates who can now be considered for ordination.

"Years of sharing our lives, Bible study and prayer helped Presbyterians from all walks of life to affirm ordination based on gifts and graces for ministry and God's love for all people," continued Adee.

"As a seminarian, I feel like the angels are celebrating!" co=moderator Trice Gibbons declared. "Presbyterians adopted a policy that opens the door for ordination of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender leaders because they heard exciting stories about church vitality among inclusive churches," Gibbons continued.

"They were persuaded because they know that young people have been waiting for us to open our hearts to the Spirit of God. Today we can stand proud and tell our young people to bring their friends to church. We now have a policy that helps us to love God who is the author and creator of all of us -- including lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people."

"Michael Adee, was the first openly gay Elder at Mount Auburn Presbyterian Church, Cincinnati, Ohio," the release stated. "A judicial charge was brought against the church for his ordination that went to the highest court in the Presbyterian Church (USA).

"The Rev. Janet Edwards is married with two sons," added the release. "Rev. Edwards was tried and acquitted in 2008 after performing a marriage ceremony for a loving same-sex couple. She comes from generations of Presbyterians.

"Trice Gibbons is an openly gay Elder at Second Presbyterian Church in Nashville, TN, an open and affirming More Light congregation," added the release. "After a career in healthcare, Trice is a seminary student at Vanderbilt University and is Co-Moderator of the More Light Presbyterians."

In early 2010, well before the change in the church's rules, a major presbytery of the faith approved an openly gay, partnered candidate for service as a cleric.

Official church rules at the time still stipulated that gays and lesbians with same-sex life partners were not eligible for ordination. But the John Knox Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church (USA), which includes portions of three states -- Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota -- approved ministerial candidate Scott Anderson anyway, in a vote taken in Madison, Wisconsin, on Feb. 20, 2010. Anderson and his male life partner had been committed to one another for 19 years at the time.

"I could see [the vote] having national implications, for sure," said Rev. Alex Thornburg of Madison's Westminster Presbyterian Church at the time. "Some will proclaim this decision the best thing in the world and others will say the church is dying."

But the church continues to thrive, and has gone on to take the next step in officially abolishing the anti-gay rule.

The vote that approved Anderson was possible under a provision that allowed candidates to voice a conscience-based objection to the anti-gay rule. It was under that stipulation that Lisa Larges, an open lesbian and a candidate for ordination in 1992, sought to be ordained, 17 years after being rejected based on her sexuality. Larges' candidacy was put to a vote in 2009, but she was not approved.

The outcome in Anderson's case was far different: Deciding that the doctrinal doubts regarding Anderson's fitness were outstripped by his gifts as a ministerial candidate, the presbytery voted in favor of his ordination by a margin of just over three-quarters.

"I'm very proud to be a Presbyterian today, and that has not always been the case," said Anderson, who had formerly been an ordained Presbyterian minister, but who had resigned twenty years previously after being outed by members of his congregation in Sacramento, California.

Anderson submitted a statement to the presbytery about the questions of gays in ministerial life, arguing that Biblically-based proscriptions on gay and lesbian clergy are "a grievous misapplication of biblical teachings" and "unfaithful to God's loving intentions for humankind and seriously undermines the church's gospel witness to gay and lesbian partners. I cannot in Christian conscience support it."

That statement met the criteria for a conscience-based objection to the ban, opening the way to the vote.