Same-gender-loving persons have been marginalized by the prejudicial language in the Book of Discipline since 1972, and increasingly so ever since. This last 2019 General Conference, there was finally a chance to remove that language and allow regions to make their own responses and policies towards LGBTQIA+ people. That didn't happen. Here are some voices from the margins.
Bishop Karen Oliveto, resident bishop of the Mountain Sky Area of the UMC, has published this reflection on the "New Day" in the Mountain Sky Conference (original here):
A New Day for the Mountain Sky Conference
Dec. 31, 2019
As we edge toward a new year and a new decade, I find myself meditating on Jeremiah 29:11:
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
For myself and other LGBTQ+ United Methodists, we have learned to trust in God above all else. As the New Year rings in even greater restrictions and punishments against God’s LGBTQ+ people within our denomination, we know God’s love and grace cannot be confined by rules. It is God who, in the midst of our denominational crisis, gives us hope and a future.
LGBTQIA Voices are not often heard, or even desired. Listening/reading/interacting with them is critical to understanding the "Experience" side especially of the Wesleyan Quadrilateral. This is a collection of sources for first-person stories, some directly addressing the 2019 General Conference.
- Union Theological Seminary, NYC: Queer Faith
- Lauren Rowello: Progressives: Love And Affirmation Do Not Absolve You
- Robert Schotter: The WCA is lying--and many UMs are complicit
- Nathan Heffernan: Is being gay compatible with religion?
- Joey Lopez: For Such A Time As Now
- Joey Heath-Mason: Where I Am Right Now
- Israel I. Alvaran: Grace is not up for a vote
- Alex da Silva Souto: Tearing People To Pieces
- Dorothee Benz: The Sin of Patience
- Dorothee Benz: resigns her membership
- Greg Gross: United Methodist Church: Care for the Children
- Ugandan Turinawe Samson Shares
- Reconciling Ministries Network Stories
- Certified Candidate Kipp Nelson, Miami
- Jorge Lockward, Minister of Worship Arts, NYC
- Book: Our Strangely Warmed Hearts,by Bishop Karen P. Oliveto
- Video: Matthew Vines, Young Adult Bible Scholar, Reformation Project
- Web site: Affirmation: United Methodists for LGBTQ Concerns
- Web site: United Methodist Queer Clergy Caucus (UMQCC)
by Ben Roe
The United Methodist General Conference in Portland in 2016 asked the Council of Bishops to establish a special commission to make recommendations on how to deal with the explosive issues of human sexuality which threatened to derail the Conference.
That "Commission on the Way Forward" asked for input from interested groups in the church. Affirmation: United Methodists for LGBTQ Concerns asked me to put together a statement which could be submitted with others for our witness. This is my part of the statement, and my solution for the "Way Forward."
I'm Ben Roe from Denver, a seminary-trained lay person. I grew up in Nebraska, and over the years since the early 70s, I have come to the realization that gender and sex are not binary, and that I am aware of and celebrate my attractions to persons regardless of their gender.
I've studied and taught human sexuality and it is clear to me that our Disciplinary statements about sexuality are woefully inadequate to the complexity of what we know now about human sexuality in the 21st Century.
Our scientific knowledge is growing, and so far we know that there are six biological markers for sexual differentiation: chromosomes, hormones, brain structures, external genitalia, internal reproductive structures, and gonadal tissue—and all of them have a continuum of characteristics. And this all underlies the continua of gender and sexual orientation. So, the use of the very word “homosexual” is nearly meaningless in the face of this complexity.
Since the General Conference of The United Methodist Church has been unable and/or unwilling to acknowledge, much less deal with this complexity, and since sexuality is viewed so differently in different world cultures, I believe it is time to vastly simplify our stances, taking out references to sexual orientation, gender and marriage, and letting individual Annual, Jurisdictional, and Central Conference cultures shape further statements. Human rights may suffer in some parts of the world, but more diversity and honest conversation may prevail overall. And we will be able to embrace a “United” Methodism that is about much more than sexuality!
God bless you in your conversations and decisions.
(See my Curriculum Vitae for my background to make these statements.)