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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Lutherans reject gay clergy proposal

Rachel Zoll Associated Press

ORLANDO, Fla. – A national meeting of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America rejected a proposal Friday that would have allowed gays in committed relationships to serve as clergy under certain conditions.

The measure would have affirmed the church ban on ordaining sexually active gays and lesbians, but would have allowed bishops and church districts, called synods, to seek an exception for a particular candidate – if that person was in a long-term relationship and met other restrictions.

Delegates voted against the measure 503-490. The proposal needed a two-thirds majority to pass.

Earlier in the day, delegates voted 851-127 to keep the church unified despite serious differences over homosexuality. They also rebuffed what many saw as an attempt to push the denomination toward approval of blessing ceremonies for same-sex couples.

All the proposals – the product of three years’ work by a special church task force – were meant as a compromise that would satisfy both those who support gay clergy and those who regard gay sex as sinful. However, the measures drew immediate opposition from Lutherans on opposing sides of the debate.

Conservatives said the ordination proposal would have effectively overturned prohibitions against non-celibate gays in the Lutheran ministry and advocates for gays weren’t satisfied, either. They said the measure would have created a second-class roster for gay and lesbian clergy in the church.

In a news conference immediately after the vote, Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson said he hoped gays and lesbians did not take the vote as a sign they were not welcome in the 4.9 million-member church. “They are. We have said that publicly and clearly,” he said.

New Jersey Synod Bishop Roy Riley, president of the ELCA’s Council of Bishops, said the vote was a good indicator of how the entire church was thinking. “This church is not ready to make major changes in its ordination practices,” Riley said. “That was the crux, really.”

Lutheran gay advocates were angered. A coalition called Goodsoil accused the church of “sacrificing (gays) on the altar of a false and ephemeral sense of unity.”

But Louis Hesse, of the Eastern Washington-Idaho Synod, said those arguing for gay ordination had not made a convincing theological or scientific argument on why they were right.

“The case has not been made. I’ve heard a lot of talk about the Gospel here today and I’m beginning to wonder if I’m in the right church,” Hesse said. “A Gospel of full acceptance, accepting everyone the way they are, what does that say about sinfulness?”