Methodist clergy come out as LGBTQI

Chiqui Guyjoco Sunday, May 15, 2016

A same-sex couple weds at City Hall in San Francisco, June 29, 2013. | REUTERS/Stephen Lam

More than a hundred clergy members and candidates from the United Methodist Church have officially come out as lesbians, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, and intersex (LGBTQI).

The 111 LGBTQI Methodist leaders publicly came out in a signed document published on Reconciling Ministries Network, a website supportive of the group's cause. The letter entitled "A Love Letter to Our Church From Your LGBTQI Religious Leaders" revealed that the group's purpose for coming out is to provide hope for young LGBTQI members in hostile Methodist churches.

"We are here because God has called us to serve in this denomination, and our souls are fed by the theology in which we've been raised," the signatories stated in their letter. The group also expressed their wish that the church would be more inclusive.

United Methodist Church, America's third largest Christian denomination, follows the doctrine of The Book of Discipline which teaches that being gay is incompatible with the Christian teaching and that homosexuality and officiating same-sex marriages are liable offenses.

"The United Methodist Church urges us to hide our light under a bushel basket, and God calls us to shine our light brightly," signatory Rev. Laura Young told The Columbos Dispatch. "The don't-ask-don't-tell policy is damaging to a person's soul, and we can't allow it to go on any longer."

The group's public statement came on the eve of the denomination's 10-day General Conference held every four years to discuss church policy. Incidentally, the announcement also came only two days after Methodist pastor Rev. David Meredith married his boyfriend of 28 years and a week after 15 Methodist leaders in the New York Conference also publicly came out as gay.

Support quickly came from a group of 500 LGBTQ clergy, future pastors, and faith leaders coming from different denominations who posted a letter on the website Believe Out Loud to stand in solidarity with their Methodist colleagues. "Though we come from different traditions, you are our family in Christ and our siblings in the common struggle to live fully and authentically into our God-given identities and callings," the letter read.