32: APPROVAL OF HOMOSEXUALITY 243retreat into ambiguity that still allows local churches and regions to
make their own decisions about what it means. The resolution passed
670-323. Reporting on the decision, Edward Plowman wrote, “In effect,
same-sex blessings will now be a matter of local option, depending on
each bishop’s ideology.”^16
The ELCA constitution still defines marriage as a relationship
between a man and a woman and prohibits ordination of clergy in same-
sex relationships, but it has not been uniformly enforced, and this reso-
lution essentially guarantees it will not be enforced. A separate
resolution that would have explicitly allowed for ordination of gay or
lesbian clergy “in life-long, committed and faithful same-sex relation-
ships” was defeated 490-503 (proposed as a constitutional change, it
would have required a 2/3 majority to pass).^17
4. UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
As I noted in a footnote in chapter 2, in April, 2004,
a clergy jury in the [United Methodist Church’s] Pacific Northwest
regional unit voted to retain the ministerial credentials of Karen
Dammann, a self-avowed lesbian who recently ‘married’ her partner....
Church members looking to their bishops for a decisive response in
defense of church discipline didn’t get one. In a wobbly statement, the
15-member executive committee of the UMC Council of Bishops in
effect said that the bishops are committed to upholding the church’s laws
but what regional conferences do is their own business.^18The denomination’s General Conference (the nationwide meeting of
the denomination) does not have authority to overturn this regional
decision, but when they met in May 2004 they voted 579 to 376 (61 per-
cent to 39 percent) to affirm a policy statement against homosexual
practice which said, “The United Methodist Church does not condone
the practice of homosexuality and considers this practice incompatible
(^16) Edward E. Plowman, “Lutheran Retreat,” World, August 27, 2005 (www.worldmag.com,
accessed 5-1-06).
(^17) Ibid.
(^18) Edward E. Plowman, “None of Our Business,” World, April 17, 2004, quoted from
http://www.worldmag.com/world/issue/04-17-04/national_5.asp.