ELCA Churchwide Assembly - 1st Update

In what appears to be a positive move for gay-friendly issues that will come before the Assembly, an effort to require a super majority vote for changing policies on partnered same sex clergy was defeated. Therefore, a vote to change the current policy which bars same sex clergy in committed relationships will only require a simple majority vote for approval; Here are highlights from the ELCA news service:

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MINNEAPOLIS (ELCA) -- Voting members of the biennial assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America turned back a motion that would have required a two-thirds majority for changes in policies relating to the rostering of clergy, associates in ministry, diaconal ministers and deaconesses. The vote, with 57 percent in opposition, came late in the evening of the first day of the gathering. A vote to allow people living in committed same-gender relationships to be on the professional rosters of the ELCA is scheduled for Friday, Aug. 21. The action leaves in place a recommendation that a simple majority vote be sufficient for the proposed policy changes.

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No doubt the reactionary elements within the ELCA will not be pleased by this situation. I will continue to hope that the ELCA accepts modern knowledge on sexual orientation and the fact that snake oil ex-gay therapies do NOT work as recently recognized by the American Psychological Association.