Presbyterians keep ban on noncelibate gay pastors: Closer vote this time
Though it was a closer vote this time, the regional bodies of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) again declined to change the church’s rule barring noncelibate gays and lesbians from being pastors.
On April 25, unofficial tallies showed that 88 presbyteries—one more than the simple majority needed—opposed a change, according to the Presbyterian News Service. By that date, 69 presbyteries, the church’s regional bodies, had voted to remove the requirement that church officers live within a faithful heterosexual marriage or, if single, have no sexual relations.