United Methodists Approve Ordaining Gay Clergy & Gay MarriageFriday, June 2, 2006
St. Cloud, Minn.
Delegates to the annual state convention of the United Methodist Church voted Thursday to urge the national church to support the ordination of gay clergy and gay marriage.
Nine petitions on gay-rights issues were approved by a majority of delegates at the convention, said Victoria Rebeck, communications director for the Minnesota Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church.
The Minnesota decisions are recommendations to the national denomination, which will decide whether to go along with the recommendations at its General Conference in 2008.
The closest vote, 358-356, came on a petition to change language about marriage from "a man and a woman" to "two adult persons," and to delete a sentence supporting laws that define marriage as between a man and a woman.
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