MIND Judicial Council case
MIND’s resolution to the 2010 annual conference titled “Ministry to the marginalized: welcoming LGBT people into NYAC,” signed by 58 individuals, co-sponsored by MFSA and passed by the legislative section with an 85% margin, was ruled out of order on the conference floor by Bishop Park. The ruling was challenged by MIND, and the case is now before the Judicial Council, the UMC’s highest judicial body. Read MIND's Judicial Council brief on the case here.
The resolution was amended twice on the conference floor in an effort to change the bishop’s ruling, but he still ruled that it was in violation of the Book of Discipline. MIND Chair Dorothee Benz formally challenged the ruling, and in accordance with the procedures spelled out in the Discipline, a written request for a ruling of law from the bishop was filed that evening, June 11 (signed by Benz and MFSA Chair Kevin Nelson). This required the bishop to explain in writing why he ruled the resolution out of order, which he did on July 8. His ruling was automatically forwarded to the Judicial Council, which reviews all episcopal rulings of law. Briefs on the case were due August 27, and MIND and MFSA filed a joint brief on August 24. The bishop declined to file a brief.
The resolution, which had been written in consultation with counsel from RMN and MFSA to ensure that it did not violate the Discipline, calls on the conference to take out advertisements in LGBT publications that express the conference’s “heartfelt regret for the harm inflicted on LGBT people through the UMC’s homophobia and discrimination, and…share in these advertisements that NYAC has long been opposed to UMC policy on homosexuality and welcome and invite LGBT people to worship in NYAC churches.” The ads are to be paid for by voluntary contributions (because the Discipline prohibits the use of conference funds to “promote homosexuality”).
In challenging the bishop’s ruling on the floor, Benz emphasized that all the resolution seeks to do is to tell other people what our conference has already resolved and stated it believes. How can it be “out of order” to tell the very people affect by our pronouncements what they are? If we can pass resolutions saying we oppose discrimination, but we cannot tell those being discriminated against, what is the point?
Bishop Park’s ruling of law did not address the resolution’s supposed violation of the Discipline. Instead, Bishop Park said in part:
I ruled the resolution out of order because the resolution requires an advertisement in a public newspaper, which includes a phrase, “NYAC (New York Annual Conference) has long been opposed to UMC (United Methodist Church) policy on homosexuality.” This phrase as a public statement does not accurately define the standing of the New York Annual Conference as it relates to The United Methodist Church policy on homosexuality.
In its Judicial Council brief, MIND pointed out that Bishop Park's ruling neither addresses the written request for a ruling of law nor makes any specific references to the Discipline. We also argued that his ruling at annual conference was improper because he made it before the body had a chance to vote, infringing the conference's right to act on a matter properly before it. In addition, the brief reviews Judicial Council precendents and makes the case that the resolution is not in violation of the Discipline. It falls within the scope of what the Judicial Council has ruled is an acceptable expression of dissent by an annual conference. "We cannot be silent about the work and Word of God among us, and annual conferences have the right and responsibility to advertise their principled dissent," the brief says.
The Judicial Council will rule on the matter at its October 27-30, 2010 meeting in New Orleans. Working together with RMN and others, MIND is planning a vocal and visible witness at the Judicial Council meeting, which will also take up a number of other LGBT-related issues.
Ministry to the marginalized: welcoming LGBT people into NYAC – final text as amended
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