April 29, 2017
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
J. Michael Cobb, MIND Communications Director
203-512-1059
“No Matter What People Say: Decisions, Pronouncements On Me;
I Am A Child Of God!”
The spring 2017 meeting of the United Methodist Judicial Council has ruled that the consecration of an openly gay bishop violates church law.
Methodists In New Directions (MIND) has released the following statement in response to this and additional Judicial Council statements on LGBTQI clergy and laity:
“The United Methodist Judicial Council has spoken and its rulings against LGBTQI persons are contrary to the teachings of Jesus and to will of God. They do grave psychic and spiritual harm to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex persons among the clergy and laity of the United Methodist Church. While we review the specific language of its decisions and their implications for the UMC and for the New York Annual Conference, Methodists in New Directions reiterates its outrage at the way the church, through its General Conference and Judicial Council, continues its institutional oppression of LGBTQI persons, their families, and their allies. While the Judicial Council seeks to make LGBTQI persons even more vulnerable, we, like Jesus, stand with the vulnerable and oppressed. Of course the New York Annual Conference knew it was breaking the law by commissioning and ordaining LGBTQI persons. That was the point!
“An unjust law is no law at all. We will resist, ignore, and discredit the Judicial Council decisions, as we have of all the discriminatory language and practices of the UMC. We are confident that the New York Annual Conference will stand on the side of justice for LGBTQI persons, including LGBTQI clergy and candidates for ministry. The only way forward is non-conformity with the UMC’s discriminatory rules. We continue to call on the NYAC Board of Ordained Ministry and Bishop Thomas Bickerton to stand behind decisions and expressed desires to affirm the callings of LGBTQI people for ordained ministry. We urge the bishops of United Methodist Church and Boards of Ministry across the church to do the same.”
The decision is available at http://www.umc.org/decisions/71953
Methodists in New Directions (MINDny.org) is a grassroots organization of United Methodists working to end our denomination’s doctrinal prejudice and institutional discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. We are a regional group, organizing on the conference level within the New York Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church, committed to living more fully into God’s radical welcome right now and right here.