DALLAS — The United Methodist Church’s highest court has ruled that clergy may not officiate at same-sex unions, even in states where such marriages are legal.
The church’s nine-member Judicial Council rejected separate resolutions passed by the California-Nevada and California-Pacific conferences that voiced support for clergy who officiate at such unions.
Last year, the 8.3 million-member church upheld rules in its Book of Discipline, or constitution, that Methodist churches cannot be used to host same-sex unions and clergy are prohibited from officiating at them.
The latest court ruling rejected a California-Nevada resolution that supported retired clergy who volunteered to conduct gay weddings and a California-Pacific resolution upholding the “pastoral need and prophetic authority” of clergy to do so.
Between May and November 2008, California allowed same-sex couples to marry until voters banned the practice with a constitutional amendment. (TAB)
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