United Methodists, winnowed by conservative exodus, embrace LGBTQ inclusivity

United Methodist delegates voted Thursday to make the denomination, which has skewed leftward in the wake of mass defections by conservative-leaning congregations, more gay- and LGBTQ-friendly.

By a 523-161 vote, delegates to the General Conference of the United Methodist Church meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina, voted to drop a decadeslong definition of marriage as exclusively between a man and a woman and struck language saying homosexual practice “is incompatible with Christian teaching.”

Delegates were expected to approve same-sex wedding ceremonies and/or blessings of same-sex unions in local congregations on Friday, the last day of the gathering.

The moves to overturn established policies on homosexuality will likely lead to a further schism. At the end of last year, the denomination lost 25% of its U.S. churches, or more than 7,600 mostly conservative congregations.

Leaders of the UMC’s African churches, considered to have the majority of the denomination’s 4 million overseas members, said they would go home “with important decisions to make regarding the future.”