Approximately one-fifth of United Methodist congregations in the country have received permission to leave the denomination over disagreements regarding same-sex marriage as well as gay and lesbian preachers, USA Today noted.
In annual conferences since 2019, 6,182 congregations voted to leave the church that is the second-largest Protestant denomination in the United States. More than 4,000 have departed in 2023 alone.
While the church bans the marriage or ordination of “self-avowed, practicing homosexuals,” many churches and conferences have defied those rules.
Sonja Feist—president of the Topeka, Kansas chapter of Parents, Family and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG)—told The Capital-Journal while some departing churches allow LGBTQ+ members, it’s an unacceptable double standard when they let LGBTQ+ people attend their services but refuse to marry them.
—Andrew Davis