Once again, in the American tradition, people from across the nation have gathered together to vote on human rights. (But maybe I should be a little uplifting; this story does have a good ending. Spoiler!) Last week, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in American (ELCA) voted to pass a resolution that would allow gay ministers in the church to be in monogamous relationships and live openly without having to be restricted to celibacy.

 

Before there was a vote on the resolution, the members of the ELCA conference debated the topic with passion and fervor. According to Star Tribune, “A man wiped away tears as he told about a gay seminary student who was so despondent about his rejection by the church that he committed suicide.” Of course, as usual, the opponents of the resolution pointed to the thousands of years of heterosexual marriages and biblical testament to provide the insight to how gays should be treated by the church. But not even a tornado could stop justice from coming to the ELCA congregation.

 

The vote came in 559 to 441 to pass the resolution that would grant equal treatment by the church to all ministers gay or straight. Although the resolution is a big step for the church in accepting LGBT members in their congregation, the resolution in no way supports or denounces the topic of same-sex marriage. According to Reuters, “The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America also encouraged its congregations to find ways to support or recognize members in "accountable lifelong, monogamous, same-gender relationships." The word marriage was explicitly left out of the discussion and resolution, according to reporters from the conference. Although a Christian church accepting LGBT people is uncommon and considered “far-left”, today, the United Church of Christ still remains the most open Christian church, accepting all people who are LGBT and blessing same-sex unions.

 

Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese released the following statement upon the vote:

 

Upon research of the history of the ELCA’s stance on gays in the church, I found this very interesting video coming from San Francisco, California.
 

 
(VIDEO LINK)
 

The video is about 2 years old now and the Rev. Dawn Rodinsky, in that video 2 years ago, hoped for change. I hope this was the change she and her congregation were looking for. I hope the church from this point only move forward, and I wish the ELCA and all openly LGBT clergy and laypeople the best for the days to come.