This will be a quick update from the website concerning Amy DeLong's church trial.
From Love on Trial, the results are:
Verdicts
on being a "self-avowed practicing homosexual"
Not Guilty (12-1)
on celebrating a Holy Union
Guilty (13-0)
Penalty (starting July 1, 2011):
1) 20 day suspension for discernment
2) Participate with bishop and complainant
3) Initiate written document for clergy to
outline procedures to help resolve issues
that harm the clergy covenant, create an
adversarial spirit or lead to future clergy
trials.
4) Send draft to Board of Ordained Ministry
by January 2012
5) After BOOM review, redraft and submit to
Clergy Session at 2012 Annual Conference
for their action
6) Failure to comply will result in a 1 year
suspension starting June 3, 2012
Notice something there? Amy has not been stripped of her credentials. She remains, after her 20 day suspension for "discernment," in good standing while the process continues to grind. She will be in continued dialogue with the clergy colleague who filed the complaint. She will be involved in creating procedures to continue to encourage dialogue.
Amy was found guilty of celebrating the Holy Union. And to me, that is the better charge to challenge, due to inherent, contradictory phrases in the Book of Discipline. Of all the language in the Discipline, I think this is most likely to be successfully challenged at General Conference in 2012. I'm not sure, exactly, what "not guilty of being a self avowed practicing homosexual" means, to be honest, but I suspect it has to do with the potentially privileged nature of the disclosure, rather than a statement on Amy's orientation, which is quite open.
I am naive and hopeful enough to see all of this as a very good sign that things are going to change. However, my optimism is tempered with the suspicion that this is simply kicking the can down the road, again and again, resulting in no significant change or grace for our LGTB clergy. To my thinking, it may only be a gesture.
The opinion that counts, however, is Amy's. As I get more information, I'll put together another diary in the next few days.
Keep praying, all of you that do, in whatever form it takes, for Amy, her partner, Val, her colleagues, supporters and friends, and the church. And please, if you would also, pray for those who stand against full inclusion and celebration of loving, committed relationships in the church. Thank you.
UPDATE Link to UMC Reporter article on the trial. Money quote
For the first time in 20 years, a conviction for performing a same-sex union has not resulted in a United Methodist elder's defrocking or indefinite suspension.