100 ATTEND BISHOP’S LIFESTREAM
Gay Wedding, Pastor Ban
Divides Local Methodists
By LIBBY CUDMORE • HOMETOWN ONEONTA & The Freeman’s Journal
In 1996, when Rev. Marti Swords-Horrell threw a 10th anniversary party for husband Dana, a guest said something that changed her life forever.
“Kirk was our funeral director, a good Christian and gay, but it wasn’t safe for him to be out,” she recounted. “He came up to me and said congratulations, but he also said that he and his partner had been together longer than we had, but would never get a party like this. It really opened my eyes.”
The pastor of the First United Methodist Church in Oneonta since June, Swords-Horrell has welcomed the LGBTQ community, handing out water at the Gay Pride parade and hosted a play about a gay teen when a local school wouldn’t.
But in February, 53 percent of delegates at a United Methodist Church special conference in St. Louis, Mo., voted for a “Traditional” plan, one of three options. U.S. delegates would have supported a “One Church” plan, but delegates from more conservative congregations in Asia and Africa didn’t.
The plan prohibits Methodist ministers from performing gay marriage, subject a one-year suspension, and upholds the Book of Discipline’s forbidding “self-avowed practicing homosexuals” from becoming clergy. The “One Church” plan would have allowed both.
“When they voted on the Traditional plan, it caught me by surprise,” Swords-Horrell said.
At the Cooperstown United Methodist Church, Rev. Thomas LeBeau said he personally agrees with Swords-Horrell. But, he added, “Our church doesn’t have once voice. Some in our congregation are on board with the Traditional plan, but others aren’t.”
He hasn’t been asked to perform a gay wedding. But, it asked, he said he would, “even with the repercussions.”
On Sunday, March 17, Bishop Mark Webb, Upper New York Conference, hosted a livestream where he affirmed his commitment to the plan that was adopted.
“He plans on enforcing it,” said Swords-Horrell. “I’m not surprised, but many of us are sad and frustrated.”
The Oneonta church was the Oneonta District location for the livestream, and Swords-Horrell said 100 people from the 60 churches across the district attended.
“There were a variety of different reactions,” she said. “Some were very discouraged, others were encouraged. We’re a very divided denomination.”
This divide concerns LeBeau, who expressed worry that the church might splinter into different factions. “I hope this doesn’t mean a split,” he said. “It saddens me that there might be.”
But LeBeau was encouraged by Webb’s believe that the church could work through this. “He’s a man of integrity,” he said. “I believe him when he says this doesn’t need to be a dividing issue.”
The Oneonta church has been part of the Reconciling Ministry Network since 1989, allowing gay weddings to take place in the church and supporting the LGBTQ community. “Reconciling is a designation where the church has decided to defy the disciplines,” said Swords-Horrell. “There are around 88 across the world, but we’re growing like mad.”
As such, she has no plans to stop performing gay weddings, although she says none have been scheduled at this time. “We’re not going to comply,” she said. “We’re going to stay with our mission. As it stands now, the congregation has said they will support me.”
Though the vote was taken, the General Conference’s Judicial body can rule it unconstitutional when it meets after Easter. But they may also decide to uphold it.
“This is serious,” said Swords-Horrell. “But I think it’s wrong. It used to be against the law for black folks to sit at lunch counters too, but they disobeyed the law – because they were listening to a higher law.”