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Published On: Apr 26, 2009 09:45 AM
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Published On: Apr 26, 2009 09:45 AM
Once More Into the Breach, Dear Friends ...
Back when Lent started, I mentioned that the Presbyterian
Church (USA) is again voting on whether or not to ordain LGBT
people.
At the time I wrote that, things were starting to look pretty good as we saw Presbytery after Presbytery flip its vote from no to yes since the last time we voted on this back in 2001. We've seen 28 presbyteries flip so far, and there will likely be more to come. As of yesterday, we got a total of 68 yes votes so far, but we needed 87 for the win.
Now that Lent is over, unfortunately, it looks like we just lost. Tastes like ashes, even here in Easter.
With the the recent "No" vote coming from (if you can believe this) San Francisco Presbytery (no, I'm not kidding), that means it's over for this year. Now we try to rack up as many "Yes" votes as we can for the honor of the thing, and to continue to build those positive, supportive networks for next time. Plus it is still possible that we might win the popular vote while losing the Presbytery vote because of the way the make up of Presbyteries is skewed in favor of conservatives.
Such huge momentum has been built though, that it's obvious we can't let it go at that. After all, it took several times to get women's ordination passed too.
So, now while the fundies in the denomination are having their victory parties, our Session, the governing board of our church, just voted to send a new overture to the Presbytery of Detroit. From there, if approved (and that's likely) it will go to the General Assembly next summer for approval (which also seems pretty likely), and then another round of voting by the presbyteries. With such a close vote this time, it looks like we have an excellent chance to pass it next time. We'll have 2 years to change a few more minds. If we're even half as successful at flipping presbyteries in 2 years as we were this time, we'll have it in the bag with room to spare.
As I keep telling people, this ends when we say it ends. Not before.
At the time I wrote that, things were starting to look pretty good as we saw Presbytery after Presbytery flip its vote from no to yes since the last time we voted on this back in 2001. We've seen 28 presbyteries flip so far, and there will likely be more to come. As of yesterday, we got a total of 68 yes votes so far, but we needed 87 for the win.
Now that Lent is over, unfortunately, it looks like we just lost. Tastes like ashes, even here in Easter.
With the the recent "No" vote coming from (if you can believe this) San Francisco Presbytery (no, I'm not kidding), that means it's over for this year. Now we try to rack up as many "Yes" votes as we can for the honor of the thing, and to continue to build those positive, supportive networks for next time. Plus it is still possible that we might win the popular vote while losing the Presbytery vote because of the way the make up of Presbyteries is skewed in favor of conservatives.
Such huge momentum has been built though, that it's obvious we can't let it go at that. After all, it took several times to get women's ordination passed too.
So, now while the fundies in the denomination are having their victory parties, our Session, the governing board of our church, just voted to send a new overture to the Presbytery of Detroit. From there, if approved (and that's likely) it will go to the General Assembly next summer for approval (which also seems pretty likely), and then another round of voting by the presbyteries. With such a close vote this time, it looks like we have an excellent chance to pass it next time. We'll have 2 years to change a few more minds. If we're even half as successful at flipping presbyteries in 2 years as we were this time, we'll have it in the bag with room to spare.
As I keep telling people, this ends when we say it ends. Not before.
Posted: Sun - April 26, 2009 at 08:19 AM