Lesbian minister loses case
by VIJAY S. KOTHARE
Beth Stroud, a lay minister at First United Methodist Church of Germantown (FUMCOG), who was defrocked for revealing to her congregation that she was a lesbian, lost her ordained status when an appeal to the church's highest court by church authorities was affirmed.
“It is a sad day for me, my family, and my congregation,” she told a Local reporter on Monday.
Seven of the nine members of the Judicial Council, the highest court with the United Methodist Church, the nation’s third-largest denomination, heard her case on Oct. 28 at the First United Methodist Church in Houston, and rejected her appeal.
In Dec., 2004, Beth Stroud, 35, faced a clergy trial and was found by a church panel to have violated the denomination’s ban on “self-avowed, practicing homosexual clergy.” She had claimed to be a lesbian in a sermon to the FUMCOG congregation. The church did not accuse her of being a lesbian, but of living in an “open covenant” with a lesbian, which is contrary to church law for clergy. The earlier decision was overturned, and it was appealed to the Judicial Council.
Alan Symonette, representing Stroud before the council, made the case for the church’s inclusiveness, decrying discrimination based on status, and claiming the church’s ban on gay clergy violates its own principles.
During the hearing before the Judicial Council, the Rev. Thomas Hall, acting as prosecutor, stressed that a decision by the council in Stroud’s favor would cause confusion throughout the denomination. He indicated that the church has its own laws and those laws have to be upheld.
If she had won the case, Stroud would have retained her duties as an associate pastor at First Methodist Church of Germantown. When she took over her duties as associate pastor in 1999, she did not reveal her sexual orientation in documents related to her ordination. In her defense, she described how the ordination process did not ask her to state her sexual preference, although she was prepared, if asked, to reveal the truth at that time. Her decision to come out in 2003, revealing her sexual preference, was to share the truth about her life. The original complaint was filed against her by Bishop Peter D. Weaver of the Eastern Pennsylvania United Methodist Conference, in his capacity as Bishop of the Northeastern Jurisdiction.
During the 11 a.m. Sunday service on Oct. 30, at the First United Methodist Church of Germantown, Beth Stroud stood before the congregation that has stood with her throughout her ordeal, and talked about the future for her and her partner, Chris Paige. She said, “I am glad this is over, and now I can go on with my life, my ministry, and my new extended family. We are close to being certified as foster parents, and should receive a child by the end of the year.”
Some members of the FUMCOG congregation expressed concerns about her leaving the church. She has assured the congregation that she would remain on the staff and work for gay rights in the church.
Roberta Millard, FUMCOG parishioner for 35 years, said, “No one questions her call to the ministry. If she is called to God, who are we to question? I don’t understand the decision. At least this will start a serious discussion about God’s work. Discussions always open doors and allow more light in. We are a conciliatory congregation, and we would like the church to be conciliatory.”
Francis Ballard, FUMCOG parishioner for nine years, said, “The church is applying its law and it runs counter to the views of a substantial minority of the church. And what we are facing is a possible split in the church down the road. In this case there is no middle ground. And the church is in no hurry to change.”
Beth Stroud told the Local that “this experience has taught me hope, and faith in God and the possibility of change in the church, hopefully in my lifetime.”
