PCUSA Approves Amendment Barring Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity

The Presbyterian Church (USA) has approved an amendment to its constitution that prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The Covenant Network of Presbyterians, which the source describes as an LGBT advocacy group, announced the passage of Amendment 24-A on a Wednesday in a statement posted to the denomination’s official website through the Presbyterian News Service.

Amendment 24-A changes the PC(USA) Book of Order by adding gender identity and sexual orientation to the antidiscrimination statement in F-1.0403. That section reads in part that “God unites persons through baptism regardless of race, ethnicity, age, sex, disability, geography, or theological conviction.”

The amendment was first passed at the 226th General Assembly of the PC(USA) the previous year. To take effect, it needed yes votes from at least 84 of the denomination’s 166 presbyteries. According to the CNP, it recently cleared that threshold with the official support of 87 presbyteries, while dozens of other regional bodies have yet to vote.

The CNP’s executive director, the Rev. Brian Ellison, said in a statement that “we’re still a long way from equity in many areas of church life” for LGBT individuals. “Still, this vote marks a significant milestone aligning our governing documents with our stated values, and demanding that all who would serve as leaders in our midst take seriously their responsibility to avoid discrimination and honor all people,” Ellison stated.

Amendment 24-C, which was originally proposed alongside Amendment 24-A, would require PC(USA) clergy candidates to answer questions about their views on LGBT issues. It remains under consideration. The CNP’s tracking of the measure, which The Christian Post accessed on Thursday morning, showed 57 yes votes and 34 no votes, with 75 presbytery votes still to be held. The two amendments were originally known collectively as the “Olympia Overture,” named after the presbytery from which they came.

The antidiscrimination amendment passed the General Assembly by a vote of 389-24. The clergy-questioning amendment passed by a closer margin of 297-130 and drew considerable debate. Young Adult Advisory Delegate Chase White of the Utah Presbytery told the 2024 assembly that he believed that section undermined the denomination’s “big tent,” citing past PC(USA) policies that barred the ordination of openly gay individuals. “I believe that this section of the overture threatens our witness to Christ, because it allows us once again to be gatekeepers, but now just to a different group of people that we have decided belong on the outside,” White said. “Everyone belongs inside, even those we disagree with.”

Teaching Elder Benjamin Fitzgerald-Fye of the Cayuga-Syracuse Presbytery defended the amendment, claiming that it “doesn’t ask anyone to do anything” and “doesn’t stop anyone from doing anything.” Speaking at the time, Fitzgerald-Fye said, “We cannot have a conversation if we keep giving ourselves permission not to talk about things,” and added, “It is not nice to set aside the rights of others because it is uncomfortable to talk about it.” He continued, “What this does is to ask us to begin having a conversation so people know where we stand as leaders,” a call to speak honestly with one another (Ephesians 4:15).

The source notes earlier background. The PC(USA) ratified an amendment in 2011 allowing ordination of openly LGBT pastors at the discretion of each congregation. Before last July’s General Assembly, more than 100 clergy signed an open letter opposing any requirement that clergy candidates be asked about their views on sexual orientation and gender identity. They wrote that such a question appears to “introduce an ordination question that is deeply at odds with our core Reformed tenet of freedom of conscience.”

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