by Kimberly Winston
Religion News Service
SAN JOSE, Calif. — The nation’s largest Presbyterian denomination on Friday (June 27) cracked open the door to ordaining non-celibate gay and lesbian clergy, though the decades-old fight is far from over.
Delegates at the Presbyterian Church (USA) meeting here voted 54 percent to 46 percent to remove a clause in their constitution that requires clergy to be either married and faithful or single and chaste.
But the action still needs approval by a majority of the denomination’s 173 regional bodies, called presbyteries, and similar moves in recent years have twice failed to win ratification on the local level.
In a related move, delegates approved an “authoritative interpretation” of church rules on gay clergy, a move that was meant to piece back together a delicate compromise forged two years ago that was rejected by the church’s highest court…
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