Methodist leaders
in Minnesota approve of same-sex marriage

Leaders of the United Methodist Church in Minnesota have approved resolutions in favor of ordaining gay clergy and performing same-sex marriages. The delegates made their votes at the UMC's annual state convention in St. Cloud on Thursday.

"We are asking the general church to be more inclusive of gay, lesbian persons in the church's life," the Reverend Bruce Robbins of Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church in Minneapolis told the Associated Press.

The resolutions on the two issues will constitute recommendations to the denomination's General Convention, which meets in 2008. The vote was 496-223 in favor of the petition calling for equal access to the Methodist Church "regardless of sexual orientation." The resolution "to remove prohibition of United Methodist clergy from celebrating homosexual unions" passed on a 394-320 vote. (The Advocate)