Former Minnesota Governor Al Quie, a voting member at the ELCA 2009 bienniel Churchwide assembly, has offered a substitute motion in place of the pending recommendation in favor of ordaining gays and lesbians. His amendment is a complete reversal of this course and essentially states that gays and lesbians are not eligible for ordination or rostered clergy unless they remain celibate … a restatement of the status quo.
The assembly rejected this amendment 34% to 66%, and this gives an early sense of the mood and mind of this assembly.
Here is the text of the rejected amendment:
Rostered leadership of this church who are homosexual in their self understanding are expected to abstain from homosexual relations and practicing homosexuals are precluded from rostered leadership in this church.
