Church Court Reinstates Lesbian Minister

A Methodist court in Linthicum reinstated a lesbian minister who had been defrocked for declaring to her congregation that she was in a relationship with another woman.

The United Methodist Church appeals panel voted 8 to 1 to set aside the December decision by another church court to oust Irene Stroud for violating the denomination’s ban on “self-avowed, practicing homosexual” clergy.

The panel said the ban was “null and void” because the church procedures were not followed when it was adopted. The ruling was sure to inflame traditional Methodists who were outraged that church leaders hadn’t done more to enforce the ban on actively gay clergy.