04531
December 3, 2004

United Methodist lesbian minister defrocked after being convicted of breaking church law

by Religion News Service

WASHINGTON — A lesbian minister was defrocked Dec. 2 after being convicted by a United Methodist Church court of violating church law by living openly with her partner in a committed relationship.

   The verdict in the case of the Rev. Irene “Beth” Stroud, associate pastor of Philadelphia’s First United Methodist Church of Germantown, came on the second day of her church trial, the Associated Press reported.

      The jury of United Methodist clergy voted 12‑1 to find Stroud guilty of violating the law that bars “self‑avowed, practicing homosexuals” from ministry. Nine votes were needed for a conviction. The vote to remove Stroud from ministry was 7-6.

      Stroud, 34, had expected to be convicted. She told reporters before the jury returned that whatever the outcome, “this case has shown how divided we are” over the role of gays in the church.

      Stroud announced last year that she and her partner, Chris Paige, were living in a committed relationship, setting in motion the events that led to the trial.

      The presiding judge, retired Bishop Joseph Yeakel of Smithsburg, MD, declined to let the jury hear expert testimony from six defense witnesses who believe the church’s ban against gay clergy violates its own legal principles.

      He told the jury “constitutional issues are not before this court” when Stroud’s senior pastor, the Rev. Alfred Day III, tried to raise a similar argument.

      “The heart of the issue is whether all United Methodists, regardless of status, are to be afforded equal rights and equal opportunities,” said the Rev. J. Dennis Williams, Stroud’s defense counsel, in closing arguments.

      The Rev. Thomas Hall of Exton, PA, the prosecuting attorney, told jurors they had an obligation to “hold a good pastor accountable to the standard with which we all live” under the Methodist Book of Discipline.

      Stroud said before the trial that her church has offered to make her a paid lay member of the staff if she lost her ministerial credentials in the trial.