Highlighted Histories

Methodists were one of the earliest Protestant denominations to support the gay rights movement of the 1960s –– but this support did not last long. After a 1972 clause was entered into its book of law, The Book of Discipline, some United Methodists began to discriminate against LGBTQ+ persons in terms of marriage and ordination rights. Despite this fact, LGBTQ+ identifying persons have remained United Methodist and have contributed to the prophetic witness of United Methodism in the world. Here are their stories.