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Shades of Orlando
Abstract: Methodist protesters unable to reconcile affirmation and denunciation of homophobia.
On May 1 at the General Conference, more than 200 demonstrators walked onto the legislative floor at the Fort Worth Convention Center. They formed a two-lined cross around the communion table in the center aisle and draped it in a black shroud to witness against the church's stance on homosexual practice. At the podium several Church officials raised their hands in a prayerful gesture.
The 15-minute demonstration which took place during a recess of the General Conference's business session was in reaction to the April 30 decision to retain the denomination's decades-old proscription in the Social Principles and other parts of the Discipline describing homosexual practice as "incompatible with Christian teaching."
Lutherans who attended the 2005 ELCA churchwide assembly in Orlando could not help but remember the Goodsoil protest in which nearly 100 protesters marched onto the convention floor in silent witness.
