Methodists Split Over Gay Marriage, LGBTQ Clergy
In major shakeup, Church also allocates $39 million to address racist “sins” of past
Church leaders from the United
States, Africa, Europe, and the
Philippines, the traditionalist
side would receive $25 million in
funds from the United Methodist
Church, while an additional $2
million would be allocated for the
future in case additional congregations
choose to leave the main
Church.
The Church is also recognizing
its own role in racism and vowing
to steer $39 million to “support
communities historically marginalized
by the sin of racism,” including
giving Black, Latinx, Pacific
Islander, and Asian communities
greater say in the church’s decision
making process.
The plan still needs to be approved
at the Church’s general
conference, slated for May 5-15
WIKIMEDIA COMMONS/ BEYOND MY KEN in Minneapolis. But its confirma-
➤ METHODISTS, continued on p.13
NYS Lawmakers Reviving Gestational Surrogacy Push
Will Cuomo’s help prove key in opening up option important to gay couples?
The lawmakers who carried
the bill last year, out gay
State Senator Brad Hoylman
of Manhattan and Assemblymember
Amy Paulin of
Westchester, are also moving
ahead with plans to revive
the legislation this year.
New York is one of the few
remaining states with an
outright ban on paid gestational
surrogacy, which
entails a prospective parent
or parents compensating a
person to carry a baby who
is not biologically related to
the carrier. Hoylman, who
led the bill to passage in the
Senate last year, has two
children through gestational
surrogacy with his husband,
David Sigal.
RELIGION
BY MATT TRACY
The United Methodist
Church is preparing
to split over disagreements
about LGBTQ
clergy and same-sex marriage,
culminating a years-long fracture
that blew open at the Christian
denomination’s global conference
last year.
Church leaders, pointing to
“fundamental differences,” announced
a plan January 3 under
which a more conservative “traditional
Methodist” denomination
would break away from the main
Church. The breakaway traditionalists
would likely maintain hardline
stances on marriage and clergy,
while the main Church seems
headed toward opening the door
for same-sex marriages and queer
clergy — in some form or another.
Under the plan, brokered by
The exterior of LGBTQ-friendly Christ Church, United Methodist, at 520 Park Avenue at East 60th Street
in Manhattan.
FAMILIES
BY MATT TRACY
The contested effort
to legalize compensated
gestational
surrogacy in New
York State is underway again
after the legislative push faltered
last year in the face of
criticism from a wide range of
voices, including out lesbian
Assemblymember Deborah
Glick of Manhattan.
Governor Andrew Cuomo,
who was among the chief
backers of the bill last year ,
has included gestational
surrogacy on his State of
the State agenda for 2020
— which he will lay out in a
January 8 address — signaling
his steadfast intentions
to prioritize the legislation
this year.
DONNA ACETO
Out gay Manhattan State Senator Brad Hoylman with his younger daughter Lucy at an event promoting his gestational
surrogacy bill last year at the LGBT Community Center.
➤ SURROGACY, continued on p.13
January 16 - January 2 12 9, 2020 | GayCityNews.com
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