PHILADELPHIA
—
Eighteen
months
after
Rev.
Beth
Stroud,
a
34-year-old
associate
pastor
of
Philadelphia’s
First
United
Methodist
Church
of
Germantown,
sent
a
letter
to
her
congregation
announcing
that
she
was
“a
lesbian
living
in
a
committed
relationship
with
a
partner,”
a
Methodist
court
of
13
clergy
last
week
voted
7-6
to
withdraw
her
ministerial
credentials.
Stroud
was
charged
with
violating
Paragraph
2702.1(b)
of
the
2000
Book
of
Discipline
by
living
as
“a
self-avowed
practicing
homosexual
in
a
monogamous,
committed
relationship
…
while
in
the
ordained
ministry.”
Though
Stroud
can
no
longer
wear
the
insignia
of
ordained
ministry,
perform
weddings,
consecrate
communion,
or
baptize,
she
continues
as
associate
pastor
of
the
Northwest
Philadelphia
church
whose
history
of
justice
work
frequently
leads
its
congregants
to
take
to
the
streets.
Charges
against
Stroud
were
based
on
four
pieces
of
evidence.
These
included
an
April
2003
sermon
in
which
she
credited
Chris
Paige,
with
whom
she
has
now
lived
for
four
years,
as
embodying
“grace
and
love
and
discipleship
for
me.”
“Because
of
my
relationship
with
her,”
Stroud
said
in
her
sermon,
“I
am
a
better,
more
faithful
Christian.
I
am
deeply
grateful
to
her
for
the
daily
practice
in
loving
and
being
loved
and
forgiving
and
being
forgiven
that
constantly
deepen
who
I
am
as
a
person
of
faith.”
Five
days
after
the
verdict,
Stroud
granted
her
first
post-trial
interview
to
the
gay
media.
The
phone
interview
was
held
during
a
day
filled
with
ministerial
duties.
Asked
if
she
has
since
decided
to
appeal,
Stroud
said
that
she
is
torn.
“This
congregation
decided
roughly
15
years
ago
to
become
a
reconciling
congregation
that’s
fully
inclusive
of
gay
and
lesbian
people
in
all
aspects
of
its
life
and
ministry,”
she
said.
“When
we
made
that
decision,
the
church
went
through
a
very
long
process
where
it
was
important
that
everyone
be
heard
and
everyone
have
a
chance
to
speak.
As
a
result,
some
of
my
strongest
supporters
in
the
congregation
are
people
who
then
had
a
different
perspective
on
homosexuality
than
they
have
now.
I
would
like
my
brothers
and
sisters
throughout
the
[United
Methodist
Church]
to
have
the
same
opportunity
for
conversion
and
transformation
on
this
issue
that
members
of
my
congregation
had.
“There
are
still
a
lot
of
people
in
our
country,
including
church
ministers,
who
don’t
realize
that
they’ve
ever
met
a
gay
person.
In
the
same
way
that
when
I
came
out
to
my
family,
the
issue
of
homosexuality
became
far
more
personal
for
them
and
they
became
much
more
actively
supportive,
loving
and
caring,
it
is
my
hope
that
some
of
the
same
thing
may
happen
in
the
church.”
On
the
other
hand,
she
acknowledges
that
perhaps
two-thirds
of
United
Methodist
Church
members
worldwide
still
believe
that
the
church
rule
barring
openly
gay
people
from
ministry
is
correct.
“I
have
to
ask
myself,
if
I
should
appeal
and
win,
if
that
would
be
healthy
for
the
church.
Would
it
further
harden
positions
and
disrupt
the
opportunity
that
may
now
exist
for
people
to
hear
each
other
and
change
their
perspectives?”
Asked
if
her
decision
would
be
based
on
what
is
healthy
for
Stroud,
she
laughed.
“Oh,
yeah,
I’ve
got
to
look
at
that
too.
“I’m
exhausted
and
overwhelmed
by
the
enormous
changes
that
have
taken
place
in
my
life
in
the
past
seven
days.
I’m
getting
some
sleep,
but
I’m
not
fully
caught
up.
I
really
haven’t
had
enough
time
to
sit
down
and
absorb
what
all
of
this
means.”
Stroud
is
no
stranger
to
gay
activism.
In
her
20s,
she
served
as
editor
of
LGNY,
the
predecessor
to
New
York’s
Gay
City
News.
It
was
while
interviewing
four
New
York
pastors
and
rabbis
for
a
story
about
gay
and
lesbian
spiritual
leaders
that
she
said
she
heard
an
inner
voice
saying,
“I
don’t
want
you
to
write
about
this.
I
want
you
to
do
it.”
That
voice
led
her
to
become
a
minister
and
then
come
out.
“I
felt
that
in
my
silence,
I
was
not
fully
living
out
what
I
believed.
I
believe
that
God
made
all
people
with
all
kinds
of
colors
and
shapes
and
sizes
and
all
kinds
of
sexual
orientations.
I
believe
that
God
blesses
all
kinds
of
loving
families.
“I
felt
I
needed
to
take
this
stand
as
a
Christian,
even
knowing
that
it
might
cost
me
my
credentials.
I
needed
to
tell
the
truth
about
my
life,
my
faith,
and
the
way
I
had
experienced
God
in
my
life
in
my
relationship
with
my
partner
as
a
lesbian
faithful
to
God.”
Stroud
met
her
partner
in
Philadelphia
in
1996
while
both
worked
for
a
small
progressive
Christian
magazine.
They
began
dating
a
year
later,
right
after
Stroud
was
ordained,
and
the
two
were
united
in
a
commitment
ceremony
in
October
2000.
“I
was
in
a
place
in
my
life
where
if
I
was
going
...
