The Wesleyan Covenant Association is Lying ...

And many in the United Methodist Church are complicit.

by

The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others. (Matthew 23:2-7)

Last week, Rev. Keith Boyette, president of the Wesleyan Covenant Association and an elder in the Virginia Conference of The United Methodist Church, released a pontificating avowal entitled, “LGBTQ+ People are Welcome in the United Methodist Church”. In addition to the basic inaccuracy of the statement, half-truths, and bold faced lies contained therein, Rev. Boyette wrote as if from the lofty vantage point of speaking for the entirety of the United Methodist Church. This in and of itself should give every United Methodist cause to be apprehensive. Unfortunately, as of this writing, no United Methodist bishop has bothered to respond to the assertions of Rev. Boyette. ... The statement is, at heart, an attempt at “gas lighting” (“we really are not hurting LGBT persons, you are!”) and perhaps public relations damage control.

The statement begins with a declared commitment to offering “radical hospitality and genuine community to all persons.” [The desired reaction may be] "My, such loving, progressive-sounding language! Maybe the WCA is not so bad?” Reader beware, just keep reading. The paragraph in which the above statement is contained concludes with, “We are committed to being a place of refuge and community for all who experience brokenness.”

The WCA seems to be adopting progressive-sounding buzz words; but their theology still has at it’s starting point the implied intrinsic “brokenness” of LGBTQIA persons.

The statement quotes the social principles of the actual United Methodist church, in which it is affirmed that,

“We affirm that all persons are individuals of sacred worth, created in the image of God… We affirm God’s grace is available to all. We will seek to live together in Christian community, welcoming, forgiving, and loving one another, as Christ has loved and accepted us. We implore families and churches not to reject or condemn lesbian and gay members and friends. We commit ourselves to be in ministry for and with all persons.”

The WCA claims a commitment to these principles.

Rev, Boyette goes on to say,

“But in a rhetorical sleight of hand, some progressives are saying the UM Church believes LGBTQ+ people are “incompatible” with Christian teaching, and even worse, with God. These claims are wrong, harmful, and contrary to the words of the UM Church’s Discipline. Still, others, who should know better, are claiming the special General Conference adopted legislation that excludes LGBTQ+ people and even those who advocate on their behalf – again, wrong and harmful. The legislation adopted simply requires that those who have taken a vow to uphold the teachings and polity of the UM church do so.”

Rev. Boyette, in his own, obvious attempt at a “rhetorical sleight of hand” conveniently ignores Paragraph 304.3 of the Book of Discipline, where it specifically states that the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching within a broader “discussion” of the “frailties of the human condition.”

“While persons set apart by the Church for ordained ministry are subject to all the frailties of the human condition and the pressures of society, they are required to maintain the highest standards of holy living in the world. The practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching. Therefore self-avowed practicing homosexuals are not to be certified as candidates, ordained as ministers, or appointed to serve in The United Methodist Church.”

It is completely obvious that Rev. Boyette is poorly attempting to set up a distinction between “practicing homosexuals” and “homosexual orientation.” Religious-based homophobes have been using this “softer, gentler, approach,” for years now – ever since some of them began to admit that reparative therapies were an ineffective, and psychologically damaging scam. With this approach, it is Rev. Boyette who reduces the conversation to a voyeuristic obsession with genitals. The faithful, reciprocal, life-giving, spiritual love shared between LGBTQIA couples is reduced to a matter for the genital police.

Rev. Boyette also refuses to name the following sections in the Book of Discipline,

“In regard to access to marriage, “Ceremonies that celebrate homosexual unions shall not be conducted by our ministers and shall not be conducted in our churches.”

The United Methodist Church, officially, refuses to allow same-sex couples to participate in the human-affirming rite of marriage in its sanctuaries. Personally, this touches me as a great tragedy, prior to my marriage to my partner, Dean, in addition to the common imposed societal internalization that our relationship was somehow “less than,” “less worthy” of that of a heterosexual couple, Dean and I did not have relationships which were centered in our spiritual core. To be very honest, Dean and I had periods in our lives where terms like commitment, fortitude, or long term care in mutuality had very little meaning. Probably because we were constantly informed that those qualities, those virtues, were commodities not dispensed to –

The “less than.”

The “unworthy.”

The “dirty.”

The “Abominable.”

God’s graces, the multiplicity of “means of grace,” given to humanity by a good, generous and loving God are not commodities to be bartered in ecclesiastical “culture wars.”

Our marriage, our covenant in Christian community, before God, our sacramental union, changed our lives forever. It changed our spiritual lives for the better.

On the evening I married Dean, I had never felt so whole. As important and necessary as the legal recognition and protection of civil marriage was and is, for us, what really mattered was the sacramental act. Our church at the time, which married us, acted as a vehicle of God’s grace. In not blocking our access to a means of Grace, our church walked with me and Dean as we entered more fully into our humanity, in our growth into the image and likeness of a loving God.

Rev. Boyette goes on to say the following,

“For 2,000 years the church universal has affirmed sexual ethics and teachings on marriage that are rooted in Scripture and Christian tradition… it does so, based on its principled reading of Scripture and the teachings of the church universal in all times and all places. UM churches are called to be full of grace and full of truth. Truth is to be spoken in love, making clear the biblical message in all areas of our lives, including with regard to sexual intimacy which is to be expressed only in a marriage between a man and a woman.”

No. The understanding of the church has never been stagnant. Even the much-misused term “orthodoxy” underwent centuries of developing understanding. The misuse of “in all times and all places” phrase negates our present calling to grapple with how the church has gotten it absolutely wrong in regard to the treatment and inclusion of LGBTQIA persons. Rev. Boyette’s call for the just treatment of LGBTQIA persons rings hollow indeed. LGBTQIA youth attempt suicide at rates 5 times higher than those of heterosexual, cisgender youth and we know that 40 percent of transgender adults have attempted suicide. There is a direct link between familial and community rejection (too often justified on religious grounds) and this tragically high number.

In regard to chargeable offenses, the Book of Discipline lists the following lump of offenses, yes, “self-avowed, practicing homosexuals are lumped in under the general heading of “immorality”.

“A bishop, clergy member of an annual conference (¶ 370), local pastor, clergy on honorable or administrative location, or diaconal minister may be tried when charged (subject to the statute of limitations in (¶ 2702.4)10 with one or more of the following offenses: (a) immorality including but not limited to, not being celibate in singleness or not faithful in a heterosexual marriage;11 (b) practices declared by The United Methodist Church to be incompatible with Christian teachings, including but not limited to: being a self-avowed practicing homosexual; or conducting ceremonies which celebrate homosexual unions; or performing same-sex wedding ceremonies;13 (c) crime; (d) disobedience to the order and discipline of The United Methodist Church; (e) dissemination of doctrines contrary to the established standards of doctrine of The United Methodist Church; (f) relationships and/or behavior that undermines the ministry of another pastor;14 (g) child abuse;15 (h) sexual abuse;16 i) sexual misconduct15including the use or possession of pornography, (j) harassment, including, but not limited to racial and/or sexual harassment; (k) racial or gender discrimination; or (l) fiscal malfeasance “

If one is known by the company one keeps,  the Book of Discipline, as it currently stands, does not hold LGBTQIA persons in high regard.

Rev. Boyette and the WCA are primarily concerned with the “good order of our church and to hold its clergy accountable to its theological and ethical standards; standards…reaffirmed time and time again.” It is in this interpretation of an imposed “good order,” that  the presupposition that out LGBTQIA persons disrupt “good order” is evident. LGBTQIA are not to be married, not to be ordained and not to treated as fully equal members of the community of the baptized. Oh, but they probably are expected to tithe and donate to the WCA.

Finally, Rev. Boyette implores LGBTQIA persons to,

“reject the false narrative that a serious disagreement over our sexual ethics and teachings on marriage must necessarily imply our rejection of them. We do not accept that narrative; we will continue to welcome and reach out to LGBTQ+ people despite our differences. We will continue to work for a church that offers radical hospitality and genuine community to all persons. And we will strive to be a place of refuge for all who experience brokenness.”

Really? He had the nerve to even put that on paper?

Those of us who are survivors of “ex-gay ministries” know that the Boyette approach is simply a form of this re-tooled spiritual and emotional abuse. It is hoped that such a seemingly “welcoming” approach will help distract from bad publicity. It is a,  “see we love you, too bad you don’t want to be loved,” sleight-of-hand. This is not love. It is not Jesus.

Boyette and the crew begin from a starting point of the intrinsic “brokenness”  of LGBTQIA persons. This is not the historical Christian idea of the love of God in Jesus for a sinful humanity, but a distortion of such an idea; as LGBTQIA persons are ontologically singled out in their very personhood. This is a distortion of Christian concepts of soteriology.

I happen to take the concepts of personal and collective sin very seriously. I admit that I have sinned and have participated in systems which are sinful. For this I constantly fall on the love and grace found in Christ Jesus; however, my love for  Dean, in all its expressions,  is not sin, nor is it intrinsically “broken”. Boyette loves to confuse categories. People groups  are not to be ontologically categorized as “sinful.”

LGBTQIA+ persons are welcome in WCA churches if they:

  1. Check their brains at the door.
  2. Are willing to embrace an imposed celibacy as their cross to bear
  3. Internalize the homophobia of the WCA and, via self-hatred, and reinforce the world view of the traditionalists.

Meanwhile moderate UMC bishops spend time explaining to LGBTQIA+ persons how traditionalists don’t “hate” us, but are simply afraid of the vengeance of an angry God if we were allowed to have full inclusion.

LGBTQIA persons, particularly youth, should not be encouraged to participate in this kind of spiritual and emotional abuse. Leaders should not excuse it away in the name of a false peace and unity.

The United Methodist Church remains complicit in the abuse of LGBTQIA+ persons, but I guess that is okay if we do so in the name of a pietistic call for unity and peace, right?

Robert Schotter describes his writing as a focus on "a gay Christian man's difficult love affair with the church." He holds a master's degree in Biblical Studies from General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church in New York City. He also has served in several staff positions with The Salvation Army and the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches. Currently he works as coordinator of incident management for a New York non-profit agency providing residential and habilitation services to persons with intellectual disabilities This post is republished with permission from his blog, Re-Set: Mullings and Musings on the Journey.