What Methodists, Lutherans, Presbyterians, and Episcopalians believe about same-sex marriage

Many people who search for what their church teaches about same-sex marriage are asking a personal question. You may be gay or lesbian and wondering whether your church would marry you, ordain you, or welcome you at all. You may be a parent, a friend, or a church member trying to understand a change you have heard about. Each of the churches below reached its answer after decades of study, prayer, and painful debate.

The United Methodist Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), and the Episcopal Church all permit their clergy to marry same-sex couples and allow gay and lesbian Christians to be ordained. Each leaves its clergy free to decline any wedding.

What do Methodists believe about same-sex marriage?

The United Methodist Church, the largest mainline Methodist church in the United States, changed its teaching at its General Conference in Charlotte, North Carolina, in May 2024. For decades its Book of Discipline had called homosexual practice “incompatible with Christian teaching,” barred “self-avowed practicing” gay clergy, and forbidden clergy to officiate at same-sex weddings. In 2024 the delegates removed the ban on gay clergy, adopted revised Social Principles without the “incompatible” language by a vote of 523 to 161, and struck the ban on same-sex weddings by 447 to 233.

The revised Social Principles describe marriage as “a sacred, lifelong covenant that brings two people of faith, an adult man and woman of consenting age, or two adult persons of consenting age into union with one another.” The General Conference also voted that no clergy may be required to perform, or barred from performing, any marriage. See what do Methodists believe?

What do Lutherans believe about same-sex marriage?

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the largest Lutheran church in the United States, adopted the social statement Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust in 2009 by 676 votes to 338. The statement describes four positions that ELCA members hold “on the basis of conscience-bound belief,” from the conviction that “same-gender sexual behavior is sinful” to the conviction that they should be held to “the same rigorous standards, sexual ethics, and status as heterosexual marriage.” It admits that “this church lacks consensus” and asks members to respect “the conscience-bound belief of the neighbor.”

The same assembly committed the ELCA to “finding ways to allow congregations that choose to do so to recognize, support and hold publicly accountable lifelong, monogamous, same-gender relationships,” and opened the ministry to people in such relationships. Since civil marriage became legal for same-sex couples nationwide in 2015, the ELCA has left the decision to celebrate a marriage to each congregation and its pastor.

What do Presbyterians believe about same-sex marriage?

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the largest Presbyterian church in the United States, made two changes to its constitution. In 2011 the presbyteries ratified Amendment 10-A, which removed the requirement that ministers, elders, and deacons live in “fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman or chastity in singleness.” In 2015 they ratified Amendment 14-F, which took effect on June 21, 2015, and describes marriage as “a unique commitment between two people, traditionally a man and a woman.”

No minister or session, the elected board of a congregation, can be forced to conduct a same-sex wedding. In 2025 the presbyteries also added “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to the section of the constitution that rules out discrimination in the church’s life. See what do Presbyterians believe?

What do Episcopalians believe about same-sex marriage?

The Episcopal Church, the American member of the worldwide Anglican Communion, declared at its 1976 General Convention that “homosexual persons are children of God who have a full and equal claim with all other persons upon the love, acceptance, and pastoral concern and care of the Church.” In 2003 Gene Robinson, a gay priest in a committed relationship, was consecrated Bishop of New Hampshire. In 2009 the Convention affirmed that God “has called and may call” gay and lesbian people in lifelong relationships “to any ordained ministry.”

In 2015 the Convention rewrote its marriage canon, which had described marriage as “a physical and spiritual union of a man and a woman,” and authorized marriage rites for all couples. Since 2018 those rites have been available in every diocese. Every member of the clergy remains free to decline to officiate at any marriage.

What do the United Church of Christ, the Disciples of Christ, and American Baptists believe?

The United Church of Christ ordained William Johnson in 1972, the first openly gay person ordained in a mainline Protestant church. In 1985 its General Synod called on congregations to declare themselves “open and affirming,” and in 2005 it adopted “Equal Marriage Rights for All.” UCC congregations govern themselves and decide their own practice.

The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) affirmed at its 2013 General Assembly “the faith, baptism and spiritual gifts of all Christians regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity.” Each congregation decides whether to become “open and affirming.”

American Baptist Churches USA has made no churchwide affirmation of same-sex marriage. A 1992 resolution of its General Board says that “the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching,” and a 1993 resolution acknowledged “a variety of understandings throughout our denomination.” Since 2012 its policy statements “in no way obligate American Baptist congregations or regions,” so its congregations differ.

What Scripture and tradition do these churches draw on?

These churches studied the six passages most often cited against gay people: the story of Sodom in Genesis 19, Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13, Romans 1:26–27, 1 Corinthians 6:9, and 1 Timothy 1:10. Traditional Christians read these texts as forbidding all same-sex relationships. Many mainline biblical scholars read them as addressing practices such as rape, idolatry, and exploitation, and the ELCA’s 2009 statement records the conviction of many members that “the scriptural witness does not address the context of sexual orientation and committed relationships that we experience today.” See what does the Bible say about homosexuality?

They also read the Bible’s first word about companionship:

The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make him a helper comparable to him.”

Genesis 2:18

Paul gave the church a test for every rule of conduct:

Love doesn’t harm a neighbor. Love therefore is the fulfillment of the law.

Romans 13:10

The ELCA grounds its respect for “bound conscience” in Paul’s counsel in Romans 14, where Christians who disagree about holy days are each to be “fully assured in his own mind” (Romans 14:5). For the full case, see is it a sin to be gay?

Love that comes from God

If you are gay or lesbian and have been told that your love is a sin, know that these churches weighed that teaching for decades and now permit their clergy to bless marriages like yours. The letter of John puts it this way: “God is love, and he who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him” (1 John 4:16). Many mainline pastors will be glad to talk with you and pray with you.