The jury told him to recommit to the doctrine or step aside. Schaefer, of Lebanon, Pa., had hoped that the church's Board of Ordained Ministers would allow him to keep his credentials, effectively letting him stand as a voice for gay rights in a church deeply divided over its ban on same-sex weddings and gay clergy. “Several statements in our Book of Discipline are discriminatory (forbidding ordination of homosexual persons, forbidding the performing of same-gender marriages and considering the practice of homosexuality incompatible with Christian teaching). This has led to confusion by many from the outside of the church wondering how we can talk out of two sides of our mouth,” read part of the statement from Peggy A. Johnson, bishop of Eastern Pennsylvania Conference, which includes some 900 churches around the greater Philadelphia area. Johnson, who has spoken in support of antidiscrimination legislation in Pennsylvania, on Tuesday issued a statement saying some parts of the church's book of discipline are discriminatory against homosexuals.
– The United Methodist Church dropped the hammer today on a Pennsylvania pastor who'd performed his son's same-sex wedding, defrocking him entirely. The church board decided Rev. Frank Schaefer's fate in a meeting that lasted just 15 minutes, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. The church had convicted him last month, and on Monday told him that if he didn't renounce his same-sex-marrying ways and recommit to the Methodist Book of Discipline, he should resign. But Schaefer responded by saying that he could not "uphold those discriminatory laws" because they are "hurtful and harmful to our homosexual brothers and sisters in the church." He also refused to voluntarily resign, the AP reports. The case has set off debate within the church. One bishop, for example, posted a statement Monday saying that "several statements in the Book of Discipline are discriminatory," which has left many "wondering how we can talk out of two sides of our mouth," the Washington Post reports. Later, she posted a revised version saying that the statements "may seem discriminatory" but were "intended to be clear and fair."