Policies of Christian faith groups about gays, lesbians, & bisexuals

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Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America (ELCA)

Background:

There is a very active debate within the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) concerning equality of treatment of its LGBT members (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and occasionally transgender individuals).

As with other mainline Christian faith groups, there exist two solitudes within the ELCA between traditionally minded and progressive members. The former solitude condemns all same-sex sexual behavior; the latter condemns discrimination against LGBT members. Since the national body has been able to reach a compromise on the matter of same-sex marriage, the ELCA has authorixed individual congregations to decide the matter for themsselves. There is a widely held belief that the denomination will shortly change its policy to accept marriage equality

Topics covered in this section:

	Introduction to the ELCA
	Overview of the lesbian/gay/bisexual issue
	List of developments from mid-1977 to 2009: 1974 to 1999 2000 to 2002 2003 & 2004 2005 & 2006 2007 & 2008   The 2009 Churchwide Assembly (CWA): Overview of CWA activities   The social statement on sexuality: 1 Events leading up to the 2009 CWA Approval of the social statement on sexuality Reactions to the approval: By various groups By delegates and the media God's responses as interpreted by observers
	Individual cases of church discipline of gay and lesbian clergy:

Reference used:

1. "Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust, A social statement of the Evangelical Lutheran Church," Pages 1 to 20," 2009-AUG-19, Final version, at: http://www.elca.org/ This is a PDF file.

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Latest update: 2009-AUG-24
Author: B.A. Robinson

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