Presbyterians Ease Stance Toward Gays

Presbyterian Church (USA) leaders agreed to amend their constitution to support “fidelity . . . in all relationships of life,” in an attempt to temper a rule that bars homosexuals from the pulpit. Delegates to the annual General Assembly in Syracuse, N.Y., approved the measure by a vote of 328-217. The measure does not lift a 1978 policy that bans ordaining “self-affirming, practicing homosexuals.” The “fidelity and chastity” rule passed last year includes a provision that the only acceptable sexual expression for ordained people is between a man and a woman within the context of marriage, or “chastity in singleness.”