At the 1980 General Conference an attempt to amend Paragraph 404 of The Discipline to include the phrase "no self-avowed practicing homosexual therefore shall be ordained or appointed in the United Methodist Church" was unsuccessful. The GC instead adopted a statement that said, "The United Methodist Church has moved away from prohibitions of specific acts, for such prohibitions can be endless. We affirm our trust in the covenant community and the process by which we ordain ministers" (Perkins, n.d., p. 3; Moore, 2000a; Discipline, 2000, footnote, p. 190).

The Women’s Division of the UM General Board of Global Ministries made three recommendations to GC, requesting that 1) the funding ban (906.12) be deleted, 2) the negative Social Principles statement be deleted, and 3) that their document on Human Sexuality be adopted for study. Their first two recommendations were unsuccessful, and their study document drew criticism from Good News, which claimed that the Women’s Division’s study materials violated the Discipline (Carter, 1986, p. 9).

The UMNS (2001c) also reported that other proposals on homosexuality were also unsuccessful.

Additionally, the 1980 GC removed specific reference to homosexual unions in the Social Principles. However, the GC body added a statement that says, in part, "We affirm the sanctity of the marriage covenant, which is expressed in love, mutual support, personal commitment, and shared fidelity between a man and a woman" (UMNS, 2001d).

 

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