How many of you think of Presbyterians as rich, white Republican, country club types who are very wingnutty? Well for those of you who would like to see a mainstream church (that's not UCC) go liberal, I have some good news...
I recently attended the 217th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church USA. It was historical for three major reasons: 1) The Chamberlain and Cumberland Presbyterians held their General Assemblies at the same time and place (Birmingham, Alabama) for the first time since they split from the PCUSA. 2) It was the first biannual General Assembly of the PCUSA (as opposed to yearly meetings.) and 3) The Peace, Unity and Purity Overture was narrowly passed in a controversial vote concerning ordination.
Peace, Unity and Purity (PUP) concerns mostly basic things that clarify our position that Jesus is God, etc. HOWEVER... Recommendation #5 discusses resurrecting the use of scruples, which allow an ordination candidate to disagree with an ordination standard, therefore leaving the decision whether or not the standard is essential or not.
For example: Say a woman would like to be an elder, but she disagrees with the church's pacifist stance because her son is in the military to defend our country. Her session would most likely ordain her anyway.
The reason this was controversial was because this could be used to ordain gay people. Say the San Francisco Presbytery had a candidate come before them who claimed to be married, even though she was technically married to a woman. They could decide that the fidelity and chastity standard was non-essential and ordain her anyway. This ruffled quite a few feathers.
This decision directly affected me because I am gay, and I would like to go into the ministry in the church I grew up in. I was overjoyed at the decision (close in vote as it was) because now I can actually pursue that dream. This assembly was a wonderful experience for me also. I was out the very first full day (I wore my "Gay or Straight? Who cares..." t-shirt) and I was warmly received by almost all the other Youth Advisory Delegates. Also, the on-sight Yay-Gay groups like TAMFS, (That All May Freely Serve) More Light Presbyterians, Covenant Network and the Witherspoon Society were way impressed and said I was their walking billboard. NO ONE said anything outwardly hostile, nor did anyone try to "save" me. I did receive many an interesting look, but the coolest thing that happened with the connection I made with my commissioner.
Kerry Carson ran as the very conservative candidate for Moderator of the 217th GA. He was the ministerial commisioner from my presbytery (all presbyteries get a minister, an ordained elder and a youth advisory delegate - I went as a YAD) and he responded to the "do you think gays should be ordained?" question with a firm "NO." Later though, I think I might have caused him to reconsider his opinion. We were debating the PUP report and I wanted to make a speech that effectively outed me on the floor of GA in front of three thousand witnesses, but unfortunately I did not make it to the microphone soon enough. I was disappointed, but Kerry was nice and asked to read what I had written anyway. I smiled and handed him the peice of paper.
He read it very carefully and handed it back, smiling. He said, "Thank you for showing me this. I'm sure that took a lot of courage and I wish you had had a chance to speak." I was floored. I think I actually made a difference, and even if his was the only mind I changed at GA, then it was worth it to go.