BBC reports. The church is expected to begin conducting same-sex marriages by this fall.The resolution delegates approved defines marriage as the union “of two people who freely enter it,” rather than the union of a man and a woman.
But it recognizes that there are members and clergy who hold to the definition of marriage as a male-female union and affirms them in that belief; by doing so, the denomination hopes to discourage conservative congregations from splitting off.
No clergy member will be forced to perform a marriage for a same-sex couple.LGBTQ+ activists and allies praised the church’s action. “Some of us have been praying for this day to come for decades and can hardly believe it is now here,” said the Rev.