The Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area is expected Tuesday afternoon to vote on the issue of a proposed change to the constitution of the Presbyterian Church USA, which would allow for greater consideration of gays and lesbians for leadership positions in the church.
Twin Cities Presbyterian leaders say such a proposal has been voted on and supported in the past locally. But a majority of presbyteries nationally have not been behind the changes, which would allow for gays and lesbians to openly serve in the church.
Today's meeting will take place at Peace Presbyterian Church in St. Louis Park at 4 p.m., with the vote to take place around 5 p.m. A news conference is expected to follow the tabulation of the vote.
The vote comes nearly two months since an ordained minister of the Presbyterian Church USA who once worked in Minneapolis was acquitted by a church panel of charges that he violated the church constitution when he legally married his gay partner in California in 2008.
The case involving the Rev. Erwin Barron was the first time the divided church has dealt with the possible discipline of a gay pastor who legally married a same-sex partner.
Barron, a college professor in San Francisco whose church credentials remain with the Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area, faced a trial before a presbytery panel of six at Oak Grove Presbyterian Church in Bloomington. After almost three hours of closed deliberations, the panel split 3-3. A two-thirds vote was required for conviction, which lawyers said could have led to defrockment.
