‘No longer outlaws.’ Many Fresno Methodist church members celebrate new LGBTQ+ rules

Della Green Campbell, 82, doesn’t quite remember when she first started attending Fresno’s Wesley United Methodist Church. She thinks it was probably around her 30s, but definitely before she knew she was a lesbian. 

From 1972 until last May, the Methodist United Church, the second largest Protestant denomination in the U.S., banned LGBTQ+ rights. 

In May, the United Methodist Church lifted LGBTQ+ restrictions by passing 28 pieces of legislation during its General Conference, a national gathering held every four years where members pass legislation for the Book of Discipline or Book of Resolutions. 

Beginning in 2025, the UMC’s Book of Discipline, the denomination’s governing document, will no longer include passages that for years marginalized LGBTQ+ members, such as, “the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching.” 

The Book of Discipline didn’t stop Campbell from being heavily involved with Wesley, as she fought for the inclusion of herself and fellow LGBTQ+ members. She attended meetings during the church’s process of joining the Reconciling Ministries Network—an organization dedicated to the full inclusion of LGBTQ+ people in the UMC—served on the church board, and developed deep connections with fellow members.

“I’m just very proud of my church that they went through the reconciling process,” said Campbell. “It meant that I could stay in that church when I came out, which really made a big difference to me, because I was the only one out [at the time].”

One day, Campbell arrived late to a reconciling meeting, where a woman smiled at her upon arrival. The woman was searching for a new church and thought attending a meeting with fellow LGBTQ+ people would be a good start. Campbell fell in love the minute they were introduced. 

They were together for a year before getting married at Wesley in October 2021, with the ceremony performed by one of the church’s ministers. Campbell’s youngest grandson carried a “here comes the brides” sign. Campbell wore a green dress. Her wife wore blue. Campbell asked Fresnoland not to identify her wife by name.

Wesley is among many clergy and individual churches that have chosen to celebrate weddings despite the restrictions set by the General Conference. 

Currently, some changes are in effect, such as ordaining LGBTQ+ clergy and officiating same-sex weddings. Other changes, like LGBTQ+ funds for conferences and deleting mandatory penalties for clergy performing same-sex weddings, will take effect in the U.S. on Jan. 1, 2025.

The new legislation will ‘remove a significant stumbling block to engaging all people in the ministries of the Church, particularly for local congregations and annual conferences ready to welcome LGBTQ+ people as full church members,’ according to a statement from the U.S. delegates.

Congregations only leave space for change to occur if that is the desire of their members. 

UMC pastors have the authority to decide whom they will marry, and conference leadership has no mechanism to influence or determine these decisions.

The UMC will not “require any local church to hold or prohibit a local church from holding a same-sex marriage service on property owned by a local church.”

What Fresno and Clovis UMCs are doing now that the LGBTQ+ ban lifted

In Fresno, there are four United Methodist Churches: Wesley, St. Mark’s, Grace, and St. Paul’s.

While leaders at all four say they welcome all members, Wesley is the only church that openly advocates for LGBTQ+ rights. Wesley performs same-sex weddings, operates a thrift store that donates some proceeds to local LGBTQ+ organizations, and attends Fresno’s annual Pride parade every June.

Paige Addington, the leadership chairperson for Wesley, said they have about 100 members who attend church weekly. However, they lost 30-35 members in the last three years due to the LGBTQ+ bans created by the UMC. 

“It was extremely painful to live through this and we kind of bucked the system, because we’ve had LGBTQ+ pastors. We’ve had different people all along, knowing that we were kind of in violation of what the greater Methodist Church believes,” Addington said. “For us, this was, ‘Oh, thank God,’ because members were leaving, people were quitting. People were saying, ‘If the greater Methodist Church doesn’t believe in my marriage, why am I here? Why am I worshiping here?’ We lost transgender couples, we lost LGBTQ+ couples. People are looking for safety, and Fresno is not the easiest place to be LGBTQ+.”

The Human Rights Campaign’s Municipal Equality Index rates Fresno a 62 out of 100 in terms of how inclusive its laws and policies are towards LGBTQ+ residents.

While there are no current LGBTQ+ clergy at Wesley, church leaders say they will continue to advocate for LGBTQ+ people.

“We’re not a big box church. We cannot compete with those conservative churches,” said Addington. “The joke at Wesley is we are always called, ‘that church.’ ‘Oh, you go to that church.’ And we still hear that all the time. And so we kind of took it on for a while, we had T-shirts made.”

Floyd Quenzar, pastor at Grace UMC in Fresno’s Jefferson neighborhood, noted that over the years, some members have left Grace to join Wesley because of its larger LGBTQ+ community, even though Grace has always been accepting. Currently, 20-25 members attend church every Sunday. The reactions have been mixed: some have been indifferent, while others feel positive, seeing it as a sign that everyone is accepted.

Quenzar said that he doesn’t think Grace will make any effort to bring in LGBTQ+ resources to the church or change their operations. 

“Unless people come, I don’t think there will be any effort made, other than if people show up,” Quenzar said. “They’re going to be more than welcome as we have treated them like anybody else.”

This isn’t the case for St. Marks, which identifies as a conservative church. In an interview with Fresnoland, Pastor Leonard Adams said that he will “never perform a same-sex marriage,” because the Bible defines marriage “between a man and woman.”

Adams said 20-30 members go to St. Marks every Sunday and when the announcement about LGBTQ+ legislation came in May, the church has operated the same because “everyone is like minded in the church.” 

“Now, if anyone comes in, I’m not going to point out scripture because they’re there. But eventually they’ll hear about it because I’m a Bible-preaching, Bible-teaching pastor,” said Adams. “I don’t agree with what they’re doing. Don’t hate them. Most people have family that’s gay, but we’re looking at what you do.” 

Adams said he offers “counseling” for LGBTQ+ people to take a Biblical look at their identities.

At St. Paul, Pastor Shine Vang said that most church members are displeased with the news, feeling that it undermines the Bible’s authority, which they believe defines marriage as solely between a man and a woman.

“God welcomes everyone, but we follow the Bible,” said Vang. “If members come into our church, they should be able to change. We believe that the holy spirit will direct them to the right path.”

Vang said that 125-150 members, speaking various languages such as Filipino, Spanish, and Hmong, attend the different language services held every Sunday.

In Clovis, Memorial UMC is accepting, but isn’t outwardly advocating for LGBTQ+ people. 

Ruby Bago, interim lay leader of Memorial UMC, said that the church welcomes everyone although they’ve had limited discussions on “LGBTQ+ issues” because they haven’t met with UMC. Bago said that the denomination is equipped with all kinds of resources and had a workshop hosted by a LGBTQ+ facilitator last year where they provided education for members.

“No one can deny the fact that God is doing something new in our beloved United Methodist Church, and that is to restore and heal our broken world,” said Bago. “In the past, everybody has not been open to discussing LGBTQ+ issues at all. But now people are more open to discussing it, and to foster reconciliation of peace, and not to perpetuate division. That is the pulse of the congregation.”

Clovis UMC’s English language ministry averages 75-80 attendees each Sunday, while the Hmong language ministry averages 110-130 attendees. Bago said she hasn’t met any member upset by the LGBTQ+ legislation, and the church will remain open to everyone.

The church’s goal is to have an ongoing discussion about how to better support the LGBTQ+ community.

Denominations pulled away from the UMC because of the ban

Central Valley churches struggled through the pandemic, economic downturn, drought, and a myriad of other social problems, including racism, classism, and phobias against immigrants, according to Dr. Mary Maaga, Central Valley district superintendent for the United Methodist Church. 

Maaga said that these issues significantly strain already fragile church communities, making it challenging for many to remain open.

“Sometimes church is the only place where people crawl out of their silos long enough to be around somebody who’s different politically, theologically, or different in terms of race or class,” said Maaga. “It’s a very fragile social system.”

In 2020, Methodist leaders proposed a plan during the General Conference to split the United Methodist Church over LGBTQ+ differences, creating a new traditionalist denomination called the Global Methodist Church and received $25 million in funds. This denomination formed in 2022, resulting in the restructuring of the Global UMC into regions with policies that were not inclusive to LGBTQ+ people.

As of December 2023, 7,658 UMC churches in the United States were approved for disaffiliation. This is about one-quarter of the UMC churches in the country, according to a study by the Lewis Center for Church Leadership. 

Luke Ham, chair of the California-Nevada UMC conference board of trustees, said that in the California-Nevada district, six churches left and created their own denominations last fall. Three were small rural churches from the Central Valley: Firebaugh-Mendota UMC, Riverdale UMC, and Weldon UMC. 

Ham said that all 7,658 churches who decided not to align with new denominations (such as the Global UMC) chose to become independent congregations. In that independence, churches received no funding from the UMC in order to launch their new expression of being a local church.

The churches had to meet certain obligations to leave with their property, including paying the pastors’ pensions and 20% of the property’s value. If they covered those expenses, they were able to take all of their property and resources with them. 

If a group of members wanted to form a new denomination unrelated to the Global Methodist Church, they could receive $2 million. However, this amount would not be distributed to individual churches but would go to the governing body of their newly established denomination.

Reconciling Ministries Network advocated for LGBTQ+ long before the legislation took place  

The Reconciling Ministries Network, founded in 1984 in response to LGBTQ+ bans, supports congregations through resources, training courses, and staff support. The network helps congregations become more welcoming to LGBTQ+ people, and provides support for those who might be in crisis. The Reconciling Ministries Network has 1,451 registered congregations, with 30% LGBTQ+ members and 70% allies. 

Wesley is one of the few congregations in the Central Valley that’s part of this network, among UMC churches in Merced, Stockton, and Oakhurst.

The process of becoming a recognized UMC church involves a congregational vote at a 75% approval rate within their church. 

Jan Lawrence, executive director of Reconciling Ministries Network, said with the transition in the UMC, the network is trying to provide more resources to congregations that really have never thought about what it meant to be welcoming to LGBTQ+ people. 

“We’ve changed the policy by changing hearts, minds and behavior. Now we have the chance to change hearts and minds in the actual practice of all congregations,” said Lawrence. “The movement is only as strong as the congregations that are connected to us because that’s where the real work is done.”

Lawrence said that the network primarily raised funds outside the UMC and only relied on a small amount of institutional money. Now that there’s no restrictions, the network can directly partner with UMC to support its LGBTQ+ members.

One benefit that the network provides is their map that pins every Methodist church that’s associated with the network which tells people that the congregation is a safe place for LGBTQ+ people to go to church. Another benefit is the ability to connect individuals who are in crisis to the closest congregation that can provide assistance. 

Most churches who are accepting of LGBTQ+ members, but aren’t registered with the Reconciling Ministries Network or are outwardly known for their LGBTQ+ acceptance, have a few reasons why that’s not the case. 

Maaga, said that it takes a certain level of pastoral credibility for a pastor to be willing to go through the process because it involves scriptural education and various conversations that can be hard for a religion who’s scripture has always said that LGBTQ+ members are a sin.

“Some people still feel that need for a church connection, even if they’ve been excluded and traumatized and hurt because there’s something about sacred architecture, ancient scriptures, religious music that’s got its own power, but also that sense of belonging to a community, of shared values, ethics, and creation of a family of your own choosing that has a spiritual element to it,” said Maaga. 

“What the United Methodist Church has finally done, after decades and decades of increasing the harm to our LGBTQ+ siblings, is we finally said, ‘We’re no longer going to have books to punish you with or brutalize us. We’re no longer outlaws. We’re the mainstream now. And that matters.”