Presbyterian leaders vote to overturn ban on homosexual ministers

CHICAGO, Illinois (Reuters) -- Leaders of the Presbyterian Church (USA) have voted overwhelmingly to overturn a ban on ordaining homosexuals as ministers of the church.

The 317-208 vote, taken Friday at the church's annual general assembly in Louisville, Kentucky, came after more than two hours of debate, according to Jerry Van Marter, who recounted the event on the church's Web site, www.pcusa.org.

The measure will now be sent to the church's regional governing bodies, or presbyteries, for consideration and must be passed by a majority of them over the next year before it can take effect.

If the proposal is ratified, individual churches would determine whether or not to allow gay and lesbian clergy.

"There is a great weariness in the church. I feel this will be damaging to the body and its unity," said Nancy Maffett, an elder commissioner from Colorado Springs, in a reaction to the decision posted on the church's Web site.

The church's current position, approved in 1996 and ratified 97-74 by the regional governing bodies, requires church leaders to "live either in fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman, or chastity in singleness."

The Presbyterian Church (USA) has about 2.5 million members, 11,200 congregations and 21,000 ordained ministers, according to the Web site.

Several Christian denominations in the United States have been torn by high-profile debates in recent years over the role of gays, but few have gone as far as the Presbyterian Church.

The United Church of Christ has, for example, adopted a policy that states that sexual orientation alone should not be a bar to ordination as ministers.