KUDOS TO THE ELCA!!!

A.W.S.
President
Gay, Lesbian, Transgendered Shortwave Club

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Homosexual Lutheran clergy who are in sexual
relationships will be able to serve as pastors, the largest U.S.
Lutheran body said on Saturday.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) passed a resolution
at its annual assembly urging bishops to refrain from disciplining
pastors who are in "faithful committed same-gender relationships."

The resolution passed by a vote of 538-431.

"The Church ... has just said 'Do not do punishments'," said Phil
Soucy, spokesman for Lutherans Concerned, a gay-lesbian rights group
within the church. "That is huge."

The ELCA, which has 4.8 million members, had previously allowed gays
to serve as pastors so long as they abstained from sexual relations.

The conference also instructed a committee that is developing a social
statement on sexuality to further investigate the issue. The committee
is scheduled to release its report in 2009.

Since the ELCA was founded in 1988, the group has ordered three
pastors in gay relationships to be removed from their ministries. The
most recent case was decided in July when the ELCA's committee on
appeals voted to remove an openly gay pastor from St. John's Lutheran
Church in Atlanta.

The gay clergy issue has become a flashpoint in other faiths,
including the Anglican Church. AP