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The Trial of Beth Stroud
The Trial of Beth Stroud
Lesbian's pastoral credentials revoked by Methodist court
by Euan Bear
Germantown,
PA – Last month, after a two-day trial, the Eastern Pennsylvania
Conference of the United Methodist Church revoked the ministerial credentials
of pastor Irene Elizabeth ("Beth") Stroud as an "avowed
practicing homosexual." Stroud had written and preached about her
decision to be out to her congregation, its other pastors, and to her
bishop. The vote by the 13-member "trial court" was 12-1 for
conviction of the charge and 7-6 for revocation of her credentials.
By her own admission, Stroud made a conscious
decision to out herself, knowing the potential consequences. According
to the sermon she delivered on April 27, 2003 wherein she declared herself
– at least temporarily – "your openly lesbian, fully
credentialed, United Methodist pastor," she also said, "I know
that, by telling the truth about myself, I risk losing my credentials
as an ordained United Methodist minister. And that would be a huge loss
for me."
That prediction has come to fruition. And
the process was both intense and in some way fulfilling, says Beth's sister,
Burlington social worker (and occasional OITM contributor) Max
Henson-Stroud. She and her partner Kendra were in the hearing room in
the conference's retreat center at Camp Innabah for the second day of
the trial.
Henson-Stroud said that waiting for the penalty
decision was harder than waiting for the guilty-not guilty verdict: "There
was not much debate over the facts, and we kind of knew when we were called
back so quickly, that it was likely a guilty verdict."
When the penalty verdict was delivered,
"It was intensely emotional and very hard. There were a lot of tears.
Beth was extremely strong. She hugged every member of the jury and thanked
them for their time. The room was filled with supporters, some of whom
started to sing." There had been hopes that the trial court would
opt for a lesser penalty. That was not to be.
The family – including members who
had come in from Michigan, Vermont, and Washington, DC, and the parents
of Beth's partner Chris Paige – went out to dinner after the verdict
and penalty were decided and told family stories and laughed together
with the documentary film crew (that had been working on a story on the
church when Stroud came out) and a few other close supporters. Three days
later the Strouds and the Paiges made lunch for the entire First United
Methodist Church of Germantown, Beth's congregation.
That church is an activist congregation,
a member of the Reconciling Ministries Network, "a national grassroots
organization that exists to enable full participation of people of all
sexual orientations and gender identities in the life of the United Methodist
Church, both in policy and practice," according to its website.
Stroud was no newcomer to being out as a
lesbian. She had come out during her undergraduate studies at Bryn Mawr.
She was active in ACT UP and co-founded LGNY, which later became Gay City
News. But, sister Max Henson-Stroud says, her sexuality "just never
came up" in the context of her church and her job. Beth Stroud says
in a document on her website that she was not in a committed relationship
when she was appointed to either of the churches she pastored.
The charge of which she was found guilty included the step of telling
a bishop of her orientation and active relationship, a sort of "Don't
Ask, Don't Tell" policy.
Across the country, another Methodist court
acquitted openly lesbian minister Karen Damman earlier last year in an
action analogous to "jury nullification." In such cases, it
is clear that the charges are provable, but because the jury disagrees
with the law, they decline to find the defendant guilty.
Max Henson-Stroud came away from the experience
"a little hurt" that their family's church could do such a thing
to her sister, despite abundant testimony to her excellence as a minister.
Max and Kendra Henson-Stroud are not connected to a church in Burlington,
although now that they are expecting a child, the couple are in the process
of evaluating that choice.
"Do you stay in the United Methodists?
Or go to the Unitarians or the Episcopals, where it's not your [church]
culture or upbringing but they're more accepting," Henson-Stroud
wondered. "Why do gay Methodists stay? I read that George W. Bush
and Dick Cheney are United Methodists. That made me almost want to leave.
But the church was probably where I got my first sense of social justice
values. It hurts when this organization that says it is founded on love
disallows our love. And then we're asked to forgive, and that's really
hard."
Beth Stroud has been retained by her congregation
as a lay worker. She is not allowed to wear ministerial regalia or administer
the sacraments of baptism, communion, or marriage.