but more than 30% of the members of the UMC are not from the US, with most of them coming from Africa or the Phillippines. And that proportion keeps growing and growing.
This sort of change and it's not unique to that church or even to the USA in terms of western Christianity is a potential breaker on any moves towards greater LGBT inclusiveness. The global church, outside of western nations or even western inclined church hierarchy is on the whole taking a more regressive stance on those matters, when a decade ago it wasn't even an item on any agenda. If there is continual foot dragging then many USA/European churches might not actually move towards the secular 'benchmark' on LGBT issues.
The big issue in the west is that particularly amongst young people, LGBT rights it now no longer about agreeing or disagreeing, but it's becoming a red line issue. I am greatly encouraged by a lot of young people and young Christians taking the position that it's almost incompatible to be a part of the human family and oppose LGBT people for who they are. It's the modern day equivalent of supporting racial theory or in built male superiority.
Choosing LGBT issues from the 80's to now as the hill to die on simply for short term benefit probably won't pay off in the long run, at least amongst western churches.
The Christian Right will find someone new to despise, they always do. Now that non-religiouses are upwards of 1/3 of millennials I suspect that the "atheist/secular" agenda which has only been tangentially their target will start to feel their full "wrath".
I mean... they've gone through race, political affiliation, sexuality... what's left?
