Presbyterian Church Approves Gay Clergy

Delegates of the Presbyterian Church were stunned on Thursday when Church leaders declined to redefine marriage to include same-sex couples, just hours after approving ordaining noncelibate gays and lesbians in a 373-323 vote. The proposal, which would change the definition of marriage from a union between a "man and a woman" to a commitment between "two people," was shelved and is to be subjected to two years of further study. The decisions were announced at the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Minneapolis. Cindy Bolbach, the assembly's moderator said that Church delegates were not yet ready to decide on redefining marriage and that they "want to continue to talk about it." The denomination's gay ordination policy must still be approved by the majority of the church's 173 local "presbyteries," within the next year.