Welcome back to A History of Incompatibility. We’re exploring the historical origins of the controversial language over homosexuality in The United Methodist Book of Discipline. This is Part 4, so if you’d like to start from the beginning, go to Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.
Today, we arrive at the crucial moment when Southwest Texas lay delegate Don Hand gets his inspiration for what has come to be known as the Incompatibility Clause. Fresh in his mind were the disruptions of the Gay Liberation Front and a clergyman lighting his own ordination papers on fire at the previous year’s annual conference. Mr. Hand swears that he did not come to General Conference prepared with any language to contribute to the Book of Discipline. He agreed to affirm the civil and human rights of all persons, but wanted to take a stand against homosexuality…change the period to a comma, and add the words, “though we do not condone the practice of homosexuality and consider this practice incompatible with Christian doctrine.” He later recalled it like this:
“At the time I spoke, I experienced the strange sensation that the words were not mine. I knew I was expressing the words, but somehow I did not feel I was in full control of what I was saying.” –Methodist History, 172.
Before the Incompatibility Clause could be voted on, a substitute motion was made by Dr. Hammell Shipps of the Southern New Jersey Conference. This motion was more direct than Hand’s: emphasize biblical condemnation of homosexuality, create healing ministries for gay people, and expand studies to discover “the cause and cure” of homosexuality. Rev. Dr. Robert Moon, the chair of the Social Principles committee, was outspoken against this substitute motion (though we don’t have a record of his exact argument). The substitute motion failed and it was time to vote on Don Hand’s amendment.
Bishop Slater put the amendment up for show of hands, and ruled that the Incompatibility Clause did indeed pass, and would be added into the Book of Discipline. Already well over time for lunch break, the hungry delegates left for food and a breath of fresh air after a tense morning. When they returned, Rev. Dr. Moon requested the word “doctrine” be changed to “teaching,” and it was agreed. They went on with business, and the language of incompatibility has been fiercely defended and opposed every General Conference since 1972.
This wraps up the first third of the larger story I hope to tell over the next couple of months. I hope you’ll keep reading to learn more. Here in 2022, with the denomination splitting over this language, with the ever-increasing polarization of American culture, it’s easy to look for villains and heroes in a story like this one. For people celebrating the Incompatibility Clause, Don Hand is a hero. For people desperate for full gay inclusion in the church, Gene Leggett is a hero and pioneer in LGBT ministry. But I’d argue that this is not a story of true heroes or villains. It’s a story of siblings in Christ. Affirming Christians and Non-Affirming Christians aren’t enemies, like Babylon vs. Israel. We’re much more like Jacob and Esau, or Saul and David.
The last page in Part 4 today is meant to segue us into the middle section of this series. Here we find an affirming Pastor John Wesley checking in with two parishioners who started this whole conversation. My goal with this series has never been to change anyone’s mind. Nor is my goal to absolutely prove once and for all that gay marriage and gay ordination are 100% blessed by God, thought that is what I believe. I guess my main goal is to present a healthier conversation that reflects more honestly on the history that got us to where we are today, and a reflection on our theological commitments as Methodist Christians. The middle section of this series will explore the damage that has been done by theologically categorizing an entire group of people as “incompatible with Christian teaching.”
And to those who need clarification, yes I understand completely that the Discipline refers to the practice of homosexuality. In the weeks to come, we will explore the impossibility of separating “the practice” from “the person.”
I’m drawing from these excellent resources, you should check them out!
The Journal of the 1972 General Conference of The UMC. (Start on page 456).
Don Hand: Homosexuality and the 1972 Social Principles (Written by Hand himself, 2014).
The Saddest Day: Gene Leggett and the Origins of the Incompatibility Clause (2017).
Homosexual Minister is Ousted By Southwest Texas Methodist (NYT, June 3, 1971).
Texan’s Compromise at root of Methodist Rift (Houston Chronicle, 2020).
Chaos, Sexuality & Politics in the UMC (2019).
Entangled: A History of American Methodism, Politics, and Sexuality (Dreff, 2018).
Heavy Burdens: 7 Ways LGBTQ Christians Experience Harm in the Church (Rivera, 2021).
Click here for Part 5 of the story.