Rev. Denman, a pastor in the former New Hampshire Annual Conference disclosed to her bishop in 1987 that she was a lesbian. Charges were filed against her, and she was given her choice of three alternatives: withdrawing from the ministry under complaint, being involuntarily terminated, or going to trial.
She chose the third alternative, because it would raise public consciousness on gays and lesbians in the ministry in advance of the 1988 General Conference. She was found guilty of violating the church's Book of Discipline, a paragraph passed by the 1984 General Conference as a type of "don't ask, don't tell" procedure. Only sexually active gays and lesbians who openly reveal their sexual orientation are prevented from serving as ministers, so she suspended from performing ministerial duties.
A jury of 13 pastors, an ecclesiastical court in New Hampshire, ruled in favor of the Rev. Karen Dammann. Church law prohibits the ordination of self-avowed, practicing homosexuals and the church's Book of Discipline declares homosexuality to be "incompatible to Christian teachings." But the church's social principles support gay rights and liberties.
The trial is the first against a homosexual pastor in the denomination since 1987, when the credentials of the Rev. Rose Mary Denman of New Hampshire were revoked. The ruling means Dammann is considered to be in good standing with the church and available for new assignments.
Rose Mary Denman is the author of Let My People In: A Lesbian Minister Tells of Her Struggles to Live Openly and Maintain Her Ministry, (1990).
Dammann is currently on leave as pastor of First United Methodist Church in Ellensburg, 95 miles east of Seattle. Last week she married her partner of nine years, Meredith Savage, in Portland, Ore., where officials began allowing gay marriages. They have a 5-year-old son.
