The nation’s largest Methodist, Presbyterian, Episcopal and Lutheran denominations have all now removed barriers to LGBTQ participation in the pulpit and

The fight to allow same-sex marriage and gay clergy has defined much of the last half-century for major mainline Protestant denominations in the U.S. Within these theologically moderate-to-progressive Protestant groups,

United Methodist delegates on Friday repealed their church's long-standing ban on the celebrations of same-sex marriages or unions by its clergy and in its churches. The action marked the final major reversal of a collection of LGBTQ bans and disapprovals that have been embedded throughout the laws and social teachings of the United Methodist Church over the previous half-century.