Polling editor says Methodist LGBTQ vote is an ‘outlier’

Morning Consult features editor Joanna Piacenza said in an episode of “What America’s Thinking” that aired Tuesday that a recent decision by the United Methodist Church (UMC) to reject allowing LGBTQ ministers is an “outlier” from the direction of most American Christian churches. 

“This decision made by the UMC — the special session of the general conference — is actually an outlier in a trend of Christian churches in the U.S. becoming more progressive,” Piacenza told Hill.TV’s Jamal Simmons on Monday. 

“We’re seeing denominations of varying ideologies moving to at least recognize, if not accept, members of the LGBT community within their ranks,” she continued. 

The United Methodist General Conference voted last week 449-374 to reject a proposal that would have let churches officiate same-sex marriages and ordain LGBTQ clergy. 

“One of the things that is forgotten about the UMC is that it is a U.S. church, but it’s also a global community,” Piacenza said. “One of the reasons that people say that UMC voted the way that it did is because their global counterparts in the Philippines, in Africa, ect., they are a little more conservative than the U.S. base is.”

Polling shows that many Christian groups are moving in a more progressive direction when it comes to gay marriage.

A Morning Consult survey released last year found that 41 percent of young, white evangelicals say they’re more likely to support a candidate who supports LGBTQ rights. 

— Julia Manchester