Gay pastor won't face Methodist church trial

In another decision that puts the Pacific Northwest Conference of the United Methodist Church at odds with the larger church, an investigative committee of the conference has dismissed a complaint against the Rev. Karen Dammann, a lesbian minister accused of violating church law prohibiting "self-avowed, practicing homosexuals" from being ordained or serving as pastors.

That means Dammann, who had served as pastor at Seattle's Woodland Park United Methodist Church, remains a minister in good standing and won't have to face church trial.

Three members of the investigating committee voted to forward Dammann's case to church trial, three voted against that and one abstained. Five votes are needed to send a case to a church trial.

The Rev. Pat Simpson, chairwoman of the investigating committee, would not comment on how committee members made their decision. Simpson said she abstained because "I could not in good conscience vote to send this matter to trial because I believe the United Methodist discipline is wrong on this issue."

She said the committee has broad discretion to determine what is reasonable cause to forward cases to trial.

Dammann and her partner are living in Massachusetts with their child. They moved there after Dammann requested family leave from active ministry.

"We're happy," Dammann said yesterday. "I was not expecting this. I was expecting it to go the other way."

Dammann's case comes on the heels of another high-profile case involving the Rev. Mark Williams, Dammann's successor at Woodland Park and the denomination's only openly gay minister serving a congregation. In May, the conference dismissed a complaint that Williams had violated church law, saying it had insufficient evidence to prove that Williams was sexually active with someone of the same gender.

In a letter last year to Bishop Elias Galvan, head of the Pacific Northwest Conference, Dammann said she was in a "partnered, covenanted, homosexual relationship."

After receiving the letter, Galvan, under church orders, filed a complaint against Dammann.

Lindsay Thompson, Dammann's attorney, said the Pacific Northwest conference is leading the way in an ongoing debate about gays serving as clergy.

"This decision probably does not indicate a national trend just yet, but it indicates there is a good healthy debate going on and the Pacific Northwest is taking a role in the leading of that discussion," Thompson said.

The United Methodist Church, the nation's second-largest Protestant denomination, says it commits to the ministry of all people, but church doctrine also says homosexuality is "incompatible with Christian teaching."

The Pacific Northwest Annual Conference, generally considered liberal, is in the minority among United Methodist conferences nationwide. During past national conferences, held every four years, only about 30 percent to 40 percent of the attendees advocated changing church policy on homosexual clergy, Williams said earlier.

In 1972, the church openly discussed homosexuality for the first time.

Sheila Lalwani: 206-464-2194 or slalwani@seattletimes.com.