Many queer folks fled the United Methodist Church (UMC) after its 2019 General Conference—which added even more homophobic prohibitions to church rules—but Caleb Parker did the opposite and made his return. Raised as a United Methodist, he had stepped away from the church for a while, but the harmful new policies galvanized him into action. Caleb got himself elected as a lay delegate for the 2024 General Conference, and initiated the formation of the church’s first-ever Queer Delegate Caucus. I was proud to be one of his co-founders.
His strategic thinking helped clarify our role at the conference, and enabled us to have a substantial influence on the outcome, which ended up being greater than we could have predicted—in a historic vote in May, we saw the complete overturning of the UMC’s anti-LGBTQ stance. Caleb inspires me to keep insisting that the church can, and must, do better.
Ryde is a regional organizer at Reconciling Ministries Network
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