The United Methodist Church decided at a June 25 meeting of its General Council on Finance and Administration that it will add a “non-binary” category under the “gender” portion of its “current church statistical form.” 

This makes a third choice aside from female and male.

“The change will take effect with forms for the 2021 collection year and will only affect the denomination’s data collection in the U.S.,” UM News reported.

“We currently only collect local-church statistics in the U.S.,” Rick King, the agency’s chief financial officer, said of the development.

UM News reported, using sources and language approved by LGBT activists:

GCFA also plans to ask U.S. annual conferences — church regional governing bodies — to include the number of non-binary clergy in their Business of Annual Conference records.

“Non-binary” is a commonly used term for people whose gender identity falls outside the man-woman binary. A study published this month by the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law found that about 11 percent of the LGBTQ adults, ages 18 to 60, identify as non-binary. That translates to about 1.2 million U.S. adults.

The board made the change after hearing from U.S. annual conference treasurers who have responsibility for collecting membership data from local churches.

“We are having issues reporting people with pastors calling our office and saying: ‘What do I do here?’” Christine Dodson, North Carolina Conference treasurer and the GCFA board’s vice president, said in the article.

“Quite frankly, I’ve had a pastor tell me, ‘I’m not going to force a person to choose one or the other when they have told me how they identify.’”

“We’ve also heard from around the connection that some annual conferences and some other organizations are already using a third choice,” Sharon Dean, GCFA’s chief communications officer, said. “And so to be consistent with requests that come in, we might include this additional selection.”

One board member voted against it.

“I’m appreciative of the recognition of all God’s people, but I am also cautious that we are making a decision that appears to affect less than half our global constituency,” the Rev. Steve Wood, lead pastor of Mount Pisgah United Methodist Church in Johns Creek, Georgia, said. “I’m just wondering if we are creating more angst than we are creating benefits, so I have to speak against it.”

The UM New article cites the division and even talk of splitting the church over gay marriage and self-avowed gay clergy. It also notes that the church’s Book of Discipline says that homosexuality is “incompatible with Christian teaching.”

“However, GCFA staff confirmed that adding non-binary to the forms does not conflict with any paragraph in the Discipline,” UM News reported. “Board members also concluded the change is not in conflict with any legislation related to sexuality heading to the pandemic-delayed General Conference, now scheduled for 2022.”

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