There was a notable event sponsored by the United Methodist Council of Bishops. It was part of the Connectional Table which "oversees the coordination of mission, ministries, and resources across the denomination." As part of that it is hosting a series of online conversations as a dialogue on topics of interest. One of those conversations was a few days ago and put on by the Human Sexuality Task Force. The primary topic was homosexuality. This panel was translated into French, Portuguese, and German, the languages of the worldwide denomination. At peak viewership 450 computers (around the world?) were receiving the streaming.
The news reports say there were six panelists, five of whom are (or were) members of the Council of Bishops. Those reports are unclear about who else was in the room. Surely a moderator and a cameraman to get the program out onto the web. There was also a screen to view videos, one of which was submitted by the mother of a gay son who had committed suicide because the church's new youth pastor had declared the lad was going to hell. But it isn't clear there was a live audience, how big it was, and who was in it.
One thing is clear: If there was an audience it didn't include gay people. Which means once again there were a bunch of people pontificating about us (even if some of them were on our side) without our presence.
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