Yet one more reason I'm not Methodist...

The Methodist church, of course, began as an exercise to reform the Anglican church.  On my snottier days I tell people it's because we were having too much fun.  And maybe I was right.

But while the UMC might not be officially against fun these days, they're still against gaiety.  Or gayness, at least:

The United Methodist Church General Conference wrapped up in Tampa, Fla., on Friday, a day after delegates voted 61 percent to 39 percent against changing wording in the Book of Discipline.The issue has been debated among Methodists for four decades, causing a rift in the church of about 7.8 million members.

(source)

You will note that it's not even close.  A strong majority of Methodist church leaders think that God made at least some people wrong.  My opinion on this has been stated enough times that I will not belabor it again; suffice to say I find it appalling, and yet, given the source, not at all surprising.

So much for the open minds and hearts the UMC promotes itself with, eh?

Of course, it should be noted that the Methodists, in the US at least, have ever been fans of curtailing personal freedom: witness, as my husband bitched about years ago, their support of weapons bans and of course their historical support of Prohibition:

Methodist Board of Temperance, Prohibition, and Public Morals. This organization was a powerful force in the temperance movement and promoted the aggressive enforcement of Prohibition and attempted to eliminate any criticism of it. In 1925, it charged that vaudeville acts and comic strips were being used to dispense wet (anti-prohibition) "propaganda" in New York City, which it called "a foreign city, run by foreigners for foreigners according to foreign ideas." The founder of the Methodist Board advocated mandatory five-year imprisonment for anyone who purchased a pint or more of bootleg alcohol. He also urged the government to send the marines to speakeasies and open fire on the occupants if they refused to leave. 

Nice, eh?  No surprise, then, that these folks think they know better than you whom you should love.