With a vote of 28 to 24, representatives of the Presbyterian Church (USA) in North Alabama approved an amendment to the Presbyterian Book of Order, a part of the church's constitution, to allow, but not require, Presbyterian ministers to perform same-sex marriages in states where that is legal. Each minister's church elders can also decide whether or not a gay marriage - or any other marriage - can be held on church property, whatever the minister decides to do.
As several ministers present at the meeting of ministers and lay leaders pointed out, ministers have always had the option to refuse to perform marriages for couples who, in their opinion, were not fit for marriage.
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