YAKIMA, Wash. (AP) — A lesbian Methodist minister who was acquitted in a church trial over her sexual orientation has chosen not to return to her church, a United Methodist official said Friday.
The Rev. Karen Dammann chose to remain on family leave rather than return to First United Methodist Church in Ellensburg, said the Rev. Ron Hines, superintendent of the Pacific Northwest Conference's Seven Rivers District.
"Karen is still a pastor in good standing with the conference. It was her choice that she continue on family leave," Hines said.
Dammann, 47, declared her sexual preference in February 2001, when she sought a new church appointment. After receiving Dammann's letter, Northwest Conference Bishop Elias Galvan, under church orders, filed a complaint against her.
In March, a jury of 13 pastors meeting in Bothell acquitted Dammann of violating Methodist law, even though she acknowledged she had a female partner. Church law prohibits the ordination of self-avowed, practicing homosexuals.
The trial decision figured prominently at the Methodist national policy meeting last week in Pittsburgh, where discord over gay-related issues showed a deep rift in the nation's third-largest denomination.
At the meeting, the Judicial Council, the top church court, reaffirmed the ban on ordaining and appointing homosexuals — and warned disciplinary action could be taken against violators.
Dammann married her partner of nine years, Meredith Savage, in Oregon in March. She has been on family leave since March 1, caring for their young son, who has a respiratory illness.
Lindsay Thompson, an attorney for Dammann, said the move to remain on family leave is strictly a short-term decision and does not imply Dammann might not seek a post next year.
Thompson also said Dammann believed it would be unfair to leave the Ellensburg congregation waiting to see if she would ever return.
"Karen just decided to take a year to spend time as a family and see what direction she wants her career to take. She has specifically not made any kind of long-term decision about what she wants to do," Thompson said.