After three decades of debate over its stance on homosexuality, members of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) voted on Tuesday to change the definition of marriage in the church’s constitution to include same-sex marriage. 
 
 The final approval by a majority of the church’s 171 regional bodies, known as presbyteries, enshrines a change recommended last year by the church’s General Assembly. The vote amends the church’s constitution to broaden marriage from being between “a man and a woman” to “two people, traditionally a man and a woman.” 
 
 The Presbytery of the Palisades, meeting in Fair Lawn, N.J., put the ratification count over the top on Tuesday on a voice vote. With many presbyteries still left to vote, the tally late Tuesday stood at 87 presbyteries in favor, 41 against and one tied. 
 
 “Finally, the church in its constitutional documents fully recognizes that the love of gays and lesbian couples is worth celebrating in the faith community,” said the Rev. Brian D. Ellison, executive director of the Covenant Network of Presbyterians, which advocates gay inclusion in the church. “There is still disagreement, and I don’t mean to minimize that, but I think we are learning that we can disagree and still be church together.” ||||| NEW YORK (AP) — The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) approved redefining marriage in the church constitution Tuesday to include a "commitment between two people," becoming the largest Protestant group to formally recognize gay marriage as Christian and allow same-sex weddings in every congregation. 
 
 The new definition was endorsed last year by the church General Assembly, or top legislative body, but required approval from a majority of the denomination's 171 regional districts, or presbyteries. The critical 86th "yes" vote came Tuesday night from the Presbytery of the Palisades in New Jersey. 
 
 After all regional bodies vote and top Presbyterian leaders officially accept the results, the change will take effect June 21. The denomination has nearly 1.8 million members and about 10,000 congregations. 
 
 "So many families headed by LGBTQ couples have been waiting for decades to enter this space created for their families within their church communities," said the Rev. Robin White, a leader of More Light Presbyterians, which advocates for gay acceptance within the church. 
 
 So far, 41 presbyteries have rejected the redefinition, which includes a provision that no clergy would be compelled to preside at a gay marriage or host such a ceremony on church property. The vote in one presbytery was tied, according to a tally by the Covenant Network of Presbyterians, a pro-gay group that works to keep Presbyterians united despite theological differences. 
 
 Last year, the church had allowed ministers to preside at gay weddings if local church leaders approved in states where the unions were legally recognized. The new wording for the church Book of Order, which authorizes same-sex marriages churchwide, will read, "Marriage involves a unique commitment between two people, traditionally a man and a woman, to love and support each other for the rest of their lives." 
 
 Church leaders released statements Tuesday urging "mutual forbearance" amid disagreements over the amendment. "We hope that such 'up/down' voting does not mark the end, but the continuation of our desire to live in community," the two top General Assembly officials said. 
 
 Between 2011, when the Presbyterian church authorized gay ordination, and 2013, the latest year for which figures are available, 428 of the denomination's churches left for more conservative denominations or dissolved, though some theological conservatives have remained as they decide how to move forward. 
 
 Carmen Fowler LaBerge, president of the conservative Presbyterian Lay Committee, said the new definition was "an express repudiation of the Bible" and approved "what God does not bless." Her group has urged Presbyterians to protest by redirecting donations away from the national church until the original marriage definition is restored. 
 
 Paul Detterman, national director of The Fellowship Community, a network of theologically conservative Presbyterian churches that have stayed with the denomination, said his organization will "remain faithfully engaged in conversation" with those of different views in the church. He said the Fellowship's opposition to the amendment is "in no way intended to be anti-gay," but aims "with humility" to uphold the traditional Bible view of marriage. 
 
 Although several Protestant denominations have taken significant steps toward recognizing same-sex relationships, only one other major Christian group has endorsed gay marriage as Christian churchwide. 
 
 In 2005, the 1.1 million-member United Church of Christ became the first major Protestant denomination to back same-sex marriage, urging its individual congregations to develop wedding policies "that do not discriminate against couples based on gender." 
 
 The Episcopal Church, which blazed a trail in 2003 by electing the first openly gay Anglican bishop, Gene Robinson, does not have a formal position on gay marriage, but allows bishops to decide whether their priests can officiate at the ceremonies. Episcopalians will take up gay marriage at a national meeting in June. 
 
 The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, which eliminated barriers to gay ordination in 2009, takes a similar approach, allowing some discretion by clergy and congregations to officiate at same-sex ceremonies without formally recognizing same-sex marriage as a denomination. 
 
 The United Methodist Church, the second-largest Protestant denomination in the U.S., bars "self-avowed practicing homosexuals" from ordination and prohibits gay weddings. Many Methodist clergy have been performing gay marriages as a protest of church policy. 
 
 The Rev. Brian Ellison, executive director of Covenant Network of Presbyterians, said he recognized "there will be significant disagreement among thoughtful faithful people" about the new marriage definition. "We're very committed to helping the church continue working through this issue," he said. ||||| The tide has turned for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender couples seeking to be married in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A). 
 
 Following years of debate and introspection, America’s largest Presbyterian denomination has announced a change to its constitution that allows for a more inclusive definition of marriage. 
 
 Officially called Amendment 14-F, the new wording in the denomination’s Book of Order will describe marriage as being “between two people.” 
 
 About 71 percent of PC (USA) leaders approved of the change during a general assembly meeting last June. The church had been waiting for a majority of its 171 Presbyteries, or regional bodies, to approve the measure one by one. On Tuesday, this majority was reached, with 86 Presbyteries handing in decisions to support same-sex marriage within the church. 
 
 “Today we are rejoicing!" said the Rev. Robin White, co-moderator of the LGBT advocacy group More Light Presbyterians. "So many families headed by LGBTQ couples have been waiting for decades to enter this space created for their families within their church communities.” 
 
 More Presbyteries will continue to hand in their decisions until June, when the amendment is scheduled to go into effect. 
 
 But not everyone agrees with the change. As of Tuesday, 41 Presbyteries have voted against Amendment 14-F. Although the updated Book of Order will describe marriage as "a unique commitment between two people," church leaders added a caveat explaining that it “traditionally” occurs “between a man and a woman.” The careful wording reflects a continuing tension between conservative and liberal factions within the 1.76 million-member church. 
 
 After last year’s assembly, PC(USA) ministers have been allowed to officiate at same-sex weddings in places where it is legal for LGBT people to tie the knot. Amendment 14-F won't make it mandatory for clergy to perform same-sex marriages, and clergy members who object to its wording will be allowed to refuse to officiate those ceremonies. 
 
 Hundreds of parishes have left the denomination in recent years, partly because of its more inclusive attitude toward LGBT members. The PC(USA) counted 10,959 member churches in 2005. That number dropped to 10,038 in 2013, according to church statistics provided to The Huffington Post. The decrease includes both churches that dissolved completely and churches that were dismissed to other denominations, including the more conservative Presbyterian Church in America and the Evangelical Covenant Order of Presbyterians -- neither of which ordains gay clergy or condones same-sex marriages. 
 
 The Covenant Network of Presbyterians, a group that has been advocating for LGBT members since 1997, has been tallying the results as they have come in throughout the year. 
 
 Executive Director Rev. Brian Ellison said that his group still has much more work to do. 
 
 “It’s an important moment for the church in that there really continues to be serious disagreement about this,” Ellison told HuffPost. “This moment is a real opportunity for us to struggle, to work through differences, but still be committed to each other.”
– Another big victory for gay rights, this time outside the courts: The Presbyterian Church (USA) voted yesterday to redefine marriage in its constitution as a "unique commitment between two people" instead of "between a man and a woman," reports the AP, which notes that the move makes the church the biggest US Protestant group to recognize gay marriage. The church's top legislative body approved the move last year, but its 172 regional presbyteries have been voting on it one by one and a majority of 86 was reached yesterday, reports the Huffington Post. The change, known as Amendment 14-F, has been rejected by 41 of the regional bodies, and clergy members who object to the move will not be required to officiate at same-sex weddings. The church's new definition of marriage adds that it's "traditionally a man and a woman" who make the commitment. The church has 1.8 million members and just over 10,000 congregations, but its position on gay marriage has caused hundreds of parishes to depart the denomination, the Post notes. "Some of us are calling it liberation day," a gay pastor in New Jersey tells the New York Times. "It will be the last LGBTQ issue that we debate and fight about, and finally our welcome comes without a 'but' or an 'if.'" Other Protestant groups, including the Episcopal Church and the United Church of Christ, allow same-sex marriage, but the editor of a conservative Presbyterian journal tells the Times that he doesn't "see further large mainline denominations making the same move."