Episcopal Church marks 50 years of pursuing LGBTQ+ inclusion

The Episcopal Church held a three-day gathering in Minneapolis from September 3 to 5 to mark fifty years since General Convention declared that LGBTQ+ persons have full and equal claim to the church's love, acceptance, and pastoral care. Nearly 200 participants attended the Full & Equal event at the Sheraton Minneapolis Downtown Convention Center, organized by General Convention's Task Force on LGBTQ+ Inclusion with support from the presiding bishop's staff. The Rev. Susan Russell, chair of the task force, framed the gathering not as a celebration of victory but as another leg in an ongoing relay race, focusing on recording the church's lived experience of its 1976 commitment while preparing for future work. The gathering combined worship, education, and storytelling, with participants learning techniques from The Moth Radio Hour storytellers. Speakers shared accounts of advocacy efforts from the past fifty years, including Anne Brown's account of Vermont Episcopalians who worked toward marriage equality in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The task force is conducting a churchwide audit of how thoroughly the church has lived into its commitment and is creating an archive of LGBTQ+ inclusion history in the denomination.

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Source: Episcopal News Service — https://episcopalnewsservice.org/2026/09/08/full-equal-gathering-celebrates-50-years-toward-full-inclusion-looks-to-future-work/