US: A lesbian Methodist minister defrocked last year after admitting to living with a woman has won her appeal against the church's decision because it had not defined "practising homosexual", according to the United Methodist Church.
A statement on the church's website said a committee hearing the appeal by Elizabeth Stroud (34), in Baltimore, Maryland, reversed the ecclesiastical court's decision of last December which stripped her of her credentials as a minister at the First United Methodist Church of Germantown, Philadelphia.
She was allowed to have a lesser role in the church but could not perform ceremonies such as baptisms and weddings.
In a 14-page decision, the committee reversed both the conviction and the penalty on the technical grounds that the church had not properly defined the term "practising homosexual".
The committee also held that the church law under which the charges were brought was a new standard which had not been formally ratified by the church authorities and so could not be used to convict Ms Stroud.
She was originally found to have violated the church's Book of Discipline, which forbids the ordination and appointment of "self-avowed practising homosexuals".
Ms Stroud told the hearing she was in a committed relationship with another woman and had decided to be open about her sexuality because it was the honest, Christian thing to do.
Her stance was backed by many members of her Philadelphia congregation.