The General Assembly of 2000 considered and adopted an overture from San Joaquin Presbytery that would add the following wording to the constitution of the Presbyterian Church (USA):

A majority of our presbyteries must now vote to ratify the statement in order to amend the Directory for Worship in our Book of Order. Several presbyteries have already voted. Voting is expected to continue into April of 2001.

This amendment to the church constitution became necessary when the General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission (GA-PJC) ruled that "None of the provisions of the Directory for Worship...prohibit the conduct of same-sex ceremonies that are not the same as marriage ceremonies." The GA-PJC ruling was a surprise. At the same time the Advisory Committee on the Constitution (ACC) wrote that it regarded an amendment unnecessary because the matter is "covered by other portions of the constitution." That left the GA-PJC and the ACC in conflict, and the denomination in confusion.

The outcome of this vote will determine whether same-sex unions are allowed in the PC(USA). Every vote counts.

Amendment O limits only the leadership of ceremonies that support relationships inconsistent with God's design for marriage and singleness.

Some argue that the amendment would proscribe parents who are church officers from participating in a blessing ceremony of their son's or daughter's same-sex union by being in the congregation. That is not the intent or the wording. The amendment says explicitly that what is prohibited is to "take part in conducting" such ceremonies.

Some argue that the amendment would prohibit pastoral care to persons of homosexual orientation. They argue, for example, that a minister could not perform a funeral for a same-gender partner who has died. That is not the intent or the wording. The amendment is careful to state that it is the blessing or approval of any relationship inconsistent with God's intention of fidelity and chastity. A funeral service does not provide approval for a relationship; it celebrates the life of a person and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The ACC also was careful to use the word relationship to declare, "The confessional standards of the church (Book of Confessions, 5.251, 7.249) clearly speak to certain relationships outside marriage as being wrong for Christians."

The amendment does not single out homosexual relationships for prohibition; rather, it speaks to any relationship that is "otherwise than as God's Word allows" in the words of the historic wedding service of the Book of Common Worship (1946).

Some claim that this short paragraph would limit the ability of ministers to marry people who are living together prior to marriage. Unless living together outside of marriage is the relationship being blessed or given approval, that claim is without foundation.

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