Living with Differences: Two Congregations, Two Viewpoints on Gay Clergy

East Liberty Presbyterian Church and Eastminster Church sit just blocks apart on the same street in Pittsburgh, but each church's views on LGBTQ clergy vary widely. The two churches fall within the Presbyterian Church (USA), Pittsburgh Presbytery, known as conservative, and consistently opposed to changing ordination standards. "We have a divide that is not going to be mended," says Rev. Paul Roberts  of Eastminster, which was not in favor of the recent vote that removed the "celibacy in singleness" PCUSA ordination requirement. "But we can set that aside to say as brothers and sisters in Christ, we can work on some things together and show the community that, although there's this great divide between us, we still find it important enough when it comes to this community to be united in service to them," he added.