CHARLOTTE, N.C. (NEWSnet/AP) — United Methodist delegates on Wednesday repealed their church’s longstanding ban on LGBTQ clergy.

The decision removes a rule forbidding “self-avowed practicing homosexuals” from being ordained or appointed as ministers.

Delegates voted 692-51 at the church’s general conference.

Past conferences had reinforced the ban and related penalties.

Delegates also are expected to vote on whether to replace the existing official Social Principles with a new document that no longer calls the “practice of homosexuality … incompatible with Christian teaching” and that now defines marriage as between “two people of faith,” rather than between a man and a woman.

The changes are historic in a denomination that has debated LGBTQ issues for more than a half-century at its general conference, which typically meets every four years.

On Tuesday, delegates voted to remove mandatory penalties for conducting same-sex marriages and to remove their denomination’s bans on considering LGBTQ candidates for ministry and on funding for gay-friendly ministries.

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