Nearly 70 churches across Louisiana are disaffiliated from the United Methodist denomination over LGBTQ concerns.
On Monday, members of Covenant United Methodist Church in Lafayette expressed their plans to follow suit.
Todd Rossnagel, Director of Communications for the Louisiana Conference of the United Methodist Church, said the exit policy is open and available to all united methodist churches and is expected to expire at the end of the year.
"If two-thirds of the 66 percent of the professing members that are in attendance at that particular meeting, if they chose to disaffiliate, that vote is recorded and brought before the board of trustees of the Louisiana conference who will then report back t the annual conference," Rossnagel said.
On the contrary, LGBTQ Rights Activist Matthew Humphrey said he doesn't agree with those who are parting ways with the denomination over sexuality beliefs.
"I think they are losing war against love," Humphrey said. "I think we've all sort of established that love wins. Love is love."
While dozens more are expected to disaffiliate from United Methodist, Humphrey said he is remaining optimistic for the LGBTQ community.
"I do think there is sort of hope there," Humphrey said. "There is a sort of positive note because people who are of the LGBTQ community, they now have a place of worship to go where they feel accepted entirely, as they are and not just pieces of them."
The Louisiana Conference of the United Methodist Church will host a special session on May 27.
Clergy members are expected to determine which churches will be disaffiliated from the denomination.
