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The Presbyterian Church in the United States has voted to allow their clergy to perform same-sex marriages in states where this is legal.
The General Synod of the Presbyterian Church (USA) voted 76-24 on June 19 in favour of the move.
It also approved new language in its constitution, changing references to “a man and a woman” to “two persons”.
Majority approval among regional presbyteries is needed to ratify the new language, but this is expected to happen.
The PCUSA is the sixth largest Protestant denomination in the United States with 1.8 million members.
But it has lost 37 per cent of its membership since 1992, as conservative members have objected to growing liberalism in the church and have left to form new congregations.
The gay marriage vote came after an emotional, but polite debate.
Opponents said the motion conflicted with Scripture and would cause Presbyterian churches abroad to break relations with the PCUSA.
Gay rights activists within the church rejoiced at their victory, which came after years of narrow defeats at the general synod.
“This vote is an answer to many prayers for the church to recognize love between committed same-sex couples,” said Alex McNeill, executive director of More Light Presbyterians.
The conservative Presbyterian Lay Committee decried the synod results as an “abomination”.
“The General Assembly has committed an express repudiation of the Bible, the mutually agreed upon Confessions of the PCUSA, thousands of years of faithfulness to God’s clear commands and the denominational ordination vows of each concurring commissioner,” the committee said in a statement.
The committee urged congregations to launch a financial boycott in protest.
Of the mainline Protestant denominations in the US, only the United Church of Christ has supported same-sex marriage outright.
The Episcopal Church has approved a prayer service for blessing same-sex unions.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has eliminated barriers for gay clergy, but allows regional and local church officials to decide their own policies on ordination.
The largest mainline group, the United Methodist Church, bars ordaining people in same-sex relationships.
However, church members have been debating whether to split over their different views of the Bible and marriage.
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