Church's Legal Questions Committee submitted a response which upheld a biblical and traditional understanding of marriage as a voluntary lifelong union between one man and one woman (December 2011). After this, the Church's first openly gay minister, Revd. Scott Rennie, claimed to the press that such ostracisation of homosexuals will empty churches. In 2016, the General Assembly voted in favor of allowing ministers to enter into same-sex marriages. On 25 May 2017, the General Assembly voted in favor of allowing same-sex marriages in Church of Scotland. In May 2018, the General Assembly passed a vote by 345 to 170, for a motion which tasked a committee with drafting church law on the issue of same-sex marriage. Its legal question committee has been asked to report back to the decision-making body in 2020. In May 2022 the General Assembly approved the celebration of same-sex marriage in the Church of Scotland. Presbyterian Church in Ireland In May 2006, a church spokesperson announced that clergy could bless same-gender partnerships. However, that announcement was reversed by General Assembly when it voted to ban its ministers from blessing same-gender partnerships in June 2006. The Presbyterian Church in Ireland is currently strongly opposed to same-sex marriage. Presbyterian Church (USA) The Presbyterian Church USA General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission ruled in 2006 that same-sex ceremonies are not forbidden, as long as they are not considered to be the same as marriage services. Debate on the issue within the church evolved over the years. In 2000, the General Assembly had approved language for the church constitution that stated church teachings were that people were "to live either in fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman or in chastity in singleness.," and barred church officers and property from being used for blessing or approval upon any other form of fidelity relationship, but ratification for this language was never obtained by the presbyteries. By 2014, the General Assembly passed an Authoritative Interpretation permitting pastors to sign marriage licences for same-gender couples where permitted by civil law in the states where their church was found, which took immediate effect. On March 17, 2015, ratification by a majority of presbyteries was reached on a constitutional amendment passed by that same 2014 General Assembly, which broadened the definition of marriage in the Directory for Worship from only being between "a man and a woman," to "two people, traditionally