2016 the Church of Norway formally allowed same-sex marriages in their churches and announced the commencement of work on a liturgy for same-sex marriages. Philippines The Metropolitan Community Church of Quezon City (MCCQC), Metropolitan Community Church Makati (MCCMPH), and Metropolitan Community Church of Metro Baguio (MCCMB) officiate Holy Unions for same-sex partners in the Philippines. The Metropolitan Community Church is an Ecumenical Christian Church for all people, with a special ministry to gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people; it advocates for equality and social justice. Its affiliations in The Philippines are the following: MCC Quezon City, MCC Makati, MCC Metro Baguio, MCC Olongapo, and MCC Marikina. Sweden The Church of Sweden performs blessings of same-sex couples. Following the legalization of same-sex marriage in Sweden in May 2009, the Church of Sweden decided in October 2009 to start conducting same-sex weddings in their churches. It had previously blessed same-sex couples using a different ceremony. Reformed churches in Switzerland Most of the reformed churches in Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches perform blessings for same-sex couples, for example Reformed Church of Aargau Reformed Churches of the Canton Bern-Jura-Solothurn Evangelical-Reformed Church of Graubünden Evangelical Reformed Church of the Canton of Lucerne Evangelical Reformed Church of the Canton of St. Gallen Evangelical Reformed Church of the Canton of Schaffhausen Chiesa evangelica riformata nel Ticino Evangelical Church of the Canton of Thurgau Evangelical Reformed Church of the Canton of Vaud Evangelical Reformed Church of the Canton of Zürich In August 2019, the blessing of same-sex marriages is allowed in Swiss Reformed Church. United States The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America began officially allowing blessings of same-sex couples in late August, 2009—though there were no explicit prohibitions before this point. Studies and dialogue had been under way during the past decade and continued until the 2009 Churchwide Assembly, during which the ELCA passed a resolution by a vote of 619–402 reading "Resolved, that the ELCA commit itself to finding ways to allow congregations that choose to do so to recognize, support and hold publicly accountable lifelong, monogamous, same-gender relationships." That Assembly also affirmed that sexual orientation, in itself, is not to be a qualification or exclusion for ordained ministry. As marriage policy is a congregation matter in the ELCA, same-sex partnership blessings and marriages had been performed by many Lutheran pastors prior to the 2009 actions. In 1993 the ELCA Conference of Bishops stated it did not