Capping a week of protest and sharp debate, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA), the nation's largest Presbyterian denomination, voted 268-251 to ban same sex union ceremonies. The group's 173 presbyteries must now ratify a constitutional amendment that establishes the ban or it will not take effect.On the convention floor, the one-hour debate preceding the ballot was civil but impassioned: "If we bless what God condemns, what kind of Christians are we?" said youth delegate Emily Martin, 18, of Alabama. Supporters were equally adamant: "This church doesn't respect gay and lesbian people because it does not respect their relationships," said Donna Riley, a church member from Princeton, N.J. "They're saying a minister can bless a lesbian's home, a minister can bless a lesbian's poodle, but that minister cannot bless my relationship."The vote, which took place late in the evening on June 30, followed the arrest of 81 protesters from Soulforce, the interdenominational homosexual-rights group headed by Mel White. At the same time as the Soul force gathering, 10 people associated with the controversial pastor Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., held a counterdemonstration, with signs proclaiming THANK GOD FOR AIDS and similar slogans.Jane Spahr, a lesbian and an ordained Presbyterian minister from San Rafael, Calif., said the vote would "make the church more irrelevant to our lives. To say we can't do holy unions—it would be very painful to hear this."According to Joe Rightmyer, executive director of Presbyterians for Renewal, there's equal pain being felt by those who oppose homosexual behavior as immoral and unbiblical. "I'm battling for the sake of individuals caught in moral confusion," ...