HOUSTON — A gay Methodist minister should retain her ordination because revoking it would amount to discrimination and belie the inclusiveness the church preaches, representatives of a Pennsylvania minister argued Thursday before the church's Judicial Council.

The nine-member council — seven of whom attended a hearing at First United Methodist Church in Houston — began deliberating the case of Irene "Beth" Stroud with plans to rule on Monday.

Alan Symonette, who represented Stroud, said the church is asking gays and lesbians to deny their sexuality in order to serve as ordained ministers.

The Rev. Thomas Hall, acting as prosecutor, said if the council decides in Stroud's favor it will cause confusion throughout the denomination.

Robert Shoemaker, another church representative, said the church doesn't discriminate but must have standards for who is suited to serve as an ordained minister.

Stroud, 35, was convicted by a church panel in December of violating the denomination's ban on "self-avowed, practicing homosexual" clergy. The conviction was later overturned and then appealed to the Judicial Council, the church's highest judicial body.

Stroud, who became an associate pastor at Pennsylvania's First United Methodist Church of Germantown, a neighborhood in Philadelphia, in 1999, said she never revealed her sexual orientation in documents related to her ordination, but didn't keep it a secret.

Stroud said she decided to come out in 2003 because she felt she was being held back in her faith by not sharing the complete truth about her life. A complaint was filed against Stroud in 2004.

Stroud, who has declined reinstatement of her credentials until the council rules, continues working at the church. Any ruling by the council likely won't address the larger question of whether it's proper to exclude gays and lesbians from the ministry, she said.