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Celebrating the Work of #GC80

7/12/2022

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​TransEpiscopal celebrates the successful conclusion of #GC80 and gives thanks for the inspiring work of this Convention. All of the resolutions we came to Baltimore supporting ultimately passed both houses, becoming acts of this Convention, and we are both grateful for and proud of all the effort and allyship that contributed to that outcome. This includes the following five resolutions on which we particularly focused:

  • D029 Affirming Nonbinary Access and Leadership
  • D030 Develop Resources and Training for Welcoming and Supporting Transgender and Non-Binary Persons and Families
  • D066 Addressing Restrictions on Access to Gender Affirming Care
  • D072 Resolution on Gender and Sexuality Training
  • A063 Creation of a Director of LGBTQI and Women’s Ministries
 
We are moved that all of these resolutions passed in the context of a Convention that actively extended the crucial work of racial justice, truth telling, and reparations through resolutions, presentations, and testimony. These included A125 (“A Resolution Extending and Furthering the Beloved Community”), which establishes and funds a voluntary Episcopal Coalition for Racial Equity and Justice among dioceses and congregations. Another key resolution, A127 (“Resolution for Telling the Truth about The Episcopal Church's History with Indigenous Boarding Schools”) sets aside funds over the next biennium for investigating The Episcopal Church’s role in Indigenous boarding schools. We heard powerful testimony on the first day of Convention from Indigenous Episcopalians who themselves or whose family members experienced horrible denials of their personhood in boarding school and other racist, anti-indigenous ecclesial settings. We appreciate as well that resolution A126 (“A Resolution Supporting a Comprehensive Review of the Book Of Common Prayer, The Hymnal 1982, and other approved liturgical material”), proposed by Committee 12 (Prayer Book, Liturgy and Music), commits the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music to thoroughly review all of The Episcopal Church’s approved liturgical and musical sources for colonialist, racist and white supremacist, imperialist and nationalistic language and content.
 
Speaking of liturgical resolutions, we were very pleased that this Convention ultimately voted to support A059 (“Amend Article X of the Constitution of The Episcopal Church (First Reading)”) the pathway proposed by the Task Force on Liturgical and Prayer Book Revision (TFLPBR) for liturgical renewal, broadening the definition of the Book of Common Prayer to mean “those liturgical forms and other texts authorized by the General Convention.” This new process will allow for the development of liturgies with inclusive and expansive language as well as liturgical marriage equality to receive authorization as part of the BCP, and not be designated as “second class” rites within The Episcopal Church. We are very glad that the TFLPBR-sponsored resolution A060 (“Endorse Guidance for Inclusive and Expansive Language”), which lifted up concerns about binary language in liturgical texts, also passed.
 
Among the resolutions on which we focused our advocacy, we were especially gratified that the House of Deputies concurred with the bishops on resolution A063. We very much look forward to the hiring of the Director of LGBTIQ and Women’s Ministries, and we would love to be part of a community that can gather around this person, supporting and dialoguing with them as they make their way into this important work. 
 
We were inspired by the eloquence of those who spoke in support of this resolution, especially in the House of Deputies. As time ran out in debate, there were others who did not have the chance to speak, like the Reverend Isaac Martinez of the Diocese of Massachusetts. He shared his testimony in a series of Tweets. His witness poignantly speaks to the need for this position:
 
As an Episcopal church planter, my embryonic ministry has been blessed to have professional and prayerful leaders in the office of church planting and redevelopment. This resolution and the draft budget accomplish what other General Conventions before us have failed to do. It provides real and valuable support, in the form of a new DFMS staff position, for the vital and interdependent ministries of combatting the lingering sexism and misogyny in our church and ensuring that every corner of our church fully includes queer and trans people. Yesterday, our Presiding Bishop gave us a good word about closing the gap between the Jesus we know and how we act. The gap isn’t just a product of other Christians’ belief and behavior – we Episcopalians still have a wide gap between what we preach and what we practice when it comes to inclusion and equality for women and queer and trans people. Closing the gap will take clear vision, strong trust, and good, hard work.
            The Gospel reading for last Sunday from Luke chapter 10 – the sending of the 70 disciples into the Lord’s harvest – is a favorite of church planters for obvious reasons, but it has a verse that I particularly love to remind my bishops and canons about: ‘the laborer deserves to be paid.’ My siblings in Christ, the labor of equipping each Episcopalian to fully celebrate the image of God in women and queer and trans people finally deserves the investment of a churchwide director. Without a shadow of a doubt, I know this resolution will bear fruit for my QTPOC church plant and for all of our dioceses, congregations, and ministries – I urge your full support.
 
Thank you, Isaac. 
 
As we close out the 80th General Convention, we give thanks for the many whose labor, both seen and unseen, shapes our church. We celebrate the historic election of Julia Ayala Harris, the House of Deputies' first Latina President, and the Reverend Rachel Taber-Hamilton, the HOD's first Indigenous Vice President. We honor all who offer themselves to serve in the committees, task forces, advisory councils, boards, and yes as deputies. Today we celebrate, and tomorrow we will go back to work committed to walking the way of love. 
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Congratulations, President-elect Ayala Harris!

7/9/2022

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​TransEpiscopal joins its voice with the LGBTQ Caucus in congratulating Julia Ayala Harris on her historic election as President of the House of Deputies. President-elect Ayala Harris, a first generation Mexican American, will be the first Latina to serve in this role and the first deputy of color to serve as President since Charles Lawrence who served from 1976-1985. Her election also marks an important generational shift in the leadership of the Episcopal Church, made possible, as President Jennings emphasized in her sermon this morning, by the fact that this role has finally become a compensated position. In candidate forums leading up to today’s vote, President-elect Ayala Harris spoke strongly of her commitment to being an ally to the LGBTIQ community. We ourselves experienced that allyship when several members of TransEpiscopal’s steering committee presented at the Episcopal Church’s Executive Council last January. We look forward to working with her in the years to come, as the Episcopal Church takes up the work ahead of it to fully support trans and non-binary people at all levels of the Church’s life. 
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Transgender Day of Visibility 2022

3/31/2022

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Today, March 31, is Transgender Day of Visibility, an international celebration of the transgender and nonbinary community. The day was created in 2009 by Rachel Crandall-Crocker to uplift our lives, bring visibility to our accomplishments, and support communal solidarity in the midst of the oppression we face. 

This year we come into Transgender Day of Visibility amid a wave of legislation targeting transgender and non-binary people. Over a dozen states are currently deliberating multiple anti-transgender bills and regulations including sports bans and health care restrictions. Unfortunately, 2022 is shaping up to exceed 2021 in anti-transgender legislation, which was the worst year to date. 

One of the most egregious examples is Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s order to treat gender affirming care as child abuse and to investigate parents for supporting their children, as we wrote about last month. www.transepiscopal.org/blog/in-a-time-of-fear-solidarity-and-love

Another horrible tactic in this legislative wave is to ban transgender athletes, especially transgender girls and transgender women, from participation in sports. Arizona, Oklahoma, and Utah are the latest states to ban transgender athletes in girls’ sports. Meanwhile, Lia Thomas, a transgender woman who swims for University of Pennsylvania, and who won the NCAA women’s title in the 500 yard freestyle, has been the target of horrific transmisogynistic criticism. This pattern of criticising transgender women arthletes and/or seeking to bar them from women’s sports continues a longstanding pattern of gender policing in women’s sports that has been aimed especially at transgender women and cis women of color. From the medical ”femininity certificates” in the 1940s and 1950s to scrutiny of testosterone levels today, the governing institutions of sport have sought to define what constitutes an acceptable woman’s body.

In the midst of this ongoing wave, we are buoyed by the support of leaders and communities across The Episcopal Church. The Rev. Gay Jennings, The Presidient of House of Deputies, in a letter decrying Gov. Abbott’s anti-transgender regulation wrote, “No matter where transgender children of God are under threat, the Episcopal Church must stand with them in love and solidarity.” And in their March Meeting, the House of Bishops decried anti-transgender and nonbinary legislation and “voice[d] our love and continued support for all persons who identify as transgender or non-binary and their families.” We give thanks for the people and communities of the Episcopal Church who stand in solidarity with us, who celebrate us for who we are, and who support us in the struggle.

On this day TransEpiscopal lifts up the beauty, courage, audacity, and strength of transgender and non-binary people. We celebrate that we are are made in God’s image. We reject actions aimed at our erasure. We reject theologies based in rigidly binary, complementarian ideas of the human person and uplift the whole spectrum and goodness of our genders. We celebrate transgender and non-binary lives in all our multiplicity of shapes, sizes, ethnicities, races, abilities, and ages. Today we stand up in love!
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In a Time of Fear, Solidarity and Love

2/24/2022

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This week, in the midst of an unfolding global calamity in Ukraine, news from Texas has exacerbated a climate of fear and division. On Tuesday we were appalled to learn about Governor Greg Abbott’s letter to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services calling upon the department to consider trans affirming medical care for adolescents a form of child abuse. The letter cites an opinion by the Office of the Attorney General in support of his claim and calls upon the agency to investigate “any reported instances of these abusive procedures in the State of Texas.” The letter not only heaps further stigma upon trans youth and their families, but also raises the specter of community surveillance. It calls upon people from doctors to teachers, to general members of the public—all of whom are specifically mentioned in the letter — to report trans youth and their families. This threat of splitting trans people and our families off from a wider sense of safety in community—or, worse, of separating trans youth from their supportive families – is precisely the opposite of what our families and communities need.
 
While we appreciate those emphasizing that Governor Abbott’s directive may not be enforceable, we recognize this move as yet another example of how trans people and our families are being used as wedge issues in an ongoing culture war. The letter is an intimidation tactic, designed to foment stigma and instill fear.  We are weary of the waves of anti-trans legislation that have been hitting our community across the United States in recent years. We abhor the targeting of trans youth—particularly trans girls—and their families in these most recent efforts, building on the years of so-called bathroom bills that have been fueled particularly by trans misogyny. 

Trans young people and their families need our support and encouragement. They need upholding in community, to be lifted up, encouraged, and celebrated as the people they are and are becoming. Trans and nonbinary people are made in God’s image and called by God to embody the sacredness of who we are within the full gender spectrum of God’s creation. 
 
We are grateful that, recognizing the fear that trans students and families in Texas are navigating, people of good will are stepping up and speaking out. The Right Reverend C. Andrew Doyle, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Texas, wrote earlier today, “There is no requirement for anyone to report the existence of trans kids or their parents in one of our Episcopal Churches or schools. The gov’s statement has no force of law. ALL people are welcome in churches of the Episcopal Diocese of Texas without fear - we offer only love.”  Thank you, Bishop Doyle. We very much concur: only love.
 
We thank the Reverend Gay Jennings, President of the House of Deputies of the Episcopal Church, who issued a letter of strong support for the trans community today. We especially appreciate President Jennings’ declaration, followed by four concrete actions we all can take: “No matter where transgender children of God are under threat, the Episcopal Church must stand with them in love and solidarity. To ensure that we are a church in which vulnerable people are not only welcomed, but also protected, Episcopalians must respond with our voices, our votes and our prayers. Here are four things we can all do:
  • Write your senators and tell them to pass the Equality Act, which would for the first time include sexual orientation and gender identity alongside race, gender, religion, national origin, age, and disability as protected classes where federal law bans discrimination.
  • Make it clear that your diocese, your congregation and your community welcome transgender people and their families and will strive to protect them. Where this is not the case, work to make it so.
  • Advocate against anti-transgender legislation when it comes before your state legislature. Write to your state elected officials and tell them that you support the dignity and equality of transgender people because of your faith, not in spite of it.
  • And please join me in praying for transgender children in Texas, for their parents and caretakers, and for all transgender people everywhere who face discrimination, intolerance, and bigotry.”
These statements are signs of hope and communal connection! We join President Jennings, Bishop Doyle, and supporters in and beyond Texas, standing in loving solidarity with trans and nonbinary youth at a time when our world needs more than ever to be bound together in community and love. 
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