by the Revd Dr. Cameron Partridge

What a whirlwind the last couple of days at General Convention have been. Friday the news of the Supreme Court’s decision blew through Convention like wildfire. People are absolutely jubilant. And then yesterday Bishop Michael Curry of North Carolina was elected the next Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church on a landslide, first ballot vote. He follows Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori as a pioneer: she has been the first woman elected to this position, while he is the first African American. He is an firey, articulate preacher and evangelist, the kind of inspiring leader you want to get up and follow to the ends of the earth. Yesterday the House of Deputies also discussed C019 “Establish Response to Systemic Racial Injustice”. As Deputy Jennifer Baskerville Burrows wrote, “To hear a white member of the [Social Justice and U.S. Policy] committee say words to the effect of, “we have the chance to make race the centerpiece of the next triennium” signals a shift.  If funded, resolution C019 will put real muscle (to the tune of $1.2 million) behind the work of racial reconciliation for both justice and mission strategy.”

Amid this intense, spirited movement, two of the resolutions that TransEpiscopal has been particularly tracking have also made their way through the open hearing process.

D037 came first. This is the resolution that calls for a study of the canons to clarify that and/or how people who have legally changed their name(s) can have their names amended in church records and registries and church certificates reissued. It came to the committee on Governance and Structure last night amid several other complex resolutions on the possibilities of restructuring aspects of our Church’s governance. To begin, the chaplain of the committee lead us in prayer and a hymn, one of my favorites: “God is love and where true love is, God [Godself] is there.” When our resolution came up, something like six or seven of us testified in support of it. No one testified against. We told stories of how we or people we know have been impacted in our full access to the life of the Church by not being able to change records in a consistent way, or to have certificates reissued. After we were finished, a number of deputies and bishops came up to us, thanking us for our testimony. As the Structure committee sifts through all the complexities of the restructuring resolutions, our stories were, as one committee member later related to me, very straight forward and incarnational. We hope it moves out of committee and to one of the houses quickly.

Then twelve hours later, at 7:30 this morning, we gathered again to testify in support of D036. This resolution, on “Adding a Name Change Liturgy to the Book of Occasional Services”, came to the Committee on Prayerbook and Liturgy. Once again we began and ended with prayer and song, and once more we had a great group of people prepared to testify. I am hoping that some of these folks will write about their experiences as well. I lead off my own testimony by recounting an experience I had in 2001 when I first claimed my name. I described how I passed a difficult night, sharing the name Cameron with loved ones. When I went to church the following morning and was asked to do the first reading, I had been stunned to find myself standing before the congregation reading the story of Jacob wrestling with the divine stranger who then gave him the name Israel. Flash forward several years, my testimony continued, to my years in parish ministry in which I had a trans parishioner who wanted to take on his chosen name in the context of the congregation. And so I put together a rite as a component of the Sunday liturgy, drawing in part upon the name change rite in Changes: Prayers and Services Honoring Rites of Passage that is the subject of D036. To be able to take up one’s name in the midst of one’s congregation, to be named and seen in that way, can be a profound recognition of the deep spiritual significance of embodying one’s name, I concluded. I was also struck that in addition to the other trans folks who testified—and, again, there were several powerful speakers – there were non trans ones as well, lifting up the flexibility of this resource to be used by many people. These were folks in a religious order who talked about the possibilities of claiming a new name in connection with religious life. This rite is additionally applicable to situations like adoption or divorce/remarriage. I especially appreciate that this resource came out of indigenous Episcopal congregations, communities that have long recognized the spiritual significance of names and particularly of taking on a new name later in life.

We now wait for D036 and D037 to go to their houses of origin. The name change liturgy resolution should first travel to the House of Bishops, while the name change canon study resolution should head to the House of Deputies. Meanwhile a number of resolutions related to liturgical marriage equality are coming forward to the Houses of Bishops and Deputies as well. Stay tuned on all of these fronts.

Amid all of this, the hymn from the beginning of the D037 hearing continues to echo in my ears: God is love and where true love is, God Godself is there.

As TransEpiscopal celebrates today's Supreme Court decision honoring marriage equality, and as we join in supporting efforts toward full liturgical marriage equality in The Episcopal Church here at General Convention, we offer this essay from Iain Stanford who brings a trans angle to this conversation.

by Iain Stanford

Over the last several weeks, the blogosphere and Facebook have been alive with different opinions, questions and concerns about the various resolutions regarding  marriage equality in The Episcopal Church. As I read the various arguments, I keep wondering if people realize that we already have same sex couples in The Episcopal Church who were married using the service for Holy Matrimony in the Book of Common Prayer. Let me explain.

At the 77th General Convention of the Episcopal Church in 2012, the church spoke loudly in support of transgender people as full members of our Church by adding gender identity and gender expression to the non-discrimination canons. As a trans person, though, the canons for marriage and the use of the BCP can become a bit, well, surreal.

Take for example the fictional couple of Jim and Francine. On their day, they walk through the red doors and up the aisle, the celebration begins with the words from the BCP, “Dearly Beloved: We have come together in the presence of God to witness and bless the joining together of this man and this woman in Holy Matrimony.” (BCP 423) And a little later, the priest pronounces, “they are husband and wife.”  (BCP 428) Now several years go by, and Francine slowly acknowledges all those feelings when it comes to gender. All her life, people have asked, “are you a girl or boy?” She talks to friends, therapists, and yes, even her priest. Eventually, she knows that God is calling her to move forward, to become Francis. She does! After transition, they are now Jim and Francis. They live into what it means to be a same sex couple in society. And yes, they are still married in the eyes of the Church.

I can hear some people say, “But they came to the altar like any other heterosexual couple.”
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Which begs the question: what is the connection between the outward and visible sign or signs of gender and marriage?

As the 78th General Convention approaches this week, here is a brief review of trans legislation that has come before the Convention in years past. As you can see from the shift between 2006 and 2012, and as previous blog posts narrate, we have come an incredibly long way. The five resolutions listed under 2015 begin to point to much work that we still need to do.

2006 

1)    C030 -- The Diocese of California referred a resolution to General Convention calling for the addition of “gender identity and expression” to the list of non-discrimination demographic categories in Canon III.1.2. The Committee on Canons took it up as resolution C030 (“On the Topic of Amending Canon III.1.2 [Of the Ministry of All Baptized Persons]”). As the legislative history reports, the committee recommended discharge and re-referral to the Committee on Ministry. As far as we know, that referral never happened, or was never acted upon by the Committee on Ministry. As the legislative history reports, “Resolution Died With Adjournment.”

2)    The Diocese of New York passed a resolution calling on TEC to come out in support of fully gender inclusive secular civil rights resolution (e.g. ENDA) but it got lost in the shuffle and somehow was never considered at this GC.

2009

1)    D090— encouraged inclusive self-identification on all church forms, creating flexible options for people to identify their gender, names, and preferred pronouns. A question that lingered for us was the problem of amending registries and having certificates reissued (e.g. baptismal, confirmation or ordination) upon request after someone has changed their name (which is why a resolution addressing that has been submitted to GC 2015)

2)    C048 put TEC on record in support of a fully trans inclusive version of the Federal Employment Nondiscrimination Act 

3)    D012 put TEC on record in support of fully trans inclusive nondiscrimination and hate crimes laws at the local, state and federal levels 

4)    D032 (Nondiscrimination protection for lay employees in TEC) – declared that lay employees in TEC are not to be discriminated against on the basis of several demographic designations, including gender identity and expression

5)    C061 Canon Change re: Access to the Ordination process passed the HOD but failed in HOB (HOB actually amended it and sent it back to HOD, which declined to concur) 

2012

1)    D002 added “gender identity and expression” to Canon III.1.2 re: nondiscrimination in access to discernment for the ordination process 

2)    D019 amended Canon I.17.5 (aka “the Rights of the Laity”), clarifying that “No one shall be denied rights, status or access to an equal place in the life, worship, and governance of this Church” on the basis of “gender identity and expression,” among a number of other demographic categories

3)    D022 called for a church wide response to the epidemic of bullying based on a number of categories, including gender identity and expression  

which brings us to 2015

by the TransEpiscopal Steering Committee 

As we come to the 78th General Convention, TransEpiscopal looks forward to building on the major strides our Church has made over the last decade on behalf of trans people. We also come with a sense of urgency about the gaps that remain between what our Church has done and what remains to be done.

We celebrate tremendous legislative gains between the 2006 and 2012 General Conventions, particularly the addition of “gender identity and expression” to our canons for access to lay ministry and to the discernment process for ordained ministry. Those votes, as many of our blog posts from those Conventions have witnessed, were exhilarating to experience. We also celebrate the stories we hear and tell about congregations that lift up trans people across the church. We are lectors, greeters, Eucharistic ministers. We are in young adult and campus ministries. We serve on vestries and search committees. We serve on diocesan committees, as Deputies to General Convention, on nominating committees, on task forces. Several of us are ordained to the diaconate and the priesthood. Others are in various stages of the ordination process in several different dioceses. Some are in seminary.

Yet at the same time we also know that this progress is not uniformly felt across the Church. Different people in the same Church can have widely different experiences. This should not be the case.

by the Rev'd Dr. Cameron Partridge

This post forms the second in a series about the history of TransEpiscopal’s legislative efforts at the General Convention of The Episcopal Church, as we head to the 78th General Convention at the end of June. 

After our first effort at GC legislative advocacy in 2006 (described here) we realized that we needed to bring a team. We also experienced the power of working in coalition. In 2007 we had become members of the Consultation, “a collaboration of progressive organizations within the Episcopal Church that partner to work for social justice.” Even as we attended GC with our own focus, we also collaborated with the nine other member groups of the Consultation. The key to TransEpiscopal’s work lay not in lifting up any one particular voice or having any one specific spokesperson, but rather in operating collectively and intersectionally. We chose to work this way out of respect for the varied experiences and identities within our own communities and in recognition that we are not alone in being impacted by oppressive social structures. Thus far we have emphasized collegiality, respect, shared resources, variously offered gifts and talents, and collective determination. TransEpiscopal has never had a president, has never had elected positions. Perhaps someday a different structure will make more sense for us. Perhaps not. 

Coming into the 76th General Convention in Anaheim, we were expecting four transgender-themed resolutions amid a much greater number related to liturgical blessings for same sex couples and overturning the (ambiguous) moratorium on openly gay bishops. Some of our targeted resolutions sought to put the Episcopal Church on record in support of secular transgender nondiscrimination legislation, while others sought to amend our own canons in support of trans equality within TEC. Never before had a group of trans Episcopalians organized ourselves to testify at the committee hearings to where these resolutions had been directed. Never before had there been an openly trans Deputy to General Convention, which we gained in Dante Tavolaro of Rhode Island. With growing excitement, we made our way through Convention. To get a flavor for our energy, see this early blog post about the intense opening days of Convention or this one in which I raced up and down the escalators between the House of Bishops and Deputies meetings; this testimony from Dante Tavolaro from the floor of the House of Deputies; this progress report from Michelle Hansen; this recorded testimony from Gari Green or from Vicki Gray.

After all was said and done, the 2009 General Convention passed four trans-themed resolutions: 

by the Rev'd Dr. Cameron Partridge

TransEpiscopal looks forward to being at the 78th triennial General Convention of The Episcopal Church in Salt Lake City June 25-July 3. There, as in the past several years, we aim to collaborate with several groups and individuals to continue being agents of transformation in and through the Episcopal Church, that trans folks – and indeed all people--  might be empowered in and by this Church to be the people God is calling us to become. Already we have come a very long way, even as significant work remains to be done.

As we turn toward Salt Lake City, we wanted to take a moment—a few posts—to recall the history of TransEpiscopal’s legislative advocacy at GC. 

TransEpiscopal’s first such effort was about a year after our founding, in 2006 at the 75th Convention in Columbus, Ohio. This was an especially intense, emotional Convention. The House of Bishops elected The Episcopal Church’s first ever woman Presiding Bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori. The Convention rejected a resolution that intended to place a moratorium on openly gay bishops, three years after Bishop Gene Robinson had been consecrated in New Hampshire (A161 which can be found here). And then, not long after that rejection, the Convention passed a slightly different version of that resolution (B033) which essentially sought to do the same thing with vaguer language (which was later essentially overturned at the GC of 2009). The GC of 2006 was incredibly difficult, especially for LGBT people. 

Amid all this, there wasn’t much awareness of or advocacy for trans people in The Episcopal Church or, really, much specific language to help name our experiences and identities. Take, for instance, the difficulty of even locating a digital record of the one resolution touching on trans people in the life of the church that did, in fact, come before the 2006 General Convention: resolution C030. This resolution, which originated in the Diocese of California, sought to do what the 77th General Convention eventually did in 2012: to add “gender identity and expression” to the nondiscrimination language in Canon III.1.2, on access to the discernment process toward ordained ministry. You can find its legislative record here.  Here is an image of it as well. 
​
Once recognized by the General Convention, and given a number (C030), the resolution got referred to the Committee on Canons. When that committee held a hearing on this and its other resolutions, TransEpiscopal’s founding member Donna Cartwright testified in its support. Donna had driven on her own to General Convention and was a lone voice speaking out in support of this resolution. As the legislative history reports, the committee ultimately “presented its Report #14 on Resolution C030 (Amend Canons: Title III, Canon 1, Section 2) recommending discharge, and re-referral of the resolution to the Committee on Ministry.” This decision was communicated to the House of Bishops. But this sentence really tells the story: “Resolution Died With Adjournment.” Or better, as the abstract of C030 puts it, “The 75th General Convention rejects a resolution to amend Canon III.1.2 regarding access to the discernment process.”

The funny thing about this is that for years several of us have been trying to locate a digital record—or, really, any official record—of this experience that Donna Cartwright had shared with us as it was happening. It felt important, a kind of signpost saying we were there. But none of the key terms – words like “transgender” or “gender identity” or even just “gender” – were generating anything in the digital archives. What ultimately did lead to its location, finally, was an advanced search targeting the year 2006 and typing the word “rejected” under “Action taken.” Among the sixty-six other rejected resolutions, C030 was easy to pick out. In other posts, narrating other encounters at later GCs, we have commented on the importance of naming, of specificity. Without that naming, even as language can still so often fall short, it can be easy to lose traces of our histories, to forget aspects of our journey. 

But, in the person of Donna, we were indeed there, and we knew we needed to return in greater numbers. And so, in 2009, we did….

by the TransEpiscopal Steering Committee
​
TransEpiscopal is saddened by the news that Vivian Taylor and Samuel Peterson, the two full time employees of IntegrityUSA, have been let go due to a reduction of workforce. Taylor served as Integrity’s Executive Director from 2013-2015, and Peterson came on as Director of Development several months after Taylor began.

TransEpiscopal honors their pioneering ministries and contributions to furthering The Episcopal Church’s witness to God’s love for LGBTQ persons. Integrity announced Vivian Taylor on August 6, 2013 as “the first openly transgender woman to lead a major mainline protestant denominational organization in the US.” Taylor is a creative, charismatic leader who brought strong gifts in communications, entrepreneurialism and organization building. She recruited a powerful group of writers for Integrity’s blog and contributed her own moving posts. She also continued the spirit of collaboration that developed between Integrity and TransEpiscopal in the years after our founding in 2005.

In addition to his work as Development Director, Sam Peterson contributed to the Walking with Integrity blog, including two recent incisive pieces. One was about the Reverend Pauli Murray, a person of complex gender history who was the first African American woman to be ordained an Episcopal priest. The other piece, on the Task Force’s Creating Change conference, emerged from the honor of Peterson’s membership in the Task Force’s “2015 Trans Leadership Exchange.”

As Taylor noted after one of her early visits to Integrity chapters across the United States, “the real power and energy of Integrity is in the people…Speaking with people about their own lives and experiences is an absolute treasure trove.” In that same spirit, we lift up and celebrate the power and energy of the unique humanity that Taylor and Peterson have brought to Integrity and far beyond. We recognize the significance of having had two openly trans people as the only full time employees in The Episcopal Church’s main LGBTQ+ advocacy organization. We are incredibly proud of them.

We are also disheartened at the financial strain that so often besets churches and other organizations that work for peace and justice. Unaware that Integrity’s own finances had reached such a critical juncture, we were surprised to learn of the decision to let these talented leaders go. We grieve that the financial hardship that Peterson and Taylor now personally face is one shared by trans people in staggering numbers across the United States.

Bringing to light the continued, multi-pronged broader pattern of vulnerability in trans communities is a key part of the witness that TransEpiscopal plans to bring to the 78th General Convention this June.

In light of our shared ministries as we head to into General Convention, we call upon the Integrity Board to recognize and respond to the deep pastoral impact this decision is having upon trans people in and beyond The Episcopal Church. We seek and invite a relationship of greater transparency and clearer communication. We look forward to reclaiming the trust that grounds our shared ministries to make explicit God’s love for LGBTQ persons.

Dear friends and members of TransEpiscopal:

In the 10 years since TransEpiscopal was founded, we’ve compiled an impressive record of achievement, and that record is all the more remarkable because we have accomplished much with little in the way of resources.

At General Convention in 2009, we won passage of resolutions supporting secular civil rights legislation for trans and gender non-conforming people, nondiscrimination in lay hiring, and adoption of a commitment to make forms throughout the church more trans-friendly.

Building on this momentum with the strong support of our coalition partners (particularly IntegrityUSA which produced the film Voices of Witness Out of the Box), the GC of 2012 acted to add gender identity/expression to its canons prohibiting discrimination in access to the ordination process and in the rights of the laity. These were tremendous victories that truly put The Episcopal Church on the map as a denomination that recognizes the place and leadership of trans people in all aspects of its life.

Yet as we continue living into these transformative decisions, it could not be clearer that our work is far from finished. As General Convention 2015 approaches, TransEpiscopal plans a strong witness to:

1. Recommit the church to transforming the unjust structures that continue to kill trans people. As of this writing – mid February, 2015 – we have already lost six trans women of color in the U.S. so far this year alone. One of them, Taja DeJesus, was part of the Grace Cathedral community in the Diocese of California. Living into our church’s collective decisions means deepening our commitment to transform the unjust, intersectional structures of transphobia, racism, homophobia, misogyny and classism—structures that are literally lethal.
2. Support trans youth and their families. As Leelah Alcorn’s suicide so strongly revealed this year, for trans identified young people, coming out can be a particular struggle. For trans youth and for their families, a supportive, non-judgmental church community can be literally life saving.
3. Support non-binary identified trans people. Many trans people – particularly trans youth and young adults – do not understand ourselves to be straightforwardly male or female. Many decide not to medically transition. Many use pronouns other than he/she. Welcoming and lifting up the leadership of trans people means honoring this complexity and ambiguity, and offering emotional, spiritual, and practical support for navigating a binary world. 

This work will require developing and producing educational materials for use at convention, as well as defraying the cost of attending convention for TransEpiscopal volunteers. As in past years, we will be proud to work with our allies, The Consultation, Integrity-USA, and The Chicago Consultation. None of our victories could have happened without the collegiality and community of these coalitions.

None of it could have happened without your support.

A gift of $50, $100, $250 or $500 will make a crucial difference in our capacity to change hearts and minds this summer. Please go to the TransEpiscopal web page at http://blog.transepiscopal.com/, look for the “donate” button on the left side, and give what you can. Alternately, you can mail a check made out to our fiscal sponsor, Integrity USA-- just be sure to put TransEpiscopal in the memo line, then mail to:

770 Massachusetts Ave #390170
Cambridge, MA 02139   USA

Faithfully,

Donna Cartwright
The Rev. Dr. Cameron Partridge
The Rev. Gari Green

Please note that as of 2016 the donation information for TransEpiscopal has changed. Please see the donation tab at the top right of this website for more information, and thank you for your continued support.

An update to yesterday's statement:

Integrity USA and TransEpiscopal were saddened to learn that the Rev. Gwen Fry is no longer the Priest in Charge of Grace Episcopal Church in Pine Bluff, AR. We pray for healing for the Rev. Fry, for Grace Church, for the Diocese of Arkansas, and the wider LGBT community in the coming days and months. 

​We remain clear and confident that the wider family of the Episcopal Church and the Episcopal Diocese of Arkansas – including the Rt. Rev. Larry Benfield— embraces, supports, and is confident in the leadership of the Rev. Fry. We look forward to hearing about the next ordained position into which she will step in the Episcopal Diocese of Arkansas.

The events of this week point to the need for continued conversation and education on transgender leadership throughout the Episcopal Church. To aid in this process, IntegrityUSA and TransEpiscopal stand ready to offer a wide range of resources, including the short film Voices of Witness: Out of the Box.

This weekend Transfiguration Sunday will be observed across The Episcopal Church. We will hear the story of how Jesus walked up a mountain and was transfigured beside Moses and Elijah before three bewildered disciples. Only in Matthew’s gospel does Jesus bend down, touch them, and say, “Get up, and do not be afraid.”

This message could not be more timely today. As we stand together on God’s holy mountain, may we be strengthened to walk together through the challenges that lie before us, confident that in the process we will be changed into Christ’s likeness from glory to glory.

Today the world lost a remarkable woman named Louise Brooks. I knew her through The Episcopal Church’s LGBT advocacy organization IntegrityUSA, for which Louise was the communications director over the last several years. She brought to that role a long career as a documentary film-maker, journalist, activist and media-consultant. Together with her wife, Integrity’s most recent president emerita the Reverend Canon Susan Russell, Louise brought impressive media sophistication to the organization’s communications.

I first met Louise in the summer of 2007 when I joined a number of LGBT and allied Episcopalians at a New York City roundtable as part of the Anglican Communion Listening Process on sexuality. As I pulled up a chair to this proverbial table, Louise was among a cadre of formidable folks who welcomed me warmly. I saw Louise the following summer at the “Fringe Festival” of the Lambeth Conference (the decennial gathering of bishops from around the Anglican Communion), and then a year later at the 2009 General Convention of The Episcopal Church. It was there that we began talking more, and that the seeds were sown for what turned out to be – as far as I know – her last film project: Voices of Witness Out of the Box.

For the first time in 2009, Integrity and TransEpiscopal had brought several volunteers to the Convention to do advocacy and education on trans equality. As part of that effort, Dante Tavolaro (Deputy from the Diocese of Rhode Island in both 2009 and 2012) and I led a “Trans 101” for the combined Integrity/TransEpiscopal team (you can catch bits of it in the video posted below). About thirty or so people, including Louise, gathered in Integrity’s meeting room as Dante sketched out a simple grid or set of rules that went like this: in the West or Global North we’re assigned a sex at birth, either male or female; males are expected to grow up to be men, to “act like men”, and to date women. Those born female are expected to become women, to “act like women”, and to date men. There are many ways to violate these rules. To not act “like a man” or “like a woman” in your given context, to date people of your same sex, or to transition are just a few.  Gender theorists call this set of rules “heteronormativity.” Christian theologians call it “complementarity.” Louise called it “the box.”  

As she put it in this May 15th preview, Louise left the 2009 General Convention committed to bringing this conversation, trans voices, and “the box” idea itself to the wider church.

About six months after GenCon 2009, Louise called me up to explore the idea for the documentary. Could Integrity and TransEpiscopal work together on a film that showed not only how transgender people are “out of the box” but also — at least implicitly – how many other, nontrans people are out of it as well? This film could convey both difference and connection—that trans people have different challenges than nontrans people do and at the same time that what can make life difficult for us also impacts everyone else. We all live with the pervasive influence of that box which, crucially, intersects and assembles anew in conjunction with race, class, ability, and national origin. We are connected in our struggle, even as we struggle in distinct ways. 

As Louise ultimately described the project, "Gender identity and gender expression are issues that can easily be misunderstood and cannot be wrapped up in a neat little box. So the goal of Out of the Box was to answer some of the most frequently asked questions.” The simplicity of “the box” pointed to, opened – but did not seek to plumb – the complexity underlying it.

We talked and emailed about the film at several points between 2010 and last winter. When I learned that Louise was ill, I suspected the film would need to go on hold, perhaps indefinitely. But then, seemingly out of nowhere, Out of the Box roared to life. In early February I flew out to Los Angeles for a day of filming.  Louise seemed totally in her element. She was fatigued but connected and absolutely focused. In between the interviews we talked about the upcoming General Convention and about Macky Allston’s powerful film Love Free Or Die that had just been released. I was honored and grateful to be part of this work, curious and excited about its potential impact.

What I hadn’t realized was just how steeped in transformation this film was from the start. Shortly after its release on May 31st, I saw a HufPo blog post by Louise’s wife (and major Out of the Box supporter) Susan Russell. Susan explained, “what we found in Anaheim in 2009 was that the presence of members of TransEpiscopal testifying in committee hearings, participating in round-table discussions, speaking their truth, and sharing their lives created a profoundly teachable moment that quite literally changed lives.”  But what really struck me was the next sentence: “And one of those was my wife.” “Now,” Susan continued, “I have a hard-and-fast rule to never blog about my wife, but this blog is going to be the exception that proves the rule. A long-time activist, journalist, documentarian, and media consultant, Louise was convinced that gay, lesbian, and bisexual equality was a hard enough row to hoe without adding the ‘T’ into the mix. ‘Let's fight one battle at a time’ pretty much summed up her position -- that is, until the 2009 General Convention and the powerful witness of the transgender folk who so courageously shared their stories, their experience, their journeys, and their reality with her. She left Anaheim committed to finding a way to get their voices out beyond the relatively small audience of an Episcopal General Convention team -- and the idea for the documentary film project Voices of Witness: Out of the Box was born.”

I read that and was speechless. It’s one thing to talk about transformation – I hear the word all the time, and I preach it, too – but seeing it, hearing an authentic story of it, experiencing it just takes my breath away. I had not understood what a profound impact we had had on Louise.

But in retrospect, as I contemplated Susan’s words, it made sense. Or at least, it explained more fully the deep sense of connection, the passion with which Louise pursued this project. It very clearly mattered to her at a deep level. When she said she was making the film as a gift to the church, you could tell she really meant it. And it truly was.  

I was concerned to learn that Louise was too ill to attend General Convention this past July, but I was far from surprised that she was present all the same. She was on the phone with the communications team every day. She was making things happen. We were all pulling for her, and she was most certainly pulling for us.  

You hear a lot of people described as “fighter.” “He/she was a fighter.” I am not someone who knew Louise from Adam, but it seems clear to me that she was indeed a fighter. She fought for me and so many others.  But there was a heck of a lot more to Louise than that, and I don’t know even a quarter of it. What I do know, though, is that Louise was a woman of profound compassion, open to being transformed, and passionate about opening that process to others. 

I will always be grateful for her support and solidarity, and my heart is with Susan Russell, with All Saints Pasadena, and IntegrityUSA in this time of loss. May light perpetual shine on Louise.

- The Rev'd Dr. Cameron Partridge

The Reverend Dr. Elizabeth Keaton, outgoing President of the Episcopal Women's Caucus put together this very helpful overview of actions taken at the General Convention earlier this month. Many thanks to her for sharing it!

- General Convention approved the $111,516,032 budget for 2013-2015. The budget is based on the Five Marks of Mission.

- The Rev. Gay Clark Jennings of Ohio was elected President of the House of Deputies. Byron Rushing of Massachusetts was elected Vice President of the House of Deputies.

- Anglican Covenant: General Convention affirmed the commitment to building relationships across the Anglican Communion, especially through the Continuing Indaba program, but declined to take a position on the Anglican Covenant.

- Eight bishops received approvals to their consent process: Atlanta,New Hampshire, Pittsburgh, Rhode Island, Texas (Suffragan), Virginia (Suffragan), Western Louisiana, and Western Massachusetts. Related, General Convention approved a change in rules so elections held close to General Convention no longer need to go to General Convention for the consentprocess.

- Israel-Palestine: General Convention supported a resolution onpositive investment in the Palestinian territories. Bishops agreed to postpone indefinitely the conversation on corporate engagement.

- Bishops rejected several resolutions attempting to postpone implementation of the Episcopal Church Medical Trust.

- Executive Council elections: The House of Deputies elected seven lay and two clergy members: Lay members elected for six-year terms are: JosephS. Ferrell of North Carolina, Anita P. George of Mississippi, Fredrica Harris Thompsett of Massachusetts, Karen Ann Longenecker of the Rio Grande,Nancy Wonderlich Koonce of Idaho, and John Johnson of Washington (DC). Lay person, Elizabeth L. Anderson, of Connecticut was elected for three years. Clergy members elected for six-year terms were the Rev. Susan B. Snook of
Arizona and the Rev. James B. Simons of Pittsburgh.

- A030: establishes how clergy who want to leave the Episcopal Churchfor another part of the Anglican Communion can do so without renouncing their Holy Orders

- A033 and C049 enact a series of revisions to Title IV, the clergydiscipline canons, to fix some errors while maintaining the underlying principles of the canons

- A036: commends the 11-year relationship of full communion with theELCA and asks the Lutheran-Episcopal Coordinating Committee to address areas where Episcopal and Lutheran practices differ, especially who can
preside at Holy Communion and the role of deacons.

- A049: a denominational response to same-sex blessings. The approved liturgy is for provisional use. The diocesan bishop has to grant approval for use in his/her diocese even in those states where same-sex marriage has been legislated. It is effective first Sunday in Advent 2012 (December 2).

- A050: authorizes a task force to study marriage.

- A054: new rites and prayers for pastoral responses to people caring for animals, including the death of a pet

- A102, the first reading of an amendment to the constitution that would help dioceses that want to merge with another diocese or divide itself into two dioceses to do so without requiring sitting bishops in all dioceses involved.

- A122: Standing Commission on the Structure of the Church should study the current budgeting process and matters of financial oversight and make recommendations to next General Convention

- A158: clarifies the status in the Episcopal Church of pastors in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America who had been ordained by other pastors and not by bishops.

- A167: creation of an HIV Welcoming Parish Initiative to help congregations to become more engaged with people living with HIV/AIDS.

- B009: with the bishop's permission, use the lectionary in the BCP rather than the Revised Common Lectionary

- B019: affirms positive investment in the Palestinian Territories. It also calls on the church to support the Jewish, Muslim, and Christian study on peace with justice in the Middle East,

- B021: amends the canons to provide a mechanism for addressing disagreements in the pastoral relationship between a diocese and its bishop;

- B023: solidarity with the poor and indigenous people who bear great burdens because of climate change, with special mention to the Inupiaqs of Kivalina, Alaska

- B026: gives dioceses and parishes an additional three years to provide parity in health insurance cost-sharing between lay and clergy employees. That deadline now is extended until Dec. 31, 2015.

- B028: urges Congress to modernize the nation's refugee resettlement program

- C029: baptism as the normative entrance into Holy Communion

- C095 Church structure: a special task force of up to 24 to meet in the next two years from all levels of the church on reforms to structure, governance and administration. There will be a special gathering from every
diocese to hear what recommendations the task force plans to make to the 78th General Convention. The final report is due by November 2014.

- D016 - Selling 815: The House of Bishops approved a move away from, but did not authorize the sale of, the Episcopal Church Center headquarters.

- D018: calls on Congress to repeal federal laws, such as the Defense of Marriage Act, that discriminate against same-gender couples who are legally married in the states where that is permitted;

- D019 and D002: Support for the transgender community by adding gender expression and identity to two canons that prevent discrimination: the ordination discernment process is open; and guarantees equal place in the life, worship and governance of the church.

- D022: a church-wide response to bullying

- D023: affirms that all Episcopalians are called to be evangelists to help grow the church

- D025: establishes a Development Office to solicit major gifts and other resources

- D049: creates a pilot student loan fund for seminarians who agree to three years in under-served areas of the Episcopal Church.

- D055: urges the government to enact stricter controls on the use of carbon-based fuels

- D059: urges a halt to the Immigration and Custom Enforcement spractice of detaining people suspected of being in the country illegally without filing any charges against them.

- D066: develops a network of retired Episcopal executives to assist dioceses and parishes, modeled on SCORE

- D067: urges passage by Congress of the DREAM Act

- D069: a social media challenge calling upon every congregation to use social media in its current and future forms

- D081: directs the Standing Commission on Ecumenical and Interreligious Relations to initiate dialogue between the Episcopal Church and the Mormon Church in anticipation of General Convention 2015 in Salt Lake City.

And it’s a wrap.  General Convention 2012 is now one for the history books.

From my perch here on my last night in this Indianapolis hotel room, I am struck by a combination of wonder, gratitude and just plain exhaustion.  This church has done so much over the last couple of weeks, and they’ve also been long.

And in that spirit of Eucharist – of thanksgiving – and of the comfort and challenge communion offers, I offer a couple of snapshops from my experience of two communion services in the latter part of Convention:  The Integrity Eucharist and the TransEpiscopal Eucharist.

It was a huge honor to serve alongside Bishop Mary Glasspool, Bishop Gene Robinson, and Deacon Carolyn Woodall in the service.  And words cannot describe the emotion of the evening, which was a capstone to the passage of resolutions D019 and D002 earlier that day. The crowd of 1600 was positively elated.  Members of the TransEpiscopal team sat in seats of honor in the front row.  I have no words for how I felt looking out from the platform, seeing both longstanding TransEpiscopal teammates and newer members, several of whom are mentees (or, as became our GC joke, padawans…) and friends from Massachusetts.  I was particularly proud of our young adult presence this year.  There they all were being preached to, directly, by +Gene Robinson, who emphasized again and again, “we were meant to live in tents.”  

Referencing the nomadic life of Abraham and Sarah, he underscored how we should expect to be on the move, to be challenged, to grow comfortable with new understanding and then to be challenged yet again.  This is the work of the Spirit, +Gene preached, the Spirit that continues to flow among us, opening us to truths that Jesus told us we could not yet bear.  As John 16:12-13 puts it, “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth.”  This has become one of my favorite passages over the last several years, particularly since I began working in earnest on trans issues in the church.  It's obviously one of +Gene’s favorites as well.  

The following day the House of Deputies debated one of the major LGBT related resolutions of General Convention, #A049, which authorized a blessing of same sex couples that was developed over the previous triennium.  It, too, passed in a landslide.  It was a huge moment for a church that does so much of its theology through its liturgical practice and development.  It is one thing for couples to already be able to receive a blessing—or even to have their marriage solemnized in church, as Bishop Shaw authorizes clergy to do in the Diocese of Massachusetts—but it is another thing for The Episcopal Church to officially authorize a blessing rite. 

Meanwhile, TransEpiscopal was preparing for another Eucharist.  Today I noticed a tweet from someone that read, “I hesitate to ask, but what is a TransEpiscopal Eucharist”?  In short, it was a service of Communion organized and lead by members of TransEpiscopal to which all were invited.  We came into the 2009 Convention with no plans for such a service, but were persuaded by friends within TransEpiscopal, Integrity, and the Episcopal Women’s Caucus to gather in that way.  In 2009 it was small—maybe twenty people – but very powerful.  We gathered in a circle around a table at the back of Integrity’s conference room, shared scripture readings, a group reflection, and the holy gifts of bread and wine.  At one point, someone held up a camera and snapped a photo that conveys well the service’s intimate feel.  

This year we decided to do a service again, planning the liturgy more in advance yet still leaving plenty of room for the Spirit to move our preparations.  As Iain Stanford and I finished putting the liturgy together in Integrity’s nerve center, the debate in the House of Deputies on the blessing liturgy was live streaming.  The liturgy passed just as we finished our work.  What a day!

As it so happened, our openness to the Spirit’s blowing allowed us to transform the service into a combination of both Baptism and Eucharist.  One of the totally unexpected delights of the Convention was meeting a genderqueer identified transman who, it turns out, came into Convention considering baptism.  TransEpiscopal volunteers instantly bonded with him, grafting him into the team.  And when Elizabeth Kaeton, President  of the Episcopal Women’s Caucus, baptized another General Convention attendee in the hotel fountain earlier this week, our new friend wondered whether he too might take this step here, rather than back in his home state.  Several long, inspired conversations later, it was apparent that the TransEpiscopal Eucharist was the perfect context for this moment. 

I had never had the privilege of doing an adult baptism before, nor had I baptized someone from the trans community.  This was a truly holy moment.  It also followed a long period of reflection—in place of a sermon—in which nearly all of the forty or so gathered people participated.  There was such joy, love, wonder in that room.  It was such a privilege to see the various roles played by both clergy and laity, trans and allied.  As Rev. Carla Robinson invited us, we all shared the bread and wine with one another, a fitting follow-up to the renewal of our baptismal covenants.  We were living fully into our membership in this one body—this changing, challenging body—and not simply our own, there in the Integrity meeting room, but that of the wider convention, of the wider church.  
 
As we come to the end of this powerful Convention, we stand at a kind of commencement.  An ending/beginning.  We are stepping into a new chapter in the life of The Episcopal Church.  TransEpiscopal’s and IntegrityUSA’s prioritized resolutions were and are part of something much larger.  

+Gene Robinson told us, “we were meant to live in tents.”  Yet even tents can perhaps prove  too constraining.  On the Transfiguration Mount where Peter, James and John beheld the already/not yet resurrected Christ, Peter’s impulse was to “make three booths” or “dwellings,” to try to pin Jesus down, to pitch his tent among us and stay for a while.  A long while.  But we weren’t meant to stay on that mount forever.  We were meant to travel back down, to walk through unforeseen valleys and reach the other side.

We were meant to be transfigured.

- The Rev'd Dr. Cameron Partridge

For Immediate Release
The 77th General Convention of The Episcopal Church has now added “gender identity and expression” to the church's nondiscrimination canons for both lay and ordained ministry. The House of Bishops passed the legislation on Saturday, July 7th. The House of Deputies then passed it Monday, July 10, officially making it an act of the convention.  By adding this language to its canons, The Episcopal Church joins the United Church of Christ, which took a similar step in 2003, and the Unitarian Universalist General Assembly, which did so in 2007.  Like The Episcopal Church, both groups have had openly transgender ordained and lay leaders for several years.

"We are filled with joy for this clear affirmation that the Episcopal Church welcomes and values the ministerial gifts of transgender people, lay and ordained,'' members of TransEpiscopal said in a joint statement after the House of Deputies' vote.

''We are also delighted by the strong support and broad understanding of trans issues shown by deputies representing a wide range of regions and generations in this church. As the church steps boldly into new frontiers in various facets of its life, we are proud to be part of this spirit-filled movement. We thank all of our allies, especially IntegrityUSA, The Consultation, and the Chicago Consultation for their tireless, heartfelt support.''

On the final day of Convention the House of Deputies also concurred with the House of Bishops to pass resolution D022 which calls for a Church-Wide Response to Bullying.  "Gender identity and expression" are included along with "economic, ethnic, racial or physical characteristics, religious status and sexual orientation" in a list of characteristics in response to which bullying often takes place.

“Bullying of any kind, for any reason, goes contrary to the second of Jesus’ two great commandments:  to love one’s neighbor as oneself.  As we in the United States continue to grow in awareness of the effects of bullying, we are proud that The Episcopal Church has decided to take a stand in support of the most vulnerable in our society.  Transgender people are certainly among them: according to a 2011 study, 78 percent of transgender people report being bullied or harassed as children.  It is high time for our church to join in the lifesaving work of ending this epidemic.”

The text of D022 reads as follows:

Resolved, the House of Deputies concurring, That the 77th General Convention calls for a church wide response to the epidemic of bullying, particularly of those perceived as being “different” by virtue of economic, ethnic, racial or physical characteristics, religious status, sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression; bullying is defined as the recurring use of single or combined written, verbal or electronic expressions or physical acts or gestures, directed at any person that: result in physical or emotional harm to the person or damage to his/her property; places the person in reasonable fear of harm to him/herself or of damage to her/his property; creates an intimidating or hostile environment for the person; impacts the rights of the victim.  Bullying shall include cyber-bullying through elctronic/social media, telephonic technology or other means;and be it further

Resolved, That the General Convention encourage new partnerships among our congregations, dioceses, campus ministries, National Association of Episcopal Schools, public schools, counseling centers, and governmental organizations in order to support and offer preventative programs addressing bullying, harassment, and other related violence, especially with higher risk populations; and be it further

Resolved, That these partnerships be encouraged to create or join with existing required programs  designed to recognize and prevent abuse, neglect, and exploitation in our church settings which:

 - utilize positive, inclusive, empowering and developmentally appropriate
    materials
 - raise participant’s awareness about the issue
 - focus on prevention
 - seek to change bystander behavior into ally behavior
 - create partnerships between youth and adults
 - provide intervention and treatment for those who exhibit bullying behavior.

By Anderson C.

Tuesday morning in the shower, it hit me – the full weight of what had happened over the previous two days at General Convention.  My emotions rose up, mixing tears with the warm water streaming down my face.

I was thinking about how the House of Bishops and the House of Deputies  had both passed resolutions D019 and D002 that incorporate “gender identity and expression” into the non-discrimination canons for access to the ordination process and lay participation in The Episcopal Church.  The positive comments and arguments given by supporting and allied deputies were on my mind, as well as the final vote tallies.  An entire Christian denomination had just recognized and accepted trans people as valued members of the Church and removed barriers for their participation at all levels.  The enormity and impact of the outcome of these events were best summed up by my friend Vivian who, when I asked her for the reason behind her own emotional response, said, “Oh, just this business of changing the direction of American Christianity.” 

I was also remembering the previous evening, when trans people played a significant role in the Integrity Eucharist.  When I and other trans folks walked into the large room where the service was being held, we were directed to the first two rows of the center section of seating, where we found on each chair a printed piece of paper that said, “Reserved for VIPs and Transgender service participants.”  We also lead the procession to the stage, two columns of trans people leading TransEpiscopal members Reverend Cameron Partridge, Invocator of the service, and Reverend Carolyn Woodall, Deacon of the Eucharist, as well as Bishop Mary Glasspool, the Bishop Presiding and Bishop Gene Robinson, Preacher.

For his sermon, Bishop Robinson preached about the day, the passing of the two trans-inclusive resolutions and, in the House of Bishops, the passing of the trial liturgy for same gender blessings.  For me, the remarkable aspect of the Integrity Eucharist was the high level of trans inclusion, including in Bishop Robinson’s sermon.  

Clearly, these events could not have been realized without the support of friends and allies, including and perhaps especially members of IntegrityUSA and gay men, bisexual people and lesbians in the Church.  I considered that as I stood there in the service, surrounded by hundreds of supportive people, listening to Bishop Robinson telling us in the trans community that our work is not finished, with the promise, "We'll have your back."

This last sentiment was a new concept for me, not so much in intent because I have heard similar sentiments often enough before, but in action.  Since entering the GLBT community at the peak of the contentiousness around Rep. Barney Frank’s and the HRC’s 2007 actions to remove trans people from the protections of the Federal Employment Nondiscrimination Act (ENDA), I am afraid to say that I have been repeatedly disappointed by the “support” of our GL colleagues.  My painful experiences in this regard have not been with the majority of the GL people with whom I have interacted, but there have been enough of them to render me jaded and cautious about overtures of support.  I have spent too much of my energy in GLBT activism engaged in educating people in the GL community whom I always expect will know better but who too often do not.  At times the behavior of well meaning allies has felt patronizing, and at times, attitudes have seemed dismissive or even downright hostile. 

Fortunately, that has all been turned around at this General Convention and during the Integrity Eucharist the other night.  I believe that Bishop Robinson is aware of the need for education of the “GL’s” about the “T’s” – he gave me hope during his sermon when he spoke twice to the non-trans people at the service, "Don't underestimate what there is to learn on this."  In addition, the overwhelming support that was extended toward us trans folks was palpable.  We were included, we were part of the collective spirit, and we were loved.  I believe the Holy Spirit moved through everyone in that room that night, and I felt in communion with the hundreds of people there.  When Bishop Robinson said, “We'll have your back,” I believed him. 

What rose up in me in the shower and since then has been an overwhelming pride in The Episcopal Church for remembering, supporting and being inclusive of some of her most vulnerable members.  Even though we trans people are few in number in the Church, we have been rendered significant by our non-trans Episcopal gay, lesbian, bisexual and straight brothers and sisters.  For this, I am grateful, I have begun to heal, and I am proud to be a member of The Episcopal Church.

** Photos by Anderson C.