Today the Presiding Bishop’s office and the Diocese of Florida announced that a majority of both standing committees and bishops of The Episcopal Church have voted not to consent to the bishop election in the Episcopal Diocese of Florida. We believe this result was a necessary response to an election that was shaped within a diocesan context with a documented pattern and practice of systemic discrimination against LGBTQIA+ clergy. With this vote the wider Church has said that our nondiscrimination canons do in fact matter in the breach. We note as well the significance of both groups – standing committees and bishops – discerning this response as a sign of clarity and care for the Diocese of Florida and for all of us connected to one another across the Church. 
 
We lift up that spirit of care, clarity, and connection in prayer for the Diocese of Florida, knowing that they have a long road ahead. We pray for everyone impacted by decision: for the lay and ordained leadership of the diocese; for the Rev. Charlie Holt and his family; and especially for the LGBTQIA+ people of the diocese who took significant personal risks in sharing their experiences and calling for an intervention for justice and healing. 
 
As we wrote in our statement about the consent process on March 21, “We know as well as anyone in the Church that we are all still on a journey in this Church to overcome discrimination across many dimensions.” We continue to believe this strongly, as our own recent testimonies in this blog space have underscored (here and here, for example). All of us in our various diocesan contexts must continue intentionally and urgently on this journey together. This journey is not about the “chaotic nature of church politics and clashes of personal interest,” and it is most certainly not born of “wicked motives.” ​ It is of the Spirit of truth who leads us into all truth (John 16:13). 
 
We take no joy in this outcome – indeed, we observe the pain out of which this decision has emerged – but we do take hope. Hope in Christ who has said “I will be with you always” (Mt 28:20). Hope in the nearness of God’s just reign. Hope in the collective body of Christ, knit together in baptism, journeying together in solidarity toward the mystery of resurrection life.

Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live.” John 11:25
 
With deep sorrow and abiding love we write to share that our beloved friend Iain Michael Stanford died this evening at 9 pm. Iain had been navigating a rare, aggressive cancer diagnosed shortly after his sixtieth birthday in March. He received excellent care through Kaiser, including immunotherapy, but after a week in the hospital in May he never regained his strength. He went home to God peacefully at home in the presence of family and friends.
 
Iain was originally from the West Coast and grew up in California and Washington. After graduating from Oregon State in Industrial Engineering he worked for Arthur Anderson for several years, living in Switzerland before returning to the United States. After taking coursework in theology at Seattle University, he was inspired to go to seminary at the University of Notre Dame, from which he earned a Master of Divinity degree. Iain was strongly formed in the Vatican II traditions of Roman Catholicism and over the years drew deeply from the feminist, queer, and liberation theologies of various Christian traditions. At Harvard Divinity School starting in the late 1990s, he was a doctoral student in the Religion, Gender, and Culture Program, made his way into the Episcopal Church, and in the late 2000s came out as an openly transgender man. Iain returned to the Pacific Northwest in the 2010s and was sponsored for the priesthood from the Episcopal Diocese of Oregon. Ordained in 2016, he served parishes in San Francisco and Lake Oswego, Oregon before becoming the Rector of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Redwood City, California in July, 2020. 
 
Iain was an active leader in the TransEpiscopal community for many years. He was part of our advocacy efforts leading up to and at the 2012 General Convention at which “gender identity and expression” were added to the Episcopal Church’s nondiscrimination canons for access to the ordination process and all levels of leadership in the Church. He was on our Steering Committee for many years and contributed both his own posts and his editorial skills to our blog. Over the last year Iain had been chairing the Trans and Non-binary Task Force of the Diocese of California, and last year was appointed to the churchwide Task Force on LGBTQ+ Inclusion. 
 
Iain was fierce and compassionate, stubborn and loving. He was a truth-teller, a lover of community, a pragmatic prophet, a believer in rolling up his sleeves and digging in to the nitty gritty. He hated injustice of all kinds. He loved being a parish priest. He made connections and built community. He felt strongly both that have come a long way as a Church in our upholding of trans, non-binary and all marginalized communities, and that we have a great deal of work to do to fully realize the promises we have made as a church. 
 
Even this very day, we told him we will carry him with us as we continue the work that lies before us. We told him we loved him dearly, beyond what words can convey. So many of you have joined us in conveying this love in these last days. You sent cards and emails, you posted to his social media, you contributed to his Go Fund Me campaign, which made such a difference in easing his financial stress. Iain truly felt the love and support of the people in his life. He came to catch an authentic glimpse of the profound difference he made in so many lives. He was utterly clear that relationships are what matter the most in this life. The call to love one another was truly his commitment. 
 
Iain is survived by his three older siblings Cheryl Linder, Bob Stanford, Bill Stanford, and their children; his many friends; and his two beloved cats. In the coming days we will share a recorded conversation he made this past week with his friend Cameron Partridge. In the meantime, we invite you to share stories of Iain in the comments.
 
We release our beloved friend into the loving arms of the God who created him to become the beautiful human being Iain was. We are so grateful for his presence in our lives. We rest this night in the promise of resurrection life and in the conviction “that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).