As we reported in our overview post on our strategic focus at this General Convention, we came into #GC80 with an emphasis on developing, collecting and equipping the church to do training and formation in support of trans and non-binary members and our families at all levels of the church, particularly the congregational level. Resolutions D030 and D072 respectively support faith-rooted formational and secular training resources to be gathered and/or developed – with staff support (see A063) from the Church Center.
A number of people testified at hearings in support of both D030 and D072 at Committee 14 (Christian Formation and Discipleship). D030 received a hearing in May at which a number of people spoke in support. One was a member of the General Convention’s official youth presence from the Diocese of Dallas who is gender fluid. This was their first time testifying at a legislative hearing, and they did a fantastic job! We also heard testimony from several members of the TransEpiscopal Steering Committee including AJ Buckley from the Diocese of Oregon, Kit Wang of the Diocese of Maine, Rowan Larsen of the Diocese of Massachusetts, and Iain Stanford, Cameron Partridge, and Sarah Lawton of the Diocese of California. In June when Committee 14 held another open hearing, a number of these same people again testified in support of D072, joined by additional supporters, including LGBTQ Caucus leaders Charles Graves and the sponsor of D072, Jan Grinnell.
Committee 14 received all of us warmly and strongly supported these resolutions. They recommended them unanimously to be put on the Convention’s consent calendar and shifted to the budget request amount for D030 from $30,000 to $50,000. Unfortunately, the proposed budget did not include this or any other funding for LGBTQ resolutions with the exception of A063, the staff position for LGBTIQ and Women’s Ministries which was funded at $300,000.
Our hope is that even though unfunded, these resolutions can be supported by the staff position, should the House of Deputies concur with the small amendments that the House of Bishops made to A063 this morning.
We thank all who made the passage of D030 and D072 possible, from their proposers and endorsers, to all who testified in the resolutions’ support, to the members of Committee 14 who made clear to all of us that they believe strongly in the urgent need for this work.