There and Back Again

I along with seven companions have traveled to a strange land, filled with the fearsome Smog. We were seeking a great treasure. There were challenges all along the way, but in the end we achieved great things. Sound a little familiar? Well there were no wizards, no Hobbits, no Dwarfs and no Dragon. We were not in Middle Earth, but at the General Convention of the Episcopal Church. A small group of Transgender Clergy and Laity brought Transgender issues in front of the Church in a way that had never happened before. The General Convention happens every three years and consists of lay and clergy delegations along with their Bishops from each Diocese of the Episcopal Church. At the last Convention only one of our number attended for even a short while. That was the beginning. This year eight members of TransEpiscopal were there. Seven resolutions were presented and four of them passed. Since some of the resolutions were redundant only one remains a disappointment, changes to the Canon on Ordination.

What can we make of this development? Our treasure is a church that is more open and more caring. Along the way we met loving friends and allies and we didn’t find hate and prejudice. This is very special since all too often Transgender people find hate, intolerance and prejudice. The Episcopal Church is truly becoming a church of openness, tolerance and an instrument of God’s love. As a Priest in the Church and a Transgender person myself, I find all this extremely hopeful. My ordination and my ministry and my commitment remain intact and are in a way validated (I have been ordained the longest of any of the group, having been ordained to the Priesthood 38 years ago.)
Michelle+

Press Releases

For Immediate Release:

Anaheim, CA (July 17, 2009): For the first time in its history, the Episcopal Church has taken official actions in support of transgender civil rights and inclusion at its 76th General Convention.

“It was a true privilege to participate in the legislative process of this Church, to bear witness to transgender lives and experiences, and to urge the Episcopal Church to fully include and to stand in solidarity with us,” commented the Rev. Dr. Cameron Partridge, a member of TransEpiscopal and Integrity USA. “I am thrilled to be able to say that the General Convention voted overwhelmingly to put the Episcopal Church on record in support of such legislation as the Matthew Shepherd Hate Crimes Act and the Employment Nondiscrimination Act, and analogous efforts at municipal and state levels. But I am even more moved to say how many people spontaneously shared with us how their eyes have been opened, their hearts turned, by our presence and stories here. To have someone stop me in a coffee line to say, ‘I had never thought about this issue before, and I’m going to take what I have learned here and share it with my little congregation in the Ozarks’ means more than I can say.”

Today the Convention completed approval of resolutions supporting the enactment of anti-discrimination and hate crimes legislation protecting transgender people at local, state and federal levels. The House of Deputies passed these resolutions overwhelmingly on Wednesday, and the House of Bishops then approved these resolutions today in near-unanimous votes.

These actions took place as the United States Congress debates both the Matthew Shepherd Hate Crimes Act and the Employment Nondiscrimination Act, which respectively address hate crimes and discrimination on the basis of gender, sexual orientation, and disability as well as gender identity and expression.

Testifying in hearings at various levels of the Convention were representatives of the organizations TransEpiscopal and Integrity USA, including the Episcopal Church’s first openly transgender Deputy, Dee Tavolaro of Rhode Island.

In addition to today’s actions, earlier this week the Convention approved two other resolutions. The first adds “gender identity and expression” to its nondiscrimination policy for hiring lay employees, while the second calls for the revision of church paper and electronic forms to allow a wider range of gender identifications.

“As we celebrate this moment and give thanks for the amazing allies walking with us, particularly Integrity USA and the Consultation, we look forward to progressing further toward full inclusion of transgender people —and, indeed, all people -- in all areas of ministry in The Episcopal Church.”

Contacts: Rev. Dr. Cameron Partridge at cepart@yahoo.com
Rev. Michelle Hansen at hansen_michelle@sbcglobal.net
And see our blog coverage of Convention at blog.transepiscopal.com


********************************************************************************************************************************

From Integrity USA

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ANAHEIM, CA (July 17, 2009)--The Episcopal Church turned an important corner at this General Convention and Integrity applauds the hard, faithful work of the bishops and deputies who brought us closer to the full inclusion of all the baptized in all the sacraments. We came to this convention committed to moving the church beyond B033 and forward on equality for the blessing of same-sex unions--and we are beyond gratified that we have realized both of those goals.

Thirty three years after promising a "full and equal claim" to the gay and lesbian baptized, the Episcopal Church has affirmed equal access to ordination processes for all orders of ministry for all the baptized, has approved a broad local option for the blessings of our relationships, and has called the church to work together toward common liturgical expressions of those blessings.

It is a great day for the church and a greater day for the witness to God’s inclusive love.

"While Integrity’s advocacy work is not yet done," said Integrity President Susan Russell, "the actions here in Anaheim liberate us to get on with our evangelism work--proclaiming the good news of an Episcopal Church that welcomes not only LGBT people looking for a spiritual home but ALL those seeking a faith community that shares their core values of justice, compassion, inclusion, and love."

"We celebrate this historic movement forward and we commit ourselves to this church we love and serve to continue to witness to the good news of Christ Jesus present in our lives, our vocations, and our relationships. We call others to 'come and see' what we have found and seen and experienced in the Episcopal Church."

"Integrity applauds the hard work of all our allies in this struggle and lifts up particularly the witness of our TransEpiscopal colleagues whose courageous work at this convention has been truly extraordinary. We look forward to working with all our allies as we move forward together into God’s future, giving thanks for the good work here in Anaheim that has brought us closer to that church with 'no outcasts' to which former Presiding Bishop Edmond Browning called us.

Contacts:

Louise Brooks, Director of Communications, tvprod@earthlink.net, (626) 993-4605

Transgender Civil Rights

Donna Cartwright Gave the following testimony to the Committee on National and International affairs at the General Convention of the Episcopal Church meeting in Anaheim, CA. The Resolution D012 passed in the House of Deputies and at the time of this post is pending in the House of Bishops for a vote of concurrence.

My name is Donna Cartwright, from the Diocese of Maryland. I am here to speak in support of Resolution D012, which calls of enactment of anti-discrimination legislation covering transgender and gender-different people at the local, state and federal levels.
Along with our gay, lesbian and bisexual brothers and sisters, transgender people suffer from severe discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations. Consequently, they suffer from high levels of unemployment, underemployment and homelessness.
During my transition from male to female in the 1990's, I was fortunate to keep my job. But many transgender people whom I met in support groups and at commnity events were not so lucky. Often most of those who shared those groups with me were unemployed, many of them for prolonged periods. It was common to encounter people who never worked in their profession or vocation again after coming out as transgender. And some had never had a real job (that is, one with a paycheck and a Social Security number); instead, they eked out a livelihood through sex work, street hustling and in cash businesses like hairdressing.
Their often harrowing stories both left me grateful that I had been spared such treatment, and inspired me to fight against the injustice experience by my transgender brothers and sisters.
The movement for transgender equality has grown greatly and achieved many successes since the mid-90's, when only one state and a handful of municipalities had anti-discrimination protection for transgender and gender-different people. Now 13 states, the District of Columbia and over 100 cities and counties have civil rights laws protecting us.
But far more remains to be done. Less than 40% of the U.S. population lives in state and local jurisdictions with anti-discrimination protection for trans people. Efforts are under way in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Maryland and elsewhere to increase protection at the state level. And the current versions of both the federal anti-discrimination and hate crimes bills would cover transgender as well as gay, lesbian and bisexual people. The success of those efforts would go a long way toward alleviating the personal suffering and tragedy experienced by so many transgender people and ending a terrible waste of human potential.
The Episcopal Church can help that goal become a reality by putting its weight behind civil rights and hate crimes protection covering gender identity and expression.

“These Are My Friends”

I’m sitting on a bench outside the House of Bishops with Michelle, eating soft serve ice cream, waiting for the doors to open. On their afternoon calendar is D012, the transgender civil rights resolution that the House of Deputies passed so overwhelmingly yesterday afternoon.

What a day yesterday was. After the complicated result of the bishops’ morning vote on C061, the moving response of the Deputies to C012 was like a balm.

I made a video of the entire debate, which lasted about eight minutes, on my little digital camera and will post it below.

Once again, Dee Tavolaro of Rhode Island and Sarah Lawton of California spoke passionately in favor of the resolution. They were joined by several new speakers whose stories added new dimensions to the conversation. Deputy Shreider from the diocese of Chicago told of designing a renaming ceremony a for a trans parishioner. The size of the congregation doubled on the day of the service. This same parishioner has shared stories of being spat at on the street and called names the Deputy did not want to repeat. When the Deputy left for Convention, she was charged, “you know this church really fights for full inclusion. Please make sure that we can be part of that.”

Chris Ashley, a friend of mine from Massachusetts, added some humor to the proceedings. “I’m chromosomally male and I am wearing pants. But you shouldn’t take that for granted because many of you have seen me around Convention wearing a kilt.”
He went on to note that when he wears a kilt in public, he’s noticed that people give him a wide berth. What if those people were his prospective employers or prospective landlords? Such questions not only impact people like Chris with, as he charmingly put it, has “a very mildly nontraditional male gender expression, but most of all my transgender brothers and sisters. These are my friends, these are my classmates, this is the drummer in my church.”

A deputy from Ohio then asked if he could boast for a moment about his employer, the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. An employee transitioned from male to female and was supported by the organization, and fellow employees speak proudly of how supportive the company was of her in her transition. So, despite the vulnerability and high rates of discrimination, there are also good things going on as well, he said.

As there was no other discussion, Bonnie Anderson, the President of the House of Deputies, called for the vote. The Deputies then resoundingly voted in favor; only a smattering voted no.

And so, once again, the House of Deputies took a dramatic step forward, not only by their positive vote, but also and most importantly through the stories they told one another, the opening of eyes and hearts that has taken place over and over again throughout this Convention.

Now the resolution passes to the House of Bishops, where I sincerely hope the bishops will take the baton and run with it.

CP

"This is Important"

Yesterday, for the first time in its history, the House of Bishops publicly took up the matter of transgender people in ministry in the Episcopal Church. Resolution C061, which passed the House of Deputies on Monday, July 13th by a wide margin, seeks to change Title III.1.2 which currently forbids discrimination on the basis of the following categories: “race, color, ethnic origin, national origin, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, disabilities or age, except as otherwise provided by these Canons.” The resolution would add “gender identity or expression” to that list. The outcome of this debate reflected a diversity of opinion on and experience with transgender people in the House of Bishops. Several bishops spoke in support of the resolution, a couple spoke strongly against it, and a number referred to feeling inadequately educated on the topic.

The resolution, as they initially received it was a follows:

Resolved, the House of _______ concurring, That Title III, Canon 1, Sec. 2 of the Canons of the Episcopal Church is hereby amended to read as follows: all baptized persons shall have full access to the discernment process for any ministry, lay or ordained in this church, except as otherwise provided by these canons. No person shall be denied access or have their discernment process terminated because of race, color, ethnic origin, national origin, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disabilities or age, except as otherwise provided by these Canons. No right to licensing, ordination, or election is hereby established.

Marc Andrus of the Diocese of California and Gene Robinson of New Hampshire spoke both passionately and authentically about their experience of transgender people in ministry. Bishop Andrus emphasized that in his diocese, where Vicki Gray serves as a vocational deacon, they ordain individuals, not particular classes of people. If someone discerns a call to ministry, the issue for a Commission on Ministry and bishops to attend to is the vocation and the person’s ability to live into it, not their particular gender identity or expression. I entered the room during the tail end of Gene Robinson’s remarks, and so missed the bulk of them, but I heard him speaking strongly in support.

Of those who spoke against, Bishop Duncan Gray of Mississippi stood out for remarking that adding this language would “cross a line” and that we don’t need it because people are ordaining trans people already without it; to make that reality canonically explicit would be to “wave a red flag” about it.

For the most part, among those who spoke against the resolution, what I heard was not so much outright negativity as a sense of discomfort, of feeling overwhelmed and inadequately informed. A couple bishops argued that Commissions on Ministry need to have access to resources in order to be prepared to receive applications to the ordination process from trans people, and that to change the canon now, before they had such resources, would not be fair.

Bishop Dorsey Henderson of the diocese of Upper South Carolina objected to the longstanding language of the canon “no person shall be denied access”. He expressed a wish that the word “all” might replace “no.”

Bishop Howard of the Diocese of Florida expressed confusion and concern about the term “gender expression,” wondering if it might be a trojan horse for sexual activity outside of marriage. This was not the first time someone took issue with this term; someone on the floor of the House of Deputies also asked about it, and it also came up in the Committee on World Mission.

Bishop Dabney Smith of Southwest Florida then objected to a line that the Committee on World Mission had actually added to the original version of the resolution. The nondiscrimination canon already states that “no person shall be denied access,” but this resolution added the phrase “or have their ordination process terminated.” Had it remained, this line might have been a remarkable achievement in its own right. It would have addressed scenarios in which people come out as LGB or T, or begin a relationship, after entering their ordination process; in a some more conservative dioceses, people’s processes have indeed been terminated in response to just such situations. But the bishops were not in favor of that phrase. Stated reasons ranged from exactly the one just mentioned to concerns about opening themselves to litigation if, for instance, someone attributed the reason for their termination to a particular bias while the bishop or Commission on Ministry might have actually had other reasons.

The bishops then unanimously voted to remove that phrase.

Bishop Catherine Roskam of New York then returned to Bishop Henderson’s critique of the “no person” language. “What is it about ‘all’ that we don’t understand?” she asked. “There’s no adequate list. There will always be someone’s name we’ve left off.” With that, she made an amendment to remove all of lines five and six of the resolution. That motion spoke not simply to the language of “gender identity or expression,” but also to the entire list already enshrined: race, color, ethnic origin, national origin, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, disabilities or age. The move on Bishop Roskam’s part appeared designed to find a way out of an impasse, a way not to reject the resolution outright.

In the wake of this move, Bishop Michael Curry of North Carolina made a motion to refer the resolution to the Standing Commission on Ministry Development, so that a study could be done on ordaining transgender people. Notable in his motion was the sentiment, “This is important. It is important. And it’s of such importance that we want to do this properly, we want to do this in the right way. And in order to do so we need to come back with a good, thoughtful report.”

Comments and questions that followed either supported this referral or asked whether it would cause the original resolution to die. A vote was then taken on Bishop Curry’s motion, and was very narrowly defeated: 60 in favor, 66 against.

They then immediately turned to Bishop Roskam’s amendment, passing it, and the resolution as amended:

Resolved, the House of _______ concurring, That Title III, Canon 1, Sec. 2 of the Canons of the Episcopal Church is hereby amended to read as follows: all baptized persons shall have full access to the discernment process for any ministry, lay or ordained in this church, except as otherwise provided by these canons. No right to licensing, ordination, or election is hereby established.

Because they amended the resolution, it gets sent back to the House of Deputies.

So, where does this resolution leave us? While I believe the amendment to remove the specific demographic language was well intentioned, and while I certainly concur with the notion that “all” should truly mean all, this resolution as amended does not do what it was designed to do. The “all” version appears to have passed specifically because it did not mention “gender identity or expression.” Further, it eradicates the particularity of groups that worked for years to get that language into the canon to begin with. As much as I wanted the universality of “all” to do the job, in the context of this debate as it unfolded, the term was more evasive than inclusive. And so my hope is that the House of Deputies will not concur with it, that we might put our shoulders to this particular wheel again at the 77th General Convention.

But I have much higher hopes than that. The progress we have made at this Convention-- with more to come before it's over-- is absolutely huge. The fact that the House of Deputies passed C061 by a very respectable margin is tremendous. That the House of Bishops got to discuss this resolution, was huge. They made it clear they want to learn more, which is also to me a major victory. I will admit, however, that it was also difficult, indeed painful, to hear the debate as it unfolded. This is my life, my ordination process, my ministry they were talking about. And yet at the same time, in my mind, I keep coming back to Bishop Curry saying “This is important. This is important.” I agree-- it is important, and because of that, we need to do more. We have taken some of the first steps in making the Episcopal Church and Anglican Communion aware that trans people are here, in our pews, on our vestries, in our pulpits; that we bring unique insights, gifts of uncommon experience and perception, and often deeply prayerful experiences of transformation; that we love this church.

And while I’ll end this post here, as Michelle and Donna have noted, more trans related activity happened yesterday than just this vote—in the afternoon the House of Deputies took up D012, the transgender civil rights resolution, and passed it in a landslide after several truly beautiful speakers gave testimony. I want to give that story a blog post in its own right, so stay tuned.

CP

Mixed Emotions

For the first time since I arrived in Anaheim I have some mixed reactions to what has happened. Most everything, by the way has been great – fantastic, even. Today things were a bit mixed. The House of Deputies passed a measure asking for Trans Civil Rights. The witness of a number of Deputies was very powerful. I wasn’t in the Deputies while this was happening, but Cameron described it to me and even captured the testimony and voting on his camera (so I did see it, but not live.) That measure passed in the House of Deputies easily. I am sure that Cameron can describe for you that in a much better fashion.

I was in the House of Bishops all day. They received a measure that had passed in Deputies asking to protect the rights of Transgender people in the process of Ordination. Access to the process is so important. It does not guarantee that one will be ordained, but that one has the opportunity. There were already several protected classes of individuals. That is the Canon protected people from discrimination because of race, color, ethnic origin, sex, etc. Gender Identity or expression was to be added to the classes. What the Bishops did was to substitute wording to the effect that all baptized Christians were eligible for the discernment process. I am paraphrasing so don’t think that the canon is worded exactly that way. What they did was to remove the list of protections.

In a much better world not being specific about who is protected might work. We live in a world that is far from perfect. I am skeptical that the wording will work. In any case, the measure now has to go back to the house of Deputies. We’ll see what they decide. I am a bit disappointed about this.

On the much better side, the House of Bishops considered a measure that would allow blessings of same sex unions in states where such unions are allowed. The measure is a broad and liberal measure allowing for much pastoral concern. It also allows for the study of appropriate rites for such unions. The measure was heavily debated over two days. A substitute measure was introduced after hard work last night by 26 Bishops. They resisted revising the substitute measure all afternoon and passed the measure by a very great margin. Since I come from Connecticut where same sex civil marriage is legal this is a very important measure. So many same sex couples who have civil marriages also want their church involved and now it is possible.

The convention is either winding down or reaching a feverish pitch, depending on your point of view. There is still much to do and little time left to do it. I have one more day and then I go home. I should have planned to stay through Friday, but my ticket is already purchased. Cameron will have to be the final witness and do the final report.

God’s Peace,
Michelle+

The Road Ahead, the Bumps and the Detours

Transgender people and their friends and allies have made great progress at General Convention this year. Resolutions concerning our issues have been discussed in detail inside and outside the legislative process. The House of Deputies in particular has taken up and discussed trans-related issues with seriousness and sensitivity, from C061,adding gender identity/expression to the nondiscrimination canon of the church, to D012, supporting secular anti-discrimination legislation. Testimony, both in committee and on the floor,has been enlightening and moving.
But progress is rarely smooth and uninterrupted. When the House of Bishops took up C061 today, it seems that many bishops were poorly informed about trans people, confused by tems like "gender identity or expression," and reluctant to commit the church to treat some of its most vulnerable members with dignity, fairness and respect.
Instead of adding gender identity/expression to the list of characteristics like race, sex and sexual orientation that are prohibited grounds for discrimination, the bishops chose to eviscerate the nondiscrimination canon by eliminating all specific references to groups that have been marginalized historically. If adopted, this would be a real step backward, undermining decades of work to educate the church to the concrete realities of racism, sexism and homophobia.
Personally, I would prefer to see the church revert to its existing nondiscrimination, even without gender identity/expression, and for TransEpiscopal to come back to the next convention in three years and try again. Hopefully in that time, educational work will eliminate some of the bishops' discomfort.
Fortunately, today's legislative session in the HoD ended on a positive note, with the adoption of Resolution D012 (see above) on a near-unanimous voice vote. And as a labor activist for several decades, I was also very gratified to see the deputies adopt a resolution supporting the Employee Free Choice Act now pending in Congress, which would reform our labor laws to better protect the right to organize. The voice of prophetic witness is alive and well in the church! Amen!

Posted for Donna Cartwright