The Pace!

Things are moving very fast here in Anaheim. The TransEpiscopal team has testified before a committee of the Convention tonight and will do so again tomorrow very early in the morning. I feel frantic. The pace is incredible, one for a much younger person. It's a good thing that some of the team are younger. I am aware that there is much more convention to go.

On the side, I attended the opening Eucharist. It was inspiring to say the least. The presiding bishop preached and presided. It was a real experience. I tried to take pictures but I am afraid the are all too dark and I would have to process them. I don't have the time right now. I also had the opportunity to see the ArchBishop of Canterbury up close. I saw him in person, but that is all I can say about it. I do have some pictures but it is too late to post them. I'll do it some time soon.

I have to get up early to testify again tomorrow. Peace to you all!

Michelle Hansen+

Two Hearings in Twelve Hours

Tomorrow marks the official start of the General Convention, but already legislative committees are holding meetings to sift through the resolutions allotted to them. This year there is an unprecedented five resolutions on transgender inclusion and equality. We had thought there would be four, but we just learned of a fifth.


Two transgender resolutions call on the Church to support secular civil rights legislation:

1) C048, originating from the Diocese of Michigan
2) D012, lead sponsor Byron Rushing of the Diocese of Massachusetts (cosponsored by Sarah Lawton of the Diocese of California and Dee Tavolaro of the Diocese of Rhode Island)

These resolutions have been allotted to the Committee on World Mission, where they might have been overshadowed by a slew of resolutions addressing “B033”, an infamous resolution passed in 2006. But this evening the committee separated these two resolutions from the B033 pack and they will now be considered in a hearing tomorrow (Wednesday) evening between 7-9pm.

An additional three resolutions call on the Episcopal Church to include “gender identity and expression” in its ministry nondiscrimination canon:

3) C001, originating from the Diocese of Newark
4) C061, originating from the Diocese of Massachusetts
5) C046, originating from the Diocese of Michigan

These resolutions are currently under the care of the Committee on National and International Affairs. Today we learned that they will be considered at a hearing Thursday morning from 7-9 a.m.

That means that there will be two hearings on transgender matters within twelve hours.

After these hearings, the committees will decide what to do with the resolutions—whether to combine them, send them to other committees, table them, or send them to the floor of the House of Deputies. If the House of Deputies passes them, the legislation goes to the House of Bishops (remember "how a bill becomes a law?" it's like that).

At the last General Convention three years ago, there was one transgender themed resolution. There was a hearing on it, at which TransEpiscopal's Donna Cartwright testified. Ultimately the resolution got tabled, which means it died.
One person, one resolution.

But this year: five resolutions (thus far), eight TransEpiscopal members. Three of us flew in on the 4th of July, and this evening we arrived at our full compliment. Another huge difference this year is the amazing support we of TransEpiscopal have around us, from the volunteers of Integrity (for which three of us are also official volunteers), to Deputies who are actively working with us from within committees and deputations. One deputy in particular has already been amazing: Sarah Lawton of the Diocese of California. Another is Dee Tavolaro of Rhode Island, who is, as far as we know, the first out transgender Deputy in the history of the Episcopal Church. Go Dee!

Last night, Dee, Gari Green of Wisconsin, and I co-led a trans 101 type workshop last night for the folks working toward LGBT inclusion here at Convention, and it went really well.


Meanwhile, Gari and Jim Toy have also been meeting people at the booth that Integrity is sharing with us in the Convention's exhibit hall.

So here we are, just before everything begins, and already so much has happened. I'm incredibly grateful to be here and while we don’t know what lies ahead, and we know the road may yet get very hard, I just have to say right now: what a difference three years makes.

CP

The Road to Anaheim

I should have probably said Flight to Anaheim, but Road sounded a bit more poetic. In any case, I am sitting in an Airport waiting to fly to The General Convention of the Episcopal Church in Anaheim California. To my knowledge five of our number are already there and the remaining three(myself included) will arrive today. Yes we will have eight of our members at Convention. This doesn't sound like a great host of people, but it does represent a great effort and is ground breaking.

The effort represents more than just the eight, because some of you out there contributed to help in the effort. It is ground breaking because we are all out and proud of being who we are. In the car driving to this flight I had an interesting discussion with my friend Brenda. We are all just people just like any other of God's created humanity. Whatever the reason we are who we are. As far as the Church is concerned the reasons we are the way we are are irrelevant. God made me and God made you. The differences between people is minor. That God loves us isn't minor. Wouldn't it be nice if the Episcopal Church acknowledged that?

God's Peace,
Michelle Hansen +
From an Airport

History

Every three years representatives from each Diocese of the Episcopal Church meet in Convention to make decisions for the life of the whole Episcopal Church. This is called General Convention and it is modeled on the legislative model of our National Government. There is a Senate (The House of Bishops) and a House of Representatives (The House of Deputies.) The Deputies are from both the Lay and Clergy order.

I have never been a Deputy to Convention, but I have attended several, the first one The Special Convention held in Indiannapolis, ID in 1969 (boy that dates me!) I was in Seminary then and I went with a delegation of Seminarians from Berkeley Divinity School at Yale supporting the efforts of Seminaries. It was a politically turbulent time, racially(Race Riots in many cities), politically(with the Viet Nam War),Sexually (the sexual revolution was in full bloom) and educationally.

The last General Convention I attended was held in Minneapolis/St.Paul in 1976. What follows is a synopsis of that Convention.

1976 Minneapolis

Issues, Discussion, Actions:
Ordination of women- Lengthy debate with alternating speakers pro and con - Passed. 114 clergy votes (58 needed for affirmative action: 60 yes; 39 no; 15 div. 113 lay votes; 64 yes; 36 no; 13 divided. Minority resolution states “stand committed to the EC, determined to live and work within it, but cannot in good conscience accept.
Proposed Book of Common Prayer - Extensive amendments debated - Vote by orders on main motion — 113 clergy (57 needed) 107 yes; 3 no; 3 div.; 111 lay (56 needed) 90 yes; 12 no; 9 div.
Human Affairs - Standing Commission on Human Affairs and Health charged with concerning itself with theological, ethical and pastoral questions inherent in such aspects of human affairs as human health, sexuality and bioethics

Historical note: Talk of schism; General Convention recommends that the dioceses and the Church in general engage in serious study and dialogue in the area of human sexuality as it pertains to various areas of life, particularly in living styles, employment, housing and education.

That Convention set the ground work for the Modern Episcopal Church. Women Clergy are now fundamental with Bishops, Priests and Deacons throughout the Church and Worship has been molded by the 1976 proposed Prayer Book(finally approved in 1979).

Once again I am headed to the General Convention to be held in Anaheim next Month as part of the delegation from TransEpiscopal. The last Convention I attended affirmed my right to be a priest as a woman. I am hoping that this convention will affirm the rights of all people to fully participate in all facets of the Church no matter the gender, gender orientation or expression, or sexual orientation. It has taken me 33 years to attend another Convention and I pray this will be as successful as the 1976 Convention. I am however more expecting more on the scale of what happened in 1969. At that time there was hardly any recognition of the presence or needs of Seminarians. All the Clergy had been to Seminary, but most left it behind as a fond remembrance, forgetting that Seminaries and seminarians needs change with time.

I am hoping at least that there will be a dawning of awareness that transgender people exist in the Church and that we are equally God's children. I am also hoping that issues of sexuality will not be swept under the rug and avoided. We will see and we will report here.

God's Peace,

The Rev. Michelle Hansen, S.T.M., M.Div.

Narrating a Transgender Presence at Episcopal General Convention

Three years ago, TransEpiscopal had one representative who could attend the Episcopal Church’s General Convention (GC). Donna Cartwright, then of the Diocese of Newark, NJ, went for about a week and testified at a committee hearing in favor of the one transgender-related resolution that had come to Convention. The resolution never made it to the floor.

Last summer, I attended the Lambeth Conference, joining Rev. Dr. Christina Beardsley along with three other transgender people on a panel called (appropriately enough, given the ongoing Anglican Communion “listening process”) “Listening to Transgender People.”

But this July, I will join several other members of TransEpiscopal in Anaheim; indeed, we are hoping that as many as eight of us will be present for part or all of the nearly two-week span. This is truly an unprecedented representation.

We come with such numbers this year to support an equally unprecedented number of transgender-related resolutions: four of them call on the Church to support transgender people both in its own life and in the civic arena. As we draw nearer to Convention, we will report more details on those resolutions, and on TransEpiscopal’s presence at GC.

In the meantime, from where I sit, two plus weeks from Convention’s start, I wonder how our presence will be received, not simply in person but in communications about the Convention. I wonder because it is not clear to me how, or even whether, those who write about the Episcopal Church – whether official Episcopal communicators, bloggers, or secular media representatives – will incorporate transgender people and concerns into well-entrenched narratives about the debates of the Episcopal Church.

Narrative is a particularly interesting lens through which to look at the Convention this year because GC is actively inculcating the Harvard Kennedy School of Government’s Public Narrative Project during its two weeks. What I wonder is how much this narrative project will interface with—perhaps offer insight into, complicate, or disrupt -- the already existing narratives about human sexuality in general and homosexuality in particular that have roiled the Anglican Communion for years now.

Meanwhile, the Episcopal Church itself is preparing for GC with a series of narratives about what is coming up. If your congregation included an insert about the Convention in its bulletin this Sunday, you may have noticed that nothing to do with sexuality was listed anywhere among the Convention’s work (at least, the one in our bulletin only briefly mentioned resolutions that seek to get "Beyond B033" and never actually used the word “sexuality”). As the Convention nears, my guess is that Episcopal communicators around the country will be under pressure to emphasize anything but Anglican Communion conflict over the Episcopal Church’s increasingly progressive consensus on human sexuality in general and homosexuality in particular.

On the other hand, I imagine the secular press may be keen to report exactly that aspect of the General Convention, and not always in the most thoughtful, nuanced manner. Which is, of course, why ecclesial communicators will be working hard to open the media’s eyes to the many other stories of Convention.

I admit that as an academic as well as a priest, I’m wary both of sound bites and of the avoidance of stories, especially of people, that need to be acknowledged. Narratives can have a way of overly smoothing rough edges. The truth is often complicated – sometimes more than words, or indeed narratives, can convey – but it’s worth trying to articulate, even if it takes time. And as a transgender man, I’m also highly aware of how sensationalistic and objectifying media (including new media) stories on trans-related topics can be (though I do think there have been major improvements over the last few years).

And so, as I look out over this emerging Episcopal intentionality about narrative, and as I take in the familiar, frustrating dynamic of stories about — and in avoidance of — the sexuality debates, I wonder how to productively incorporate transgender people into the mix. Will our work be completely overshadowed by the secular-ecclesial media cycle of endless, narrow focus on sexuality debates, on the one hand, and determined aversion to anything sexuality-related, on the other? Will we be patched into that narrative cycle, sensationalistically reported as the latest emblems of church schism? Will people truly listen to some of the amazing stories of faith and resilience, as well as of heartbreak, that we have been sharing with one another on our communal listserve since 2004? Will people listen as we seek to clarify how, as trans people, we are distinct from and yet also connected to what is at stake in the current sexuality debates?

We cannot simply add transgender to the same old stories. We must tell our stories anew.

But, you know, I look forward to the telling, because as wary as I can be of narrative, I also love it. I am, after all, a person “of the book” in more ways than one. And so I look forward to the give and take of listening and telling. I pray that the anxiety that has long accompanied our Anglican/Episcopal conflicts might not overwhelm us, trans or cisgender, that we might truly find ways to open our hearts to one another, and that the Spirit —whom the Gospel of John pointedly calls the Spirit of Truth — might blow us where it will, telling (and, as the hymn puts it, "singing") a new Church into being, and inspiring people beyond its borders.

Cameron Partridge

A New Venture

This year TransEpiscopal is entering into some new areas. We have instituted not only this blog but we have acquired a new web site which is now under development. It will be located at http://www.transepiscopal.com . We registered a Domain name "TransEpiscopal.com" and we will be sending a team of members to the General Convention of the Episcopal Church in Anaheim, California. All these things will/have cost money. To that end we are asking for donations through this website and by mail. There is now the ability to donate to us directly through PayPal (see the widget on the site.) If you wish to donate but don't want to use PayPal then you can email a request to receive an address to send a check "mailto:transepiscopal@gmail.com". No donation is too big or too small and all donations will be used to pay TransEpiscopal expenses only. Currently the Rev. Cameron Partridge and the Rev. Michelle Hansen are serving as co-treasurers.

We will be reporting on the progress of all projects here on this blog. Our hope is to encourage legislation at General Convention that will recognize the equal rights of all Trans individuals in all aspects of the Episcopal Church.

Thank you for your support and your prayers.

The Rev. Michelle Hansen

Transgender Faith Leaders Support Inclusive Federal Hate Crimes Act (HR 1913)

Earlier this week several TransEpiscopal members signed the following letter, written by Rev. Malcolm Himshoot, which was released this week during the National Transgender Lobby Day in Washington, D.C. You can also find it online here.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Dear Decision-maker,

We the under-signed support an inclusive federal hate crimes bill (HR 1913) because we think it is good for the community to take seriously crimes such as the brutal murder of Angie Zapata in Colorado this past year. Reflecting upon the past weeks of Allen Andrade's court trial, we are grateful for responsible investigators, prosecutors, and a jury who invalidated a harmful and re-victimizing "trans-panic" defense. No one is responsible for their own beating, bashing or killing. When some people are especially targeted for being different or for being queer, it makes sense that the community will act to especially protect them.

We wish that such a law could have protected Angie before her death. But in reality a great number of supports in a community are needed to reduce our vulnerability – namely, social and economic justice for all.

The `guilty' verdict reached in a court of law dignified, but could never repair, the value of Angie's life and the gravity of her loss. Yet, our experience in ministries that work toward nonviolent alternatives, reintegration and rehabilitation of offenders does not allow us to believe we can achieve safety by disposing of people behind bars. They are still with us. They are still part of us. We will be praying for the gay men and transgender inmates who face violence while they serve their time, who may even be serving their time in the same facilities as Allen Andrade. We will be praying for Allen as well, now cut off from the prospect of wholeness and reintegration with his community.

We who lead faith traditions hold to a story of justice that does not end with retribution, but rather with restoration. In the struggle against violence and deprivation, we applaud not only the work of the National Center for Transgender Equality to raise specific issues like hate crimes law, but also the work of Senator Webb (S.714) in raising a commission to address a general issue: criminal justice reform. It is high time.

We support legislation today that honors human dignity and possibility. Diversity is a fact of God's creation -- except for poverty, which is our own creation. Where there is personal or systemic hate and disregard, we urge lawmakers to respond. Not only with indignation but with moral imagination.

Sincerely,

•The Rev. Malcolm Himschoot (Commerce City, CO)
United Church of Christ

•Nicole Garcia (Louisville, CO)
Transgender Representative, Lutherans Concerned/North America

•Mr. Barb Greve (Hamden, CT)
Co-Founder, Transgender Religious Professional Unitarian Universalists Together

•Rabbi Levi Alter (Malibu, CA)
President, Female-To-Male International (Human Rights Gender Non-Discrimination Organization)

•The Rev. Dr. Cameron Partridge (Allston, MA)
Priest, St. Luke's and St. Margaret's Episcopal Church, Co-Chair Interfaith Coalition for Transgender Equality, TransEpiscopal

•The Rev. Dr. Julie Nemecek (Spring Arbor, MI),
Co-Director of Michigan Equality

•Chris Paige (Philadelphia, PA)
Founder, TransFaith Online

•Seth Donovan (Denver, CO)
Evangelical Lutheran Church of America Full Inclusion Committee

•The Rev. Sean Parker Dennison (Salt Lake City, UT)
South Valley Unitarian Universalist Society

•Barbara Satin (Minneapolis/ St. Paul, MN)
Executive Council, United Church of Christ and Institute of Welcoming Resources and Faithworks Associate of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force

•Noach Dzmura (Berkeley, CA)
Jewish Mosaic: The National Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity

•Senior Minister Carmarion D. Anderson (Dallas, TX)
Living Faith Covenant Church

•Minister Monica Joy Cross (Berkeley, CA)
Pacific School of Religion

•Angel Celeste Collie (Chapel Hill, NC)
Metropolitan Community Church

•Rabbi Elliot Kukla (San Francisco, CA)
•The Rev. Megan Rohrer (San Francisco, CA)
Director, The Welcome Ministry

•Richard Juang (Cambridge, MA)
Interfaith Coalition for Transgender Equality

•Rebecca Anne Allison, MD (Phoenix, AZ)
President-Elect, Gay and Lesbian Medical Association, United Church of Christ

•The Rev. Pat Conover (Silver Spring, MD)
Minister, United Church of Christ
Steward, Seekers Church

•The Rev. Allyson Robinson (Gaithersburg, MD)
Associate Director of Diversity, Human Rights Campaign, Alliance of Baptists

•Jakob Hero (Berkeley, CA)
Pacific School of Religion

•Kate Bowman (Denver, CO)
Board Chair, The Gender Identity Center of Colorado

•The Rev. Vicky Kolakowski (Berkeley, CA)
New Spirit Community Church

•The Rev. Paul Langston-Daley (Glendale, AZ)
Minister, West Valley Unitarian Universalist Church

•The Rev. Michelle Hansen, S.T.M., M.Div. (Waterbury CT)
Episcopal Priest (Retired), TransEpiscopal, Treasurer and Moderator of the Twenty Club

•Aidan Dunn (San Francisco, CA)
Stanford University

•Joanne Herman (Boston, MA)
Old South Church, United Church of Christ

•The Rev. G Green (Kenosha, WI)
St. Andrew's Episcopal Church

•Ari Lev Fornari (Boston, MA)
Rabbinical Student

•Diane DeLap (Wilmington, MA)
Co-Spokesperson, Affirmation: United Methodists for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Concerns

•The Rev. Sarah J. Flynn (Burlington, VT)
All Souls Ministry, American Catholic Church of New England

•The Rev. Dr. Erin K. Swenson (Atlanta, GA)
Presbytery of Greater Atlanta, Presbyterian Church, USA

•The Rev. Sky Anderson (San Jose, CA)
Minister of Community Life, M.C.C. (Metropolitan Community Church)

•The Rt. Rev. Dr. Lynn Elizabeth Walker (Brooklyn, NY)
Orthodox Catholic Church of America

•Kelli Anne Busey (Dallas, TX)
Metropolitan Community Church

•Dr. Virginia Ramey Mollenkott (Paterson, NJ)
Professor Emeritus at William Paterson University and founding memer of the Evangelical and Ecumenical Women's Caucus

•Mycroft Masada Holmes (Boston, MA)
Co-Chair, Interfaith Coalition for Transgender Equality
Chair, Keshet Transgender Working Group (TWiG)

•The Rev. Rik Fire (Warminster, PA)
Ecumenicon Fellowship

•The Rev. Laurie J. Auffant (Lowell, MA)
Unitarian Universalist Association

•Reuben Zellman (San Francisco, CA)

•Stephanie C. Battaglino (Cliffside Park, NJ)
Commissioner, The Oasis - the LGBTi Ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark, NJ

•Donna M. Cartwright (Baltimore, MD)
TransEpiscopal

•Kate Bornstein (New York City, NY)
Buddhist

•Woody Camacho (San José, CA)
The Metropolitan Community Church of San José

•The Rev. Jay Wilson (San Fransisco, CA)
The Welcome Ministry & Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries

•Jeremiah Gold-Hopton (Atlanta, GA)
Worship Ministry, Northwest (Atlanta) UU Congregation

•Randall E. Klein (Walnut Creek, CA)
Founder, Light in the Closet Ministry, Hillside Covenant Church

•The Rev. Jake Kopmeier (St. Petersburg, FL)
King of Peace MCC

•Jake Nash (Cleveland, OH)
Minister of Worship, Emmanuel Fellowship Church
Executive Director, TranFamily of Cleveland

•Lauryn Farris (San Antonio, TX)
Lay Leader, United Church of Christ
President, San Antonio Gender Association

•Joni Christian (Kent, OH)
Visionary Kent UCC

•Elder Andrea' V. Boisseau AIS (Waltham, MA)
First Presbyterian Church Of Waltham

•Elder Sara Herwig (Waltham, MA)
First Presbyterian Church Of Waltham

•Elder Alanna Block-Butler (Waltham, MA)
First Presbyterian Church Of Waltham

•The Rev. Drew Phoenix (Baltimore, MD)
Ordained MInister, The United Methodist Church

Institutions are included for identification purposes only.