What a Difference Three Years Makes

TransEpiscopal has come a long way in the last three years. Back in 2006, I was the only member of the then year-old organization of transgender Episcopalians (and their friends, family and allies) at General Convention in Columbus, OH. While doubling as a volunteer for the Oasis ministry of the Diocese of Newark, I attempted to track and advocate for a resolution to amend the national church's canons to include gender identity/expression in the nondiscrimination provisions of Canon III. I quickly learned that this job -- testifying in committee hearings, monitoring both the House of Deputies and House Bishops, and keeping in touch with our largely Internet-based group, as well as my fellow Oasis commissioners -- was far too big for a single person.

Although my testimony on our canons-amendment resolution (proposed by the Diocese of California) appeared to be well-received, and I got friendly "vibes" from several deputies on the committee, it was eventually reported to the House of Bishops with a recommendation that it be referred to commissions and boards during the next triennium. Ultimately, it was tabled.

Another trans-related resolution, proposed by the Diocese of New York, would have put the church on record as supporting secular legislation protecting transgender and other gender-variant people from discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations at the local, state and federal levels. Unfortunately, through some still-unexplained glitch, it was never placed on the calendar of convention legislation. When I arrived in Columbus on the third day of convention, it was effectively too late to do anything about that.

This year, we're doing so much better in so many ways that I am gratified almost (but not quite) beyond words. Instead of one person, we have a team of eight, including a trans-identified deputy. As of today (Sunday July 12) two trans-related resolutions have been reported out of committee and sent to the House of Deputies. One 0f them supports secular civil rights legislation covering trans as well as gay, lesbian and bisexual people; the other would amend the canons to add gender identity/expression to the church's nondiscrimination rules.

Another resolution (C048), supporting specifically trans-inclusive federal employment non-discrimination legislation, is still in committee, but hopefully will move forward soon. And a new resolution (D090) to encourage the church to revise its forms so that they are not limited to the either/or gender binary, has been introduced.

We've also done much to educate bishops, deputies and visitors about transgender people and issues. Many of us have testified in committee, and received favorable responses. We held a 45-minute "speakers corner" panel under the auspices of the Consultation in the exhibit hall that drew a couple of dozen people for a lively discussion. We have distributed many copies of our brochure at the Integrity booth.

The convention itself is quite overwhelming. Thousands of people fill a huge convention center and nearby hotels. Committees hear testimony and deliberate on resolutions with a skill and sophistication that would do many secular legislatures credit. Bonnie Anderson, President of the House of Deputies, moves a large volume of resolutions and other business through a body with more than 800 members. The House of Bishops, while smaller and a bit less formal, is equally impressive.

This morning's eucharist was spectacular and moving, with several thousand people and scores of bishops. The liturgy was magnificent and the pageantry eye-popping. For me, yesterday evening's first-ever Trans-Episcopal eucharist, with 19 TransEpiscopal members, friends and allies gathered in a small meeting room in one of the hotels. Instead of a conventional sermon, each person in the room bore personal witness to the historic nature of our presence and the sacredness of our journey. Many eyes were tear-filled before the end of the service.

Donna Cartwright, Diocese of Maryland

Outstanding!

I am taking a moment to rest and reflect. It is Sunday Morning and there are no sessions until later today. There is a large service for the UTO ingathering, but I have decided not to go. Services with thousands of people are tough and I need the break. I want to reflect on some significant moments to this point, for me and for the TransEpiscopal team.

Certainly worship has been extremely significant. The Integrity Service was mostly wonderful and for me it was extremely important that for the very first time to my knowledge out Trans Clergy participated in the final blessing at that service. For me this was big! I have been to previous Conventions and I have celebrated and participated in services at General Conventions, but I was not out to the world or even to myself. This year we had three trans priests and a deacon participating in the final blessing.

For the very first time, ever, TransEpiscopal held a Eucharist at General Convention. Last night 19 Trans people, allies and friends gathered together in a small room at the Mariott Courtyard and celebrated the Lord's Supper together. We had chairs in a circular pattern and a collapsible table. Gari went out and bought wine and a waiter at the Mariott gave us a loaf of bread. We borrowed a plate and a wine glass from the bar and we came together in the presence of the Lord and were filled with the Holy Spirit. We lifted up transitioning to the Lord in our words, in our hearts, and in our lives. I was moved especially by the presence of the friends and allies who joined us and became part of us. We are not alone!


Ok, I am crying tears of joy and thankfulness and taking a deep breath. I'm better. There is a sadness that one of our number has to leave and go back to her world. Everyone has to earn a living. The Rev. Gari Green has been a great presence on our team and she will be greatly missed. God go with you Gari, have a safe flight.

I have had many personal joys here and the Convention isn't half over yet. I have met and touched base with some old friends and I have met some new ones. I am sure Cameron will post soon on legislation so I will end here for now.

God's Peace, Michelle Hansen+

Long, Long Day

It has been a long day, it has been tiring and wonderful at the same time. The morning started with the World Mission Committee meeting in subcommittees. They pushed trough a bill on Transgender rights to the House of Deputies. It was an amazing thing to watch. At least one of the committee members was extremely emotionally moved in the hallway afterward. Tomorrow a different committee will deal with two more bills recommending legislation at the federal level to protect the rights of transgender people. It looks good for this one also.

The worst possible scenario would be to have the bills tables or shuffled until there was no time left. The progress is remarkable.

The TransEpiscopal team also told our story at a forum in the exhibit Hall. Five of us spoke about our stories, about past and present and possible futures. We had forty-five minutes, but took an hour. There was a small group of people listening, but they all stayed to the end. Part of what held attendance down was that the house of Deputies and House of Bishops were meeting at the same time.

The day climaxed with the Integrity Eucharist. There must have been at least a thousand people in attendance. Bishop Gene Robinson Celebrated and a great sermon was given by Bishop Barbara Harris of Massachusetts.

At the end we were all just beat! I'm headed to bed. Tomorrow is another day.

God's Peace,
Michelle Hansen+

A Testimony

There are several new posts to our blog all made today from General Convention. Please be sure to scroll down to read them all. The following is the testimony offered by the Rev. Vicki Gray, Deacon to the World Missions Committee this
Wednesday.

For me being Transgendered and in ministry is a baptismal thing.

We are all by reason of our baptisms ministers. And as baptized Christians no aspect or order of ministry should be closed to us by reason of who we are.

By Baptism we die to old untruths and are born again to a new truth in Christ. So it is, too, with the Transgender Transition which I found a very similar spiritual process. Indeed, throughout that process, I was haunted by that old baptismal hymn: "Take me, take me as I am. Summon out who I will be." Tonight that's all I ask. Take me as I am; as an individual.

In this regard, I recall with thanksgiving the treatment as an individual I received in the ordination process from Bishop Bill Swing, who when confronted by hostile objections to is ordination of gays and lesbians and others, said " We don't ordain groups of people. We ordain individuals."

Again what I ask is that I be treated as an individual. In return I offer the integrity of my truth.

Round Two

It’s nine a.m. in Anaheim— do you know where your TransEpiscopal representatives are? Most are at Denny’s, enjoying a well-earned breakfast after testifying before the committee on National and International Concerns in favor of two resolutions on transgender civil rights. This was our second round of testimony in twelve hours, and we’re tired! But, as with last night, our testimony appears to have been well received.

This time we had even more people testify—seven—and once again no one testified against the resolutions.

One difference between last night’s experience and this morning’s is that people on this committee appeared to be somewhat more familiar with transgender issues. More than one committee member knew of specific instances of anti-trans hate crimes; a Deputy from Colorado was aware of the Angie Zappata murder, for instance. I distributed the same list of terms that we shared with the World Mission committee last night, however, and it seemed to be helpful.

This morning, in addition to all those who testified last night, Donna Cartwright weighed in. Her long history and expertise in the history of the movement for trans equality, as well as its links to the legal gains made by previous movements, helped her respond to some technical questions asked by the committee, which is populated by several lawyers.

Michelle Hansen spoke of her experience of discrimination in a secular job. Vicki Gray spoke of people she has met on the streets in the Night Ministry that she does in San Francisco, as well as her experience at the funeral for Gwen Araujo in Newark, California. Jim Toy again spoke of how we all are impacted by what he terms “the rules of gender,” rigid gender norms that get imposed on us from the moment we make our way into this world. Tom Fehr spoke again of his friend who is a transwoman, and how she was subject to discrimination in her secular job. Dee Tavolaro shared stories of enduring hate-based violence. Gari Green shared how she has sought to avoid discrimination in her secular job by continuing to work as male; although Wisconsin was the first to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in 1982, it still does not have similar laws for transgender people.

Nor yet does Massachusetts. I told the story of how the International Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) started because of the murder of Rita Hester in 1998 around the corner from my congregation, St. Luke’s and St. Margaret’s (aka “SLAM”), and how last year, for the first time, the planning committee for the TDOR asked SLAM to host it. I conveyed how powerful it was to me to help host this event, and to see the church packed with people who have been so alienated by communities of faith over the years.

I went on to say that right now in Massachusetts, a bill that would add “gender identity and expression” to the state’s non-discrimination laws; on July 14th there will be a hearing at the Massachusetts State House on this bill. And I shared that when I spoke at a rally in favor of this proposed legislation and said that the Diocese of Massachusetts had voted at its diocesan convention to support it, people broke out into applause. I expressed how this applause had taken me by surprise—I certainly imagined that it would be meaningful for people in the trans community to know of this support, but I didn’t anticipate the sense of emotional impact. And so what has really come home for me is what an impact we can have, not only potentially on public debate and in legislative deliberation, but on the hearts of trans people who come to know that we truly care and are willing to stand up and make our caring count.

After the hearing, we were approached by several committee members and other visitors who expressed how much they appreciated our testimony. One was Louie Crew, who has done so much for social justice concerns in the Episcopal Church over the years, not least by founding Integrity in 1974. Another was Marc Andrus, the bishop of the diocese of California, who interviewed me for his video blog.

Now the committee needs to deliberate on these resolutions, along with the numerous others under their care. We hope and expect that they will send them to the House of Deputies so that they have a chance for debate and passage there. In the meantime, we are listening in on these open deliberations, ready to be of help if questions should arise along the way.

CP

A Difficult Blessing

Brothers and Sisters,

I had the opportunity to lend my voice in testimony at two recent legislative committee hearings at the General Convention in Anaheim.

On the evening of 7/8 I stood before the World Mission Committee and voiced my thoughts on the addition of standard non discrimination language in the ordination canons. I will try to reproduce what I said.

Good evening. I am a priest of the Diocese of Milwaukee ordained for 23 years. I am also a transwoman and began dealing with my issues of gender roughly 20 years ago. I speak in favor of resolution C0001.

I could say the addition of these words are a matter of justice, which they are. I could say these words are standard "boiler plate" non discrimnation language used frequently by enlightened corporate entities across this country. I could even legitimately say the addition of these words to the Canons are "the Gospel". But I am not going to say any of these things, except in passing. I would rather place a more personal face on this issue.

As I worked through the challenging gift of being differently gendered and accepting myself as such, I grew in a personal sense of wholeness. As I grew in that personal sense of wholeness, I became more confirmed in my call to priesthood. What's more, my excercise of that call grew in both depth and fullness. I give thanks for the difficult challenge of coming to a place of peace with my differently gendered self and the strengthening of my sense of priestly vocation that resulted from the work I did.

I would urge the addoption of this language for all the reasons noted above so that the people who follow me into the ordained ministry of this Church do not have any undue barriers in their journey to wholeness of person and the excercise of their ministries in this part of Christ's Body.

The Rev G Green

One Down, One to Go

What a day! This evening six of us testified before the Committee on World Mission in favor of the three resolutions that would add "gender identity and expression" to the ministry nondiscrimination canon of the Episcopal Church. Five of us spoke in favor of Resolution C001, which originated from Newark, and I spoke in favor of C061, which came from my home diocese of Massachusetts.

The hearing began at 7:45 p.m., and included testimony on another resolution on the support for foreign missionaries, a subject about which the Committee was more accustomed to hearing.

Meanwhile, yesterday I learned that the committee needed a glossary of basic terminology related to trans issues. So late last night I put one together-- a very basic trans 101 type document, a half page long, with terms like "biological sex", "gender identity", "gender expression" and the difference between these concepts and "sexual orientation." That distinction, it seems, was the one that people in this group most needed to think about. The committee got the document early in the day and had it before them during our testimony.

I couldn't help but feel for them; this group was so not accustomed to thinking about such matters-- not even those related to sexual orientation, and they are dealing with a deluge of such resolutions. Our three resolutions seem tiny compared to the sixteen or so that seek to repeal or move beyond the infamous "B033" which was passed at the last minute of the 2006 General Convention. That resolution called on the Episcopal Church to refrain from consecrating any bishops "whose manner of life presents a challenge to the wider church." In other words, don't lift up any more Gene Robinsons, so as not to offend others in the Anglican Communion. But, as far as I can tell, the feeling of the Convention this year-- particularly among the lay and clerical members of the House of Deputies (akin to the U.S. House of Representatives) is to move forward in the basically progressive direction the Episcopal Church is headed, and move beyond the language of B033. This committee, World Missions, appears to have been given the B033 related resolutions, as well as ours, in order to place these matters in the context of the Anglican Communion. There are so many resolutions on this topic, that they are holding a huge hearing on them tomorrow night.

So that's part of the context in which our hearing this evening took place. We met prior to the hearing and then walked over as a group. We arrived early to sign up and then waited. Slowly, more people filled the room, though it was not completely full. The committee sat in a U shape, with a podium at its head for testifying. All of us who testified will hopefully be sharing that testimony here (and on individual blogs, for those who have them) in the days to come, but in the meantime, I will try to convey the gist of their remarks. Michelle Hansen, who blogged the piece before this one, spoke first about her thirty-eight years as an Episcopal priest, who transitioned several years ago from male to female. Dee Tavolaro (whose testimony is here) then spoke about the resolution, putting it in the context of the five points of mission, about which the Deputies had reflected in their afternoon legislative session. Vicki Gray, a deacon and transwoman from the diocese of California, spoke about the Baptismal Covenant and how all are empowered by their baptism into ministries of all sorts. After Vicki, Gari Green, a priest from the diocese of Milwaukee, spoke about her years of ministry and how being a transwoman has helped her in to be a better priest. Then Tom Fehr, an Integrity volunteer, spoke about a friend of his who is a transwoman, and how she should be able to be known and respected for the fruits of her work and ministry, regardless of her trans identity and history. All six of these speakers testified in favor of C001. Jim Toy of the Diocese of Michigan, a strong ally and member of TransEpiscopal, spoke of how rigid gender norms restrict all of us, regardless of whether we identify as transgender Nevertheless, he continued, trans people are particularly vulnerable to discrimination and violence. After each speaker, the committee had a chance to ask any questions, but they never did. As the co-chair of the committee kept asking for questions, and as she was met with silence, I couldn't help but get the sense that the group was overwhelmed, just trying to take us in. Finally the co-chair, the Rev. Gay Jennings of the DIocese of Ohio, said she herself had a general question which any of us could choose to answer, namely whether we knew of any trans person who had had a difficult time specifically because the canon does not currently mention "gender identity and expression."

There was a pause. I then got up and shared that I knew of people who came out as transgender after their ordinations and who had been asked to leave their ministerial positions for that reason. In terms of the ordination process itself, I said that while it was difficult to show definitively how many might have been ordained but for that canon, I do know from many conversations I have had over the last several years that there are a number of trans people out there who experience a sense of call to ordained ministry but who are afraid they will not be fairly considered simply because they are trans. Rev. Jennings seemed to find the answer satisfactory. She then invited me to give my testimony for C061.

I explained that I feel fortunate to be able to work with my bishops, the Commission on Ministry and the Standing Committee of my diocese while I was in the ordination process, since I came out as a transman prior to my ordination. I also shared how helpful it has been to me to be in conversation and community with other trans Episcopalians and Anglicans, including lay and ordained people both in the United States and the Church of England. I made certain to say that, since I had the sense that some committee members may have wondered if this resolution could be construed as an instance of the American church charging ahead of the Anglican Communion again. The C of E is not the whole Communion, obviously, but it is significant to note that they have had transgender priests since at least 2000. I went on to note that in my priesthood, one of the most significant facets of being transgender is that people can know that much more clearly that whoever they are, they are welcome in this church. That when we say all, we mean all. They don't have to be transgender themselves for it to be a big deal that a transgender person could be a priest in this church. I concluded by saying that I really did hope that people would feel free to ask questions.

And then a few people did. Bishop Geralyn Wolf of Rhode Island asked me to define "gender identity and expression" again, as she had heard more than one definition over the course of the testimony. Deputy Michael Barlowe of the diocese of California invited me to share again how sexual orientation is different from gender identity and expression. There may have been one or two other questions; I can't remember at the moment.

After me, a man from the diocese of Michigan, whom I do not know, testified in favor of C046. He basically said that no one should be barred from access to the ordination process because of their gender. When asked how he thought the resolution related to B033, he said that the resolution impacts all the orders of ministry, not just lay people, deacons and priests; if called, anyone should be able to become a bishop.

No one testified against any of the resolutions.

At that, the hearing ended, and the committee began deliberating on other resolutions. We gathered for a quick debrief in preparation for tomorrow: our next hearing is tomorrow morning at 7 a.m. This early morning stuff is killing me. But it's certainly for a good cause! So in the world of trans committee hearings at General Convention, one down, one to go. Then we'll hope these resolutions get to the floor of the House of Deputies; they deserve a fair shot.

CP