The T in LGBT

Becky Garrison, writing in the Washington Post says The Episcopal Church promotes the T in LGBT:

Commentators at the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times may decry the Episcopal Church as a place offering pet funerals but nothing for the faithful or failing to provide anything one cannot get from purely secular liberalism. These traditionalists appear to bemoan the loss of a 1950s-era church that promoted an Eisenhower-era civil religion replete with the cross draped in the American flag.

While they wax nostalgia over a past that largely existed only in TV Land, the Episcopal Church made history at its 77th triennial General Convention by passing two gender nondiscrimination resolutions. Led by a grassroots coalition including, TransEpiscopal, IntegrityUSA, the Consultation, and the Chicago Consultation, the General Convention granted transgender people protection against discrimination in the ordination process and in lay leadership in the Episcopal Church. Such protections remain unavailable in the vast majority of religious and secular institutions as well as in most states and municipalities (only 16 states have transgender nondiscrimination laws on their books.

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For now, this appears a question that those commenting about the changes transpiring in the church don’t appear willing to address. After a slight flurry of articles about these trans friendly resolutions in outlets such as the Chicago Tribune and Anglican newspaper Church Times , once a trial rite for same-sex blessings passed, the media coverage shifted to focus solely on this particular LGBT related resolution.

Commentators such as John Meacham focus rightly on the significance of the church’s changing attitudes on marriage equality noting that “Given that sexual orientation is innate and that we are all, in theological terms, children of God, to deny access to some sacraments based on sexuality is as wrong as denying access to some sacraments based on race or gender.” However, his reflections fail to note the significance that the vote to include transgender clergy and lay people will have on the future of the church.

Once again, discussion about the “T” part of the LGBT equation became silenced. But the battle for transgender rights continues to move forward.

Watch “Out of the Box” – for the story and witness of transgender Episcopalians.