Keeping the "T" in "LGBT"
June 1, 2009
Bernard Schlager, PhD,
Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry, Pacific
School of Religion, Berkeley
It’s not just an afterthought. It’s not an “add-on”
to ensure political correctness. It’s not just a token of well-meaning
inclusion. The “it” is that fourth letter in the ubiquitous acronym
“LGBT.” The “T” refers of course to a wide range of gender identities,
expressions, and sensibilities, which “transgender” only barely succeeds
in describing. During this Pride Month, CLGS is proud of the efforts
we’ve made to keep that “T” firmly in the orbit of the Center’s
education, training, and advocacy work, even as we realize how much more
work remains to be done.
In late April hundreds of Transgender people and
their allies from across the United States gathered in our nation’s
capital to honor CLGS for making a substantive contribution in advancing
the equality of Transgender people as the Center received a Moving
Together Award from The National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE).
Since 2007 CLGS and NCTE have co-sponsored an
annual Transgender Religious Summit which brings together Transgender
religious leaders and their allies from across the U.S. and Canada to
form alliances and create strategies to educate and assist religious
denominations and individual congregations working to become genuinely
inclusive communities for Transgender people and their families.
This year’s summit was an especially important
event since it dovetailed with the annual NCTE Lobby Day when
Transgender people, their families, friends and allies visited members
of Congress and urged them to support The Local Law Enforcement Hate
Crimes Prevention Act (H. R. 1913) which passed the U.S. House of
Representatives by a 249 to 175 vote on April 29th, the day after our
Summit ended.
We kicked off this year’s Summit by joining in
Sunday worship and an afternoon meal with members of All Souls Unitarian
Church in Washington, DC, a Unitarian Universalist congregation with a
prophetic tradition of justice-making that stretches back to its
founding in 1821. The afternoon was devoted to four workshops which
brought together individuals from Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, and other
religious traditions:
- Including the “T” in Congregational Welcoming
Programs
- Tending Our Ministries: A Conversation for
Trans Spiritual Leaders
- The New Transgender Curriculum from The
Institute of Welcoming Resources
- Faith and Politics: From the Perspective of
Trans Religious Organizing in the State of Michigan
A special highlight of the Summit was a keynote
address by Trans author and activist Kate Bornstein who spoke on “The
Tao of Mitzvah, Sabbath, and Boddhisatva” to a crowd that included Trans
Summit participants, members of All Souls, and the general public.
Speaking from her own perspective as a secular Jew, Kate challenged
those present to focus their efforts on performing good deeds as a daily
spiritual practice and to remember the value of holding sacred the
observance of Sabbath – however we choose to interpret that – in our own
lives.
We are thrilled that attendees at our Summit took
part, as progressive people of faith, in lobbying their members of
Congress. The second day of the Summit was devoted to workshops on
honing effective speaking points for individuals preparing for the next
day’s visits to congressional representatives. NCTE estimates that
almost 250 individuals from the CLGS/NCTE Religious Summit and Lobby
Days Conference visited members of The House of Representatives and the
U.S. Senate. The purpose of these visits was not only to urge members to
support the passage of The Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention
Act (H. R. 1913) but also to work for the passage of an Employment
Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) that will protect workers based on sexual
orientation and gender identity.
Since its founding in 2000 CLGS has been committed
to providing resources and programming for Transgender people of faith
and their allies. In addition to our annual Transgender Religious
Summit, we are currently seeking funds to support a CLGS Transgender
Religious Leaders Roundtable. This Roundtable would bring together a
dozen or more Transgender religious leaders (clergy and lay) of various
faiths to work together on creating an agenda for action and advocacy
that will assist Transgender people of faith and their allies in their
efforts to be heard in national and regional conversations and debates
that relate to Trans people in communities of faith, denominational
bodies, and in society at large. We at CLGS believe that such a
Roundtable will provide a valuable voice of progressive faith at a time
when Transgender people and their families are – at long last – gaining
the attention of religious leaders, faith communities, and lawmakers in
this country and abroad.
We cannot do this work alone; while we are so
grateful for our partnership with NCTE, we also need financial support,
especially now, in these difficult economic times. If you are a current
supporter of the Center, we say “thank you!” and please continue to
support us. If you are not yet a financial supporter of CLGS I invite
you to make your first contribution to our work.
Simply put, if we are to continue our work with
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender people of faith and our allies –
work which we have undertaken since our founding in 2000 – we need your
help now more than ever before. As we all know, the current state of the
economy has squeezed many organizations and individuals. For the
non-profit sector, in particular, many funding sources have diminished
considerably and some have dried up all together.
Like other non-profit organizations, CLGS has
experienced a very serious decline in income from the many foundations
that have long supported us so generously. If we are to continue and
expand the work of our Racial/Ethnic Roundtables, our Bay Area Coalition
of Welcoming Congregations, our Archives Project, our Transgender
projects, and the many, many other programs that we sponsor we need to
see a significant increase in our donor support.
Won’t you please continue to partner with us as we
work to build a world of welcome and inclusion for all LGBTQ people and
their families?
Click here to make a secure, online donation!
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