• On Saturday, July 7 at 7:30 am, the National and International Concerns Committee (Committee 09) will hold a hearing on D018 "Urge Congress to End Discrimination Against Same-Sex Marriages." If you would like to speak to this issue, please attend the hearing in the Downtown Marriott, Indiana E. 

• Resolution D002, "Affirming Access to Discernment Process for Ministry,"  is now pending in the House of Bishops.

• It seems likely that the House of Bishops will take up D002 and D019 on transgender equality in its session that begins at 11:15 am on Saturday. 

Find all resolutions and their status here.

Questions? Email us or text/call Rebecca Wilson at 330-524-2067.

• Resolution D002, "Affirming Access to Discernment Process for Ministry," would prohibit discrimination on the grounds of "gender identity and expression" in the ordination process. Previous General Conventions have passed similar resolutions prohibiting discrimination on other grounds, such as gender and sexual orientation. This resolution continues that work. We also support Resolution D019 that would confer similar protections on lay people in the church.

• During our long journey toward the full inclusion of lesbian and gay Christians in the life of the church, Episcopalians have slowly come to accept that God made us in more varieties than typical "masculine" men and "feminine" women who are to be paired only in "opposite" gender couples, and have begun to respond to this insight by dealing more justly with previously marginalized and stigmatized people.

• We believe the church must affirm the human dignity of a deeply stigmatized population. In a nationwide 2011 survey of transgender people, 78 percent reported being bullied or harassed as children; 41 percent said they had attempted suicide; 35 percent had been physically assaulted and 12 percent had been sexually assaulted. Forty-seven percent of respondents had suffered employment discrimination; 19 percent had suffered housing discrimination and a similar number had been denied health care due to their gender identity. The church must not be another institution that turns a blind eye to the violence and rejection suffered by transgender people. Our clergy leaders must represent the breadth of our church and serve as agents of welcome to all of God's people.   

• Transgender equality is not a new issue for the Episcopal Church. The 2009 General Convention passed resolutions putting the church on record in support of transgender equality at the federal, state and municipal levels and called upon the church to provide for inclusive self-identification in its data forms and to hire its lay employees without regard to gender identity or expression.

Want to learn more and find definitions for words often used to discuss transgender issues? Read "Transgender People and the Church's Transformative Mission," an essay by the Rev. Dr. Cameron Partridge, Episcopal Chaplain at Boston University and a lecturer at Harvard University.  

Transgender Christians: An Introduction

July 7, 9-10 pm, JW Marriott Room 309/10  

Voices of Witness:  Out of the Box

General Convention is being asked to end discrimination against transgender people in the church's canons. Yet it can be daunting even to find the right words to ask questions about transgender issues, especially for those who have never had the opportunity to know transgender Christians and hear their stories of faith and transformation.

Join us for a screening of the 27-minute film Voices of Witness:  Out of the Box and a chance to talk with some of the people profiled in the film, ask honest questions about gender identity, and learn more about the non-discrimination legislation that General Convention will consider.

Anglicans, Scripture and Sexuality:  An African Consultation

July 7, 1-2 pm, JW Marriott Room 309/10  

In 2011, the Chicago Consultation and the Ujamaa Centre of the University of KwaZulu-Natal convened a gathering in South Africa to strengthen mission and advocacy connections among Anglicans who are interested in the theology of human sexuality and justice. We did so because we believe that deeper connections with each other will make it easier for us to work together in mission and to communicate productively when challenging Communion-wide issues arise. Join us for a lunch conversation with four people who participated in the consultation:  

• Dr. Masiiwa Ragies Gunda, formerly of the University of Zimbabwe and currently the Alexander von Humboldt Postdoc Research Fellow at Bamberg University in Germany
• The Rev. Mote Magomba, a priest of the Anglican Church of Tanzania and director of the Amani Christian Training Centre in Iringa 
• Dr. Dora Mbuwayesango, professor of Old Testament literature and languages and dean of students at Hood Theological Seminary
• Dr. Jenny Te Paa, dean of Te Rau Kahikatea at St John's Theological College in Auckland, New Zealand.