Transgender motion up for debate at the 77th General Convention

The Committee on National and International Concerns has recommended the 77th General Convention adopt a resolution urging the church to lobby the government to support immigration privileges for same-gender spouses and will review a proposal to open the ordination process to transsexuals.

On 4 July 2012, the committee recommended adoption of the resolution brought by lay deputy Sara Lawton of California which urges: "enactment of legislation to permit same-gender legal domestic partners and spouses of United States citizens and lawful permanent residents to seek lawful permanent resident status in the same manner as different-gender spouses of citizens and lawful permanent residents.

The resolution goes on to ask “dioceses and congregations to pray for, support, and advocate for the immigrants, refugees, and strangers in their communities, including lesbian and gay families facing unwanted moves, deportation or being split apart due to unequal treatment of same-gender couples under federal immigration law.”

Ms. Lawton is also the sponsor of a second resolution that calls upon the church to welcome transvestites and transgendered persons into the ordination process.

Resolution D02, which will be reviewed by the Commission on Ministry on 5 July 2012, asks Convention to amend TitleIII.1.2 by adding the phrase “gender identity and expression” to the non-discrimination canon.

If adopted, the new canon would read: “No person shall be denied access to the discernment process for any ministry, lay or ordained, in this Church because of race, color, ethnic origin, national origin, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, disabilities or age, except as otherwise provided by these Canons. No right to licensing, ordination, or election is hereby established.”

For a resolution to be adopted, it must be passed by both Houses of the General Convention, Bishops and Deputies.

On 12 March 2012 the Union-Democrat reported that the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin ordained its first transgender deacon, the Rev. Carolyn Woodall.

An attorney with the Tuolumne County Public Defender’s Office, Ms. Woodall serves at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Jamestown, Calif.  The former Clifford Lawson Woodall underwent a sex change operation in 2005. While Woodall started training for the deaconate in 1993, she returned to full time study in 2008 after the Diocese of San Joaquin left the Episcopal Church and a new Episcopal diocese was organized.  "I felt it was safe to come home to my church,” she said.