BOSTON — Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) President, the Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt, is joining nine heads of diverse religious traditions in issuing a landmark statement proclaiming that transgender, intersex, and nonbinary people are worthy of love, support, and protection.
The statement is also signed by The Rev. Elder Cecilia Eggleston, Moderator of Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches (MCC); Presiding Prelate Yvette A. Flunder of The Fellowship of Affirming Ministries (TFAM); Rabbi Rick Jacobs, President of Union for Reform Judaism; The Rev. Jihyun Oh, Stated Clerk and Executive Director of Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.); The Rev. Teresa “Terri” Hord Owens, General Minister and President of Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the United States and Canada; Presiding Bishop Sean W. Rowe of The Episcopal Church; The Rev. Dr. Karen Georgia Thompson, General Minister and President/CEO of the United Church of Christ (UCC); and Rabbi Deborah Waxman, Ph.D., President and CEO of Reconstructing Judaism. It also includes additional information from signers explaining the basis of support from their traditions.
“During a time when our country is placing their lives under increasingly serious threat, there is a disgraceful misconception that all people of faith do not affirm the full spectrum of gender – a great many of us do. Let it be known instead that our beloveds are created in the image of God – Holy and whole,” says the statement, which is directed to the American public, political leaders, and moral teachers.
The statement acknowledges that while the signers may come from different religious traditions, they share a common concern in protecting those experiencing persecution. “Our scriptures vary, but they share a common conviction. As we make justice our aim we must give voice to those who are silenced. Our shared values, held across many faiths, teach us that we are all children of God and that we must cultivate a discipline of hope, especially in difficult times. As such, we raise our voices in solidarity to unequivocally proclaim the holiness of transgender, nonbinary, and intersex people, as well as the recognition of the entire spectrum of gender identity and expression,” the statement says.
Additionally, the signers highlight the importance of religious leaders speaking out against oppression and in defense of American democratic values. “When people of faith and conscience stay silent in the face of oppression, we are all made less whole. When people of faith and conscience speak out against that which violates the sacred in its own name, we have the power to stay the hand of sin. Transgender, nonbinary, and intersex people are vulnerable today. Our faiths, our theologies, and our practices of prophetic witness call on us to say with one voice to transgender people among us: ‘You are holy. You are sacred. We love you. We support you, and we will protect you.’”
Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt, representing the Unitarian Universalist Association, is the lead author of the statement, which reflects Unitarian Universalists’ (UUs) commitment to support trans, intersex, and nonbinary people as a matter of faith. In 2024, UUs proclaimed that embracing transgender, nonbinary, intersex and gender diverse people is a fundamental expression of UU religious values by overwhelmingly passing at the UUA’s General Assembly a resolution, which is the primary mechanism by which UUs articulate their religious values. The resolution proclaims that “being transgender or identifying with any gender other than the one assigned at birth, is a beautiful and divine manifestation of humanity; as is being intersex, or having sex characteristics that vary from what is considered typical.”
To The American Public, Its Political Leaders, and Moral Teachers,
As heads of diverse religious traditions in the United States, our faiths call on us to proclaim that transgender, intersex, and nonbinary people deserve respect, love, and equal rights. During a time when our country is placing their lives under increasingly serious threat, there is a disgraceful misconception that all people of faith do not affirm the full spectrum of gender – a great many of us do. Let it be known instead that our beloveds are created in the image of God – Holy and whole.
Our religions vary, yet we share a fundamental belief across our traditions that all people hold infinite value and dignity, and we are morally compelled to care for those living under persecution. Our scriptures vary, but they share a common conviction. As we make justice our aim we must give voice to those who are silenced. Our shared values, held across many faiths, teach us that we are all children of God and that we must cultivate a discipline of hope, especially in difficult times. As such, we raise our voices in solidarity to unequivocally proclaim the holiness of transgender, nonbinary, and intersex people, as well as the recognition of the entire spectrum of gender identity and expression.
Too many entrusted with positions of power are demonizing transgender people, blaming them for acts of violence, and criminalizing their very right to occupy space in our common life. The fear that many transgender children, their families, and their loved ones experience is unacceptable. The drive to limit the ways that transgender, intersex, and nonbinary people authentically live their lives – by limiting the medical care they receive, ignoring and sometimes provoking acts of violence against them, preventing them from traveling freely, or keeping them from participating in public activities — is a betrayal of our deeply held values as people of faith.
As a nation, we have often failed to live up to the ideals of equality and justice that safeguard the foundation of a free society. Yet throughout our history, in periods of great struggle and division, people of faith and good will have come forward to defend the very values that define American democracy. It is from that religious legacy that we speak today.
When people of faith and conscience stay silent in the face of oppression, we are all made less whole. When people of faith and conscience speak out against that which violates the sacred in its own name, we have the power to stay the hand of sin. Transgender, nonbinary, and intersex people are vulnerable today. Our faiths, our theologies, and our practices of prophetic witness call on us to say with one voice to transgender people among us: “You are holy. You are sacred. We love you. We support you, and we will protect you.”
Our transgender, intersex, and nonbinary beloveds offer a singular gift. They invite us to witness our broken world through the knowledge that, when we lead in truth and love, nothing is beyond transformation.
Signed,
The Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt, President
Unitarian Universalist Association
The Rev. Elder Cecilia Eggleston, Moderator
Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches (MCC)
Presiding Prelate Yvette A. Flunder
The Fellowship of Affirming Ministries (TFAM)
Rabbi Rick Jacobs, President
Union for Reform Judaism
The Rev. Jihyun Oh, Stated Clerk and Executive Director
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
The Rev. Teresa “Terri” Hord Owens, General Minister and President
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the United States and Canada
Presiding Bishop Sean W. Rowe
The Episcopal Church
The Rev. Dr. Karen Georgia Thompson, General Minister and President / CEO
United Church of Christ
Rabbi Deborah Waxman, Ph.D., President and CEO
Reconstructing Judaism
Additional Statements
UUA Statement
Unitarian Universalists (UUs) proclaim that embracing transgender, nonbinary, intersex and gender diverse people is a fundamental expression of UU religious values. In 2024, the UUA’s General Assembly passed a resolution – which is the primary mechanism by which UUs express our religious values – that asserts that “being transgender or identifying with any gender other than the one assigned at birth, is a beautiful and divine manifestation of humanity; as is being intersex, or having sex characteristics that vary from what is considered typical.” UUs believe that the ability to live ever-more authentically as one’s true self is central to a lifelong journey towards spiritual fulfillment and that our covenant as a faith inescapably binds us to affirm and protect our transgender and intersex members and kindred, in faith and in practice.
MCC Statement
Metropolitan Community Churches (MCC) is an international Christian denomination rooted in and reaching beyond the LGBTQIA+ communities. We are a global movement of spiritually, sexually, and gender diverse people who are fully awake to God’s enduring unconditional love. MCC celebrates and affirms the lives and ministry of those who identify as transgender, nonbinary, intersex, gender non-conforming, and gender expansive people; within and beyond MCC. Our Core Values of inclusion, community, spiritual transformation, and justice are lived out in how we make a place at God’s table for everyone and challenge the oppressions that prevent us from fully living out the fullness that God’s unconditional love offers to us all.
The Fellowship of Affirming Ministries Statement
The Fellowship of Affirming Ministries (TFAM) is a multi-denominational coalition of over 100 primarily African American Christian leaders and faith communities across the United States and globally. Through TransSaints, our transgender ministry, we nurture the spiritual lives of the transgender community as a living testimony that God’s Spirit is inclusive and fully present in all people. TFAM stands unapologetically committed to radical inclusivity, deep spirituality, and unwavering justice for the most marginalized. Our theology of liberation compels us to proclaim our transgender, nonbinary, intersex, and gender-expansive siblings are not problems to be solved but divine creations to be celebrated made in God’s image and deserving of the same dignity, safety, and respect as every child of God. We decry all political violence, discrimination, and dehumanization directed at our transgender siblings as offenses against the God of love and justice. We urge our political and social leaders to affirm the sacred worth and full humanity of transgender, nonbinary, intersex, and gender-expansive people, and to work with us in building the Beloved Community where all of God’s children can thrive with equity, dignity, and belonging.
Union for Reform Judaism Statement
The Union for Reform Judaism, encompassing 1.8 million Reform Jews in nearly 825 congregations across North America, proudly and unequivocally reaffirms our commitment to transgender inclusion. We are guided by the words of Genesis 1:27, which teaches that all people are created b’tzelem Elohim (in the Divine image) and deserve dignity and respect. Many Jewish texts proudly affirm the existence of transgender, non-binary, intersex, and gender expansive individuals, including hundreds of references to at least six different sex and gender identities across Jewish legal codes and Rabbinic commentary. In 2015, the Union for Reform Judaism and Central Conference of American Rabbis (the Reform rabbinical association) adopted a Resolution on the Rights of Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming People, asserting our “commitment to the full equity, inclusion, and acceptance of people of all gender identities and gender expressions.”
United Church of Christ Statement
The United Church of Christ (UCC) celebrates the many diversities among us as a blessing of our Creator God and stands with those who are targeted by hate and injustice. In 2003, the General Synod of the United Church of Christ resolved “to take the lead in ending discrimination against lesbians, gays, bisexual and transgender persons and to actively counter public perceptions that view the Christian community as supporting such discrimination.” Demonizing and dehumanizing treatment of transgender, nonbinary, and gender diverse persons is anathema to the gospel of Jesus Christ, who teaches us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. In 2023, the UCC reaffirmed that transgender and nonbinary persons are beloved by God who bear “unique gifts and graces from the Divine for the life of the church and society.” The UCC embraces the gifts and the very being of transgender and nonbinary persons as blessed children of God.
Reconstructing Judaism Statement
Reconstructing Judaism is the central organization of the Reconstructionist movement, representing more than 90 congregations organized around the understanding of Judaism as the evolving religious civilization of the Jewish people. As per a 2017 movement-wide resolution adopted in 2017, we commit to the full inclusion, acceptance, appreciation, celebration and welcome of people of all gender identities in Jewish life and society at large, and we condemn and grieve all instances of bias, discrimination, violence, hatred and intimidation against transgender, non-binary and gender non-conforming individuals. We come to this through study of the breadth of our religious texts across history that bear witness to and acknowledge a variety of non-binary genders and that repeatedly affirm that people of transgender experience hold the obligations and privileges of all Jews, and through appreciation of the depth and richness that people of non-binary gender expression, transgender and gender non-conforming people individually and collectively contribute to our communities and to the world.
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About the UUA:
The UUA is the central organization for the Unitarian Universalist (UU) religious movement in the United States. Our faith is diverse and inclusive and the UUA’s 1000+ member congregations are committed to shared values and principles that hold closely the worthiness and dignity of each person as sacred, the need for justice and compassion, the right of conscience, and respect for the interdependent nature of all existence.
Contact:
Suzanne Morse
Unitarian Universalist Association
[email protected]
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