Explanation

For well over a decade, The Episcopal Church (via General Convention resolutions 2009-D032, 2012-D002, 2012-D019, 2018-A284, and 2018-C022) has made public commitments to support transgender people, both those who are binary (male or female) and who are non-binary (neither male nor female). When The Episcopal Church added the phrases “gender identity and expression” or “gender identity or gender expression” to our nondiscrimination canons, we sought to safeguard fair, free, and equal access to all parts of our Church’s life together as the Body of Christ for all gender diverse individuals. Yet people whose gender is non-binary, whose pronouns may be they/them rather than the binary pronouns he/him or she/her, continue to experience barriers to congregational life and leadership. These barriers have included the incorrect assertion that “gender identity and expression” only applies to binary transgender people (e.g. transgender men or transgender women), or that coming out as transgender and/or non-binary during the process toward ordination requires completely reapplying to the ordination process. Therefore, this resolution unambiguously affirms that non-binary as well as binary people—indeed, people of all genders – are in fact covered by the language of “gender identity and expression” in our nondiscrimination canons.