UUA Expands Support for Our Trans, Non-Binary, and Intersex Community+

Our Unitarian Universalist Association has been steadfastly working to scale up our support of our trans, non-binary, and intersex kin as the onslaught of damaging rhetoric and oppressive legislation continues. These attacks are not new; whether it be financially or legally, trans, non-binary, and intersex people have never had the freedom to make all the decisions about their own healthcare and how we will live with authenticity and integrity in the world. The past year, these attacks have become very loud. It is now time for us to get louder. Lives are at stake.

At General Assembly 2024, our congregations voted to affirm a business resolution, “Embracing Transgender, Nonbinary, and Intersex People is a Fundamental Expression of UU Religious Values,” which directs our work toward justice for trans, non-binary, and intersex folks throughout the UUA and its member congregations.

As part of this work, the UUA created a dedicated staff position called the transgender support specialist, and I am honored to be the first person serving in that role. This full-time position intentionally bridges several of the Association’s departments, bringing both the freedom and the authority to coordinate large-scale, cross-staff missional work toward creating justice for our trans, non-binary, and intersex community. Additionally, I am the UUA liaison for the Pink Haven Coalition, an indigenous trans, non-binary, and intersex-led non-profit organization specializing in spiritual and direct care for trans, non-binary, and intersex people.

Resources have increased for national observations of Transgender Day of Visibility and Transgender Day of Remembrance, and the UUA’s safety guidance and suggested policies and procedures have been updated to address growing security concerns for trans, non-binary, and intersex people, their partners, communities, and families. And the health and sexuality curriculum Our Whole Lives (OWL) offers new and expansive ways of addressing gender identity.

A renewed commitment and added resources were created for Uplift Action, the UUA’s dedicated campaign for bodily autonomy and gender justice. In addition, new articles, worship elements, faith development resources, and congregationally based events have also been shared to Leader Lab to connect congregations to each other to further strengthen our justice work. There are also resources for our trans, non-binary, and intersex youth, some of the most vulnerable among us. Not to mention, the ever important UU Common Read for 2024–2025 is Authentic Selves, a celebratory book centered on trans, non-binary, and intersex folx and their families.

Justice-making work is not just for the staff members of the UUA, and our partnerships are the strongest resources we have. With continued congregational consultations and our deepening relationship with UU leaders, the UUA has also intentionally teamed up with State Action Networks in areas with a large anti-autonomy legislative agenda, such as Arizona, North Carolina, and Texas. The UUA has also been engaged in supporting legislative and justice-making work in other key states as well. Our teamwork with the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee and Pink Haven Coalition has helped save many lives. Through our partnership with the Transforming Hearts Collective, this year we offered a new webinar series called “Build Trans Justice and Safety.”

New programming was also designed and implemented to fulfill the directives of the 2024 business resolution. Webinar series such as “Supporting Trans, Non-Binary, and Intersex Families,” “Preparing for Pride,” and “Threats from Without; Care from Within” all help skill up congregations as well as create community for trans, non-binary, and intersex folks, allies, UU congregations, and communities.

Our faith calls us to see human need in every moment and to leverage our resources, both human and divine, to be loud in condemning all anti-transgender legislation, demanding the repeal of anti-transgender laws, and working to block additional such bills. Beyond this, we have a spiritual and moral obligation to help save the trans, non-binary, and intersex community so that we can survive and thrive. In this call, some are just getting started and others have been fighting for years. Regardless of your experience level, we need everyone to be all in. I invite you and your congregation to get loud with us. With all of our voices together, we will live to see the collective liberation beyond our wildest dreams.