The Institute for Welcoming Resources (IWR), a program of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, recently released transACTION: A Transgender Curriculum for Churches and Religious Institutions. This is the very first curriculum of its kind aimed at helping inclusive religious institutions to arm their congregants and members with training on how to welcome, understand and recognize the contributions of transgender persons within their faith settings.
According to Reverend Rebecca Voelkel, IWR's Faith Work Director, "Of the 3100 or so welcoming congregations we list on our website, somewhere between 75% and 90% are welcoming of lesbian, gay and bisexual (lgb) people but haven't done anything on transgender work. This is true in non-Christian settings too. So, both for the intra-religious world and for any hopes to help religious folks advocate for a trans inclusive ENDA, this curriculum in crucial."
Barbara Satin, a transgender Christian and IWR Faith Work Associate has had first hand knowledge for decades with regard to the lack of congregational resources addressing transgender inclusion. Barbara is the author of the curriculum and is now working with pro-lgbt religious organizations, particularly Christian ones, to get people to put trans ACTION in action.
One of the primary strengths of the curriculum is the way in which it provides the very basics of gender identity and gender expression and how to train churches and institutions to get to understanding, acceptance and welcoming in addition to showing the wealth of gifts that transgender people bring to them.
Although the curriculum is designed primarily for churches and religious institutions and their members and congregants, it will also be highly useful for anyone working within the field of sexuality research and studies broadly. Graduate students working on dissertations in the areas of religion, gender studies, sociology, social work, public policy and so forth will find this expertly crafted curriculum extremely beneficial. Furthermore, social workers, sexuality educators, gerontologists, teachers, counselors, and those working in all allied health and mental health professions will be able to glean some powerful new insights about how they approach their clients upon reading this.
I predict that transACTION will not only begin to greatly impact transgender inclusion within welcoming congregations, but that it will also have a significant role in turning once un-welcoming congregations to welcoming ones for the first time.
Another critically important and complementary resource has also recently been published online by the Human Rights Campaign's Religion and Faith Program called, "Gender Identity and Our Faith Communities: A Congregational Guide for Transgender Advocacy." In addition, trainings related to this curriculum are happening nation wide. This resource aims to invigorate transgender advocacy in particular within faith settings.
At NSRC we are doing everything we can to ensure that spiritual/religious literacy increases in this country alongside sexual literacy. The two have been silo'ed from one another for far too long, and we know that everyone's work (and therefore people themselves) suffers from it in the end. transACTION as well as HRC's Gender Identity and Our Faith Communities: A Congregational Guide for Transgender Advocacy are curriculum I plan to share with churches and seminaries we work with nation wide, whether welcoming, somewhat welcoming or not welcoming because I have come to find that many somewhat or even unwelcoming congregations still agree to have these kinds of resources on hand even if they do not immediately believe in using them or that using them is even possible (yet).
On March 30, 2009 NSRC will host a live blog with a panel of transgender experts... upon releasing a new paper on the state of transgender rights in the U.S. Please check back for details.
Congratulations to IWR and the Task Force, to Reverend Rebecca Voelkel and to Barbara Satin and those at the HRC's Religion and Faith Program for making these trail-blazing curricula available, easily accessible and ready to put into action!
transACTION is available for download at the IWR web site at www.welcomingresources.org
Gender Identity and Our Faith Communities: A Congregational Guide for Transgender Advocacy is available for download on the HRC web site: http://www.hrc.org/issues/religion/11618.htm
