Massachusetts Bishops Offer Temperate Response to New Transgender Law
Catholic bishops in Massachusetts have offered a tempered, though not perfect, response to newly passed anti-discrimination law aimed at protecting transgender people. Their statement improves upon other church leaders’ responses to this contentious human rights issue in other U.S. states.
Republican Governor Charlie Baker signed the bill in law last Friday. Building on employment protections passed in 2011, the new law provides non-discrimination protections based on gender identity for all public accommodations in the state. The Massachusetts Catholic Conference, representing the state’s bishops, released a statement which said, in part:
“While the purpose and intent of the legislation is to provide protection and access to public accommodations for transgender individuals in the Commonwealth, the issue of its implementation will require both careful oversight and respect for all individuals using such public accommodations. . .
“The understanding of and respect for transgender persons has only recently commanded widespread attention. The complex challenge of crafting legislative protections for some in our community while meeting the needs of the wider population will require sensitive application of the legislation just passed.”
The Conference statement suggested debate will continue, citing contested gender and sexuality issues addressed by Pope Francis in his apostolic exhortation, Amoris Laetitia. But the Conference urged civility, concluding:
“Debate about this legislation and its implementation will undoubtedly continue in some form. It will inevitably touch on themes not easily captured by law. . .We urge respect in this discussion for all those whose rights require protection. In our parishes, schools and other institutions, the Church will respect the civil law while upholding the principles of our faith and our religious freedom.”
Public accommodation protections for transgender people have been hotly debated in the U.S., with more than 100 pieces of anti-LGBT legislation having been debated in state legislatures this year. Debates about these bills, and the broader issue of transgender public accommodations, have very often become rancorous.
The country’s Catholic bishops, for the most part, have responded poorly. North Carolina’s bishops welcomed that state’s HB 2 law which mandates restroom use according to assigned sex at birth, though one bishop later qualified his support. Bishop Joseph Kopacz of Jackson offered qualified praise for Mississippi’s HB 1523 law, a law which allowed for some discrimination. It was described by one state legislator as “the most hateful bill I have seen in my career in this legislature.” Bishops in Nebraska actively opposed newly-approved policies to protect transgender student-athletes in the state’s schools. And at least two dioceses criticized President Barack Obama’s directive mandating public school students be able to use restrooms and locker rooms matching their gender identity. It is worth noting, too, that Vatican official Cardinal Robert Sarah, while addressing the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast, referred to transgender rights as “demonic.”
Respecting transgender people should be a “fairly simple thing to do,” to quote Jesuit Fr. James Martin, but unfortunately this has been too difficult for many church leaders. Issues around gender identity and expression, civil law, and true religious liberty can be very complicated, as Bondings 2.0 has noted at least twice (here and here).
The church’s response should be respectful, a simple thing to do, but should not rely upon simple answers where nuance is required. The Massachusetts’ bishops response in this case should have highlighted more strongly Catholic teaching about opposing discrimination, but even with that deficiency, its tempered tone and willingness to dialogue is a step forward.
–Bob Shine, New Ways Ministry
Church leaders could start by listening to transgender people. Then they could stop denying that transgender people exist, and could acknowledge that gender in humans is much more complex and has many more aspects than they have been willing to admit thus far. From there, it should be fairly simple to affirm that transgender people deserve all the rights and protections as anyone else in society, and that the Church itself needs to provide such protections and rights to its transgender members. And then the leaders should become advocates for justice for transgender people, instead of continuing to be enemies and opponents of transgender human beings.
One of the principles of Catholic Social Teaching is preferential option for the poor and vulnerable. In seeking the common good, therefore, those who are most vulnerable must be considered first. In short, how does this law, procedure, whatever, affect the transgender person, It would seem the the legitimate and well deserved rallying cry of others “is how is this going to affect my child attending school?” Keeping in mind that these children’s parents are likely ignorant (i.e., simply do not know) the complexities and range of sexuality. Therefore, it seems to me, that we have to proceed with all of these legitimate realities held in tension.
Good to see that Mass bishops acknowledge a need for ““understanding of and respect for transgender persons”. That alone is progress, and to be welcomed.
What is the difference if a person who is biologically a boy and dresses and appears as a woman and vice versa, uses the bathroom according to who they dress and appears as that sex. The person goes into use a toilet that has a door for privacy.
How would you feel if you were the transgender person.
God made all of us.
Such tentative steps by the bishops when bolder steps were called for.
Jesus never took tentative steps.