Trip Report Second Annual Transgender Religious Leadership Summit Berkeley, California January 20-21, 2008 Compiled by

1. Trip Report Second Annual Transgender Religious Leadership Summit Berkeley, California January 20-21, 2008 Compiled by Noach Dzmura for BrerRabbi.com

2. Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry Event co-sponsors • Location: Washington D.C. • Purpose: Transgender • advocacy • Founded: 2003 • Location: Berkeley, CA • Purpose: Study LGBT issues • in religion ministry • Founded: 1996

3. Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry from ‘Welcoming Remarks’ in the program brochure Faith is a vitally important part of many trans people’s lives. Too often though, instead of the nurturing welcome they expected, trans people have come face to face with ignorance, alienation and spiritual violence. In many faith traditions, however, that is changing quickly, and for the better. NCTE is pleased to be here … to begin a long overdue discussion of how we can … accelerate the acceptance that transgender people need and deserve … .”Mara Keisling Executive Director NCTE While sexual orientation has received most of the attention in religious circles for decades, at the root of these controversies and debates are the profound issues concerning gender identity and expression. … Insights from transgender religious leaders will … lead the way in renewing and transforming our faith traditions. Mary Ann Tolbert, PhD Executive Director CLGS

4. Statistics • Attenders: 50 • Faith Traditions Represented: Chrisitanity, Buddhism, Judaism • Denominations Represented: (Incomplete list) Baptist, Episcopal, • Reform and Modern Orthodox Judaism • Roman Catholic, Methodist, • Metropolitan Community Church, UCC, • Unitarian Universalist

5. Program Sunday January 20 1:00 - 2:00 pm Registration, Lunch, Opening Remarks and Worship Worship leaders: Rabbi Elliot Rose Kukla (coord) Reuben Zellman, Rev Vicky Kolakowski 2:00 - 3:00 pm Public Policy, Gender Identity and Communities of Faith; Ms Barbara Satin and Dr Joel Kushner 3:30 - 3:45 pm Break 3:45 - 5:15 pm Denominational Initiatives and Transgender Issues; Rev Mike Schuenemeyer

6. Program Monday January 21 8:30 - 9:00 am Breakfast 9:00 - 10:15 Human Resources and Transgender People; Mr Barb Greve and Rev Sean Parker Dennison 10:15 - 10:30 Break 10:30 - 11:45 Transgender People and the Ordination Process; Rev Elder Jim Mitulski 11:45 - 12:45 pm Lunch 12:45 - 1:30 pm Outreach to the Transgender Community; Chris Page, Monica Joy Cross 1:30 - 2:45 pm Next Steps: A Dialogue; Dr. Justin Tanis. CLGS & the Transgender Roundtable; Dr. Bernard Schlager 2:45 - 3:00 pm Closing

7. Presenters - 1 • Monica Joy Cross City of Refuge, UCC. • Rev Sean Parker Dennison Minister, South Valley Unitarian Universalist Society, Salt Lake City Utah; chair, Journey Toward Wholeness Transformation Committee; Secretary, Mountain Desert District UU Ministers Association; Board of Trustees, Starr King School for the Ministry. Speaks regularly about his experiences as a transgender man and minister. Blog at www.revsean.com. • Barb Greve Interim Director of Religious Education to the Unitarian Society of New Haven CT. Program Associate, UUA Office of Bisexual Gay Lesbian and Transgender Concerns from 1995 - 2005. Collaborated on creation of Welcoming Congregation Handbook (2nd ed.); co-author, “Living the Welcoming congregation.” Publishing editor, “Crossing Paths: Where Transgender and Religion Meet” and a contributing author in “GenderQueer” Voices from Beyond the Sexual Binary.”

8. Presenters - 2 • Dr Joel Kushner Director, Institute for Judaism and Sexual Orientation at the Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion. He also heads the Jeff Herman Virtual Resource Center, an online learning environment with over 500 resources on the intersection of Judaism, sexual orientation and gender identity. Member, National Religious Leadership Roundtable of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and on the Advisory Board of the HRC’s Faith and Religion Program. Co-editor of Kulanu: A Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Inclusion Guide for Congregations (2007, URJ Press). • Rev Elder Jim Mitulski Denominational Executive for MCC with responsibility for student and ministerial training, clergy credentialing and interim ministry training and placement. Contact: revjimmitulski@mccchurch.net. Minister, MCC; has served in churches in NY, SF, and LA. Member, Board of Trustees, Pacific School of Religion and on the National Advisory Board for the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies.

9. Presenters - 3 • Chris Page Founder, TransFaith Online (http://www.transfaithonline.org), a website dedicated to supporting Transgender folks in our faith journeys, while providing useful resources to help Church folks become better educated trans-allies. • Barbara Satin Transgender activist. Founder, GLBT Generations, a Minnesota group working to educate people about the needs of GLBT persons as they grow old. Her organization has been the catalyst for the development of a senior GLBT housing Co-op in Minneapolis in conjunction with Spirit of the Lakes UCC. First TG woman to serve on the Executive Council of the UCC. Seves as an advisor to the Civil Marriage Collaborative. • Dr Bernard Schlager Director of National Outreach for CLGS at PSR.

10. Presenters - 4 • Rev Mike Schuenemeyer Executive for Health and Wholeness Advocacy in Wider Church Ministries of the UCC. Instrumental in creating the documentary Call Me Malcolm and a new UCC DVD on marriage equality, Sacred Covenants, Faithful Conversations. Serves on the Steering Committee of the National Religious Leadership Roundtable and the Board of Equality Ohio Education Fund. • Dr Justin Tanis Program Manager, National Center for Transgender Equality. Author: Transgendered: Theology, Ministry and Communities of Faith (2003). Contributor to Take Back the Word: A Queer Reading of the Bible and the Queer Bible Commentary. Serves on the National Advisory Board for CLGS.

11. Excerpts from Worship Service • Vicky Kolakowski: There is no group of people more beautiful than transgender people. • Elliott Kukla: Reflections on the Parting of the Red Sea. The miracle is not that the waters parted. Given the God of my faith tradition, that can happen any time. The miracle is that people were brave enough to walk into it.

12. “Take-Aways” from Presentations • Joel Kushner: • “Transgender policy within a denomination must come from the top, down, as well as from the ground, up.” • “As a gay man, I now find myself in an odd position. I am not on the left any more. Transpeople are more left than I am.” • Unattributed statements: • “As transgender persons, we must become aware of racism and classism within our own groups.” • “It is important for us to come out, as we may safely do so, and participate in a Ministry of Presence by sharing our stories.” • Patrick Douglas: “If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom and yet deprecate agitation are men who want crops without plowing the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightening. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. This struggle may be a moral one or it may be both moral and physical, but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.”

13. Take-Aways from Presentations • Monica Cross “How you serve someone, you can’t grasp.” • Barb Greve “UUA has created an identity-based caucus for • Transgender Religious Professionals (TRpUUST). The • organization’s purpose will be threefold: Relationship • Building, Training and Trust-Building, and Gratitude. • Telling stories is a way to build relationships.” • Sean Dennison “If you have no theology of forgiveness, you are stuck • with a culture of perfectionism.” Don’t Care Do-ers Allies TG Influence happens in rings that are adjacent to one another.

14. Take-Aways from Presentations • Barb Greve “Often within an organizational structure, transpeople • may be pitted against one another as ‘Good • transperson, Bad transperson.’ Don’t let that happen! • It happened even with Sean and I who are now best of • friends, because we worked on maintaining our • relationship and our trust with one another.” • Chris Page Increase cycles to build momentum for a movement Speak Out Community Courage, Confidence

15. Resources / Handouts • Hardcopy of CLGS e-News Vol VIII No 1 • Flyer: No Longer Strangers: Transgender Sermon Series and Community Forum -- MCC San Jose • Glossy Postcard to advertise: Ministry Among God’s Queer Folk - Pastoral Care (a hanbook) • Powerpoint Lecture Notes: Denominational Inistiatives about transgender issues. UCC • Brochure: LGBT Resources and Publications - UCC • Affirmation adopted by the UCC General Synod “Reaffirming the UCCs Denouncement of Violence Against Lesbian and Gay People and Calling for the inclusion of Transgender People within that Anti-Violence Statement” • Affirmation: Affirming the Participation and Ministry of Transgender People within the UCC and supporting their civil and human rights. - UCC • List: Social Policy Statements on LGBT Concerns by UCC National Bodies • www.transfaithonline.org • www.genderqueerrevolution.org supporting and emowering genderqueer persons • Brochure: Health and Wholeness Advocacy Ministries - UCC • Brochure: LGBT Ministries - UCC • Brochure: Making your Jewish Community Transgender Friendly - by Rabbi Elliot Rose Kukla and Reuben Zellman, sponsored by TransTorah, Jewish Mosaic, and Institute for Judaism and Sexual Orientation (KJSO)