Newly published LDS policies codify second-class status for trans members

Handbook changes keep transitioned persons away from youth, teaching

Image by Lena Balk; licensed by Unsplash.

Being transgender isn’t a contagious disease, and transgender persons aren’t likely to be predatory, but you might conclude otherwise if all you knew about trans people were the new transgender-related policies published by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints this week.

The new policies further marginalize what is already one of the most marginalized groups in the church, the third-largest Christian denomination in the United States.¹ In general, the policies sharply limit the visibility of transitioned or transitioning transgender members, denying them the ability to hold key volunteer positions or of being involved with youth programs. It also prevents them from, under some circumstances, entering a church restroom without having someone from the church checking first to make sure the restroom is unoccupied.

The new policies came in the form of amendments to the church’s General Handbook and a supplementary document listing “guiding principles for local leaders.” The 38-chapter General Handbook describes in detail how the church, which has no paid clergy at the local level, is operated throughout the world. The new policies have met with widespread condemnation from the church’s more liberal members, although the criticism has been far more muted that that which greet a 2015 policy that mandated church discipline for same-sex couples and excluded their children from baptism. That policy was reversed about 3½ years later.

The new or clarified policies:

• Include a provision for church leaders to annotate the membership records of “someone who has intentionally transitioned away from his or her biological sex at birth”² in much the same way that such records are annotated for those who engage in abusive behavior, embezzle church funds or use child pornography.

• Prevent church officials from telling congregants which names or pronouns to use for transgender persons. In other words, they can neither direct members to use a trans person’s preferred pronouns or name nor forbid such.

• Require that all persons “attend gender-specific meetings and activities that align with their biological sex at birth.” For example, a trans teen boy, meaning someone designated as a girl at birth and who has started taking steps to adopt a male appearance, will be expected to attend girls’ activities. (Exceptions can be made with approval of certain regional high-ranking church officials known as area presidencies.)

• Prevent those who have transitioned or are transitioning to spend the night at overnight mixed-gender activities. This would most likely affect those attending youth conferences or camping trips that include overnight stays.

• Prohibit those who have transitioned or are transitioning from teaching classes for those of any age.

• Prohibit those who have transitioned or are transitioning from working with children or youth.

• Exclude those who have transitioned or are transitioning from a role in the church’s priesthood, which includes essentially all of the church’s men and adolescent boys who haven’t been excluded because of serious misconduct. In other words, neither a biological female who transitions to male nor a biological male who transitions to female can carry out priesthood responsibilities.

• Say that those “who pursue surgical, medical, or social transition away from their biological sex at birth should use a single-occupancy restroom when available.” If such a restroom is not available, possible options include “a restroom that aligns with the individual’s biological sex at birth” or using “a restroom that corresponds to the individual’s feeling of their inner sense of gender, with a trusted person ensuring that others are not using the restroom at the same time.”

• Implicitly prevent the baptism and confirmation to church membership of those who who have transitioned or are transitioning, although an exception can be made by the First Presidency, made up of the top three men in church leadership.

Generally, a transitioned person who “detransitions” — reverts in gender identity to the gender designated at birth — has all restrictions lifted.

The new policies, while imposing restrictions on participation, technically do not change a person’s membership status. The transitioned or transitioning can continue to hold callings that do not involve teaching or leadership, such as working in the church library or helping with genealogical research. They also can continue to receive the sacrament, the equivalent of the Catholic Eucharist or Protestant Communion.

Why the new policies?

As is typical when the church changes its General Handbook — something that happens frequently as the document is fine-tuned to meet changing needs — the church provided no explanation of the reasons for the changes.

However, the policies — which the church characterized as clarifications — suggest that church leaders see transitioning as a type of behavior that needs to be discouraged in ways that other types of behaviors condemned by the church are not. The restrictions contrast with the fact that there are no automatic membership restrictions on members who commit a wide variety of sins that the church’s scriptures consistently condemn, such as greed, neglect or oppression of the poor, and failure to love one’s neighbor. Restrictions for violation of the church’s best-known denominational rules, such as the bans on drinking alcohol or smoking, also are far more limited in scope than those placed on trans members who transition.

And by banning involvement with youth programs, the new restrictions treat those transitioned or transitioning in much the same way as they treat members with a history of abuse or using child pornography.

Separate from the handbook, a summary of the church’s teaching on transgender issues, Understanding Yourself, defines “transgender” to refer to “people feel their inner sense of gender does not align with their biological sex at birth.” The summary explicitly states that the church takes no position on why such feelings exist.

The summary says that persons with such feelings should seek counsel from a bishop, the leader of a congregation. Unless they acquired it outside of their church duties, bishops receive no professional training on LGTBQ matters; the summary makes no suggestion that members dealing with gender identity issues seek professional assistance.

Are trans persons welcome?

The policies state unequivocally that trans members are welcome:

Individuals who transition away from their biological sex at birth are welcome to attend sacrament meetings and participate in the Church in many other ways. These individuals and their families are encouraged to counsel with their local leaders regarding Church participation. Church leaders teach gospel truth and minister in a Christlike way. They consider the needs of all involved.

The concept that trans persons are welcome is also emphasized in the doctrinal summary:

Church members need you and want you. If you identify yourself as transgender, we know you face complex challenges. You and your family and friends are just as deserving of Christlike love as any of God’s children and should be treated with sensitivity, kindness, and compassion.

But are they really?

It’s difficult to imagine that many transitioned or transitioning persons will feel welcome under the new policies. The restrictions on working with youth treat trans people as if they are predators, and implementation of the bathroom policies — such as having a “trusted person” stand outside a restroom being used by a trans person so that no on else will enter — would be demeaning.

And while the church policies say that trans persons are welcome to attend classes and use bathrooms for persons of their birth gender, it’s hard to imagine that, for example, a trans man with facial hair and other intentionally masculine features would have much of a desire to enter a women’s restroom or a class where only women are present — and the cis women may not feel comfortable in that situation either. The likely result is that trans persons will simply stay away.

A final thought

The leadership guide implies that one purpose for the policies is to ensure that the church’s “doctrine on gender is not undermined or misunderstood.” It doesn’t take much reading between the lines to conclude that there’s a fear that treating openly transgender persons as something other than second-class citizens would send a message that transitioning is OK.

I’m not here to make an argument one way or another about the morality of transitioning. My point is that in terms of how we treat people, it doesn’t matter whether we approve of someone’s actions or not. What matters is that all of God’s children should be treated with dignity rather than in a way that indicates we hope they disappear.

Offering dignity is what Jesus repeatedly did, and it didn’t seem to bother him when he was accused of being too accommodating to people that society disapproved of.

Jesus had a reputation for socializing with tax collectors — socially considered among the worst sinners of all. Did that send the message that making wrongful tax collections was an OK thing to do? Apparently not. Nicodemus³ had become rich through tax collections and was happy to welcome Jesus to his home. But he also understood what Jesus had taught about mistreating the poor, and in words that Greek scholars say are highly indicative of making a confession, he promises to make quadruple restitution to anyone he had swindled. He didn’t interpret Jesus’ love as something that ignored his life story, but as something that called him to a higher type of existence.

Jesus wasn’t one to exclude anyone from the table. Tax collectors and prostitutes were among those he socialized with, and the gospels are replete with stories of how Jesus welcomed and/or praised the marginalized of his society: lepers, the physically disabled, Samaritans, the demonized (literally!), the poor, women, adulterers, shepherds, children. He didn’t relegate them to second-class status but instead was responsive to their needs.

Why would Jesus call on his church to do anything less when it comes to trans people?

1. The two largest are the Roman Catholic Church and the Southern Baptist Convention, respectively.

2. “Biological sex at birth” is not defined; it is unstated whether the phrase refers to the appearance of a baby’s genitals, the baby’s X and Y chromosomes, neither, or both.

3. See Luke 19:1ff.