Resources for Transgender Awareness Month

The month of November celebrates the transgender and gender nonconforming communities and raises awareness for the community through education and advocacy activities. This month, Transgender Day of Remembrance commemorates and honors trans lives lost to violence each year. The Presbyterian Church (USA) will hold a service for Transgender Day of Remembrance on Wed, Nov. 17th at 9am EST live at https://www.facebook.com/pcusa.

Overture 11-12 from the 223rd General Assembly in 2018 “encourages congregations of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to welcome transgender and gender non-binary people into the life of the church and to continue to grow in compassion and knowledge about the full expression of our individual and respective gender identities.” Specifically, the Stated Clerk and the Office of Public Witness are authorized to support the right of transgender individuals to serve in the military, access gender-inclusive restrooms and receive protections against all kinds of discrimination.

On our website, an online resource called Well-Chosen Words offers suggestions for language choices that broaden our welcome for transgender and gender nonconforming people in worship services.

CNP staff member Amy Cerniglia also contributed a hymn uplifting transgender experiences, God of Many Faces, to a collection from The Hymn Society specifically designed for LGBTQ people and available for free here.

Last June, several CNP Board members also developed inclusive liturgies for use throughout the year. The full collection of prayers is available here, and this gathering prayer by Slats Toole beautifully weaves queer experiences into our understanding of a God who is always creating and transforming creation:

it is impossible to name You,even now,as we turn to pray.we attempt many:God and Teacherand Healer and Refugeand Savior and Redeemerand Guide and Friendand stillwe cannot pin You down.no word defines You--You live in the space between,in the tremor of oppositescoming together in unimagined possibilities.

it is impossible to name Youbut everywhere we turn,You are reflected in the humanityYou created to be creativeto thrive in Your imageto join Your work of shapinglife and love in waysthat help us take pridein who You have made us to be.draw us to Youin this queer space that You,the Nothing and the Everything,the Creator and the Child,the +,inhabit so gracefully.amen.