Trans lives are sacred: A CTA statement of solidarity with trans communities

During this Pride month, and in the face of recent and repeated attacks on trans individuals and communities, we, the members of the Call to Action’s Vision Council, affirm the sacredness of our trans siblings and call our communities to take action against transphobia in all its forms.

Earlier this week, the United States Supreme Court announced its decision that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender employees from discrimination. This is a victory that generations of LGBTQIA activists have worked toward, and this decision affirms what they have always asserted: the presence, visibility, and equal dignity of LGBTQIA people. Call to Action applauds this milestone and celebrates the ways our LGBTQIA neighbors add richness to our communities. “The Supreme Court decision has given us a much-needed moment of celebration while also re-energizing efforts towards full equality of LGBTQIA individuals,” says Delfín Bautista, Vision Council member. “The work is not yet done and must continue.” 

As the DignityUSA statement on the Supreme Court decision points out, “‘This decision is particularly important for transgender people, who have long faced extreme levels of employment discrimination.’” The decision comes on the heels of a series of tragedies that prove only too starkly why such human rights protections for trans communities are needed now more than ever. Only three days before the ruling, the Trump Administration finalized a rule that would remove nondiscrimination protections for trans people from the Affordable Care Act. The previous three weeks saw murders of three Black trans people, Tony McDade, Dominique “Rem’mie” Fells, and Riah Milton, bringing documented murders of trans people in 2020 to at least 14. CTA denounces these actions that silence trans people, erase their voices, and literally deny them their existence.

Our Church has participated, and continues to participate, in this silencing and erasure. This happens in overt ways, like the USCCB statement on the Supreme Court ruling which suggests that trans people’s existence “redefin[es] human nature.” It also happens in more covert ways, in our failure to extend true welcome and inclusion to trans folks within Catholic spaces. We must do more to recognize trans people’s existence in and contributions to our Catholic parishes, schools, and hospitals; our Catholic history and tradition; our Catholic movements for justice, including extension of ordination to people of all genders. When trans stories are told and trans lives made visible, it removes power from the broader social forces that permit ongoing violence against trans bodies. 

In the face of continued erasure and violence, trans people assert their presence and their power. This Pride Month, trans leaders across the country have embodied the revolutionary roots of Pride, which included riots started by trans people of color against police violence and brutality such as the uprisings at Compton Cafeteria, Dewey’s Doughnuts, and the Stonewall Inn. In recent weeks, leaders have borne powerful witness to the intersecting effects of racial oppression and transphobia by leading protests such as the recent Black Trans Lives Matter March in Brooklyn. One of the organizers of that march, Eliel Cruz, challenged all of us to a more powerful and proactive solidarity: “‘We can't just talk about trans people when they're dying… what are we doing actively and intentionally to create space for them to be safe and well?"  

CTA calls on our organization, our community of Church reform organizations, and our Church more broadly to heed this challenge and to do more to create spaces where our trans siblings can be safe, well, and celebrated. Trans people are members of our Catholic communities. They are helping us understand the Church’s theology, prayer traditions, and history in new and powerful ways. Trans people are helping us remember and re-member our communion of saints by lifting up revolutionaries such as Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera, Marinus, Joan of Arc, Pauli Murray, and so many others. They are calling us into a vision of a more loving, boundless, expansive faith that breaks binaries and reminds us that we are all created in the diversity of God. As the CTA Vision Council, we recommit ourselves to living into this vision, and urge all Catholics to do the same. Trans lives matter now and matter always! 

Resources for Action

• Join Call to Action’s 2020 National Campaign to join with others in your area and across the country to organize for Church reform through education, lobbying, direct action, and creating alternatives. Working groups can facilitate organizing for LGBTQIA justice and other interconnected issues in the Church. Sign up to join a working group here.

• New Ways Ministry offers many resources, including:

  • Information on Church teaching that forms a basis for trans justice in the Church

  • Connections to trans-inclusive Catholic organizations

  • Information about contacting your Bishop about the local church’s handling of LGBTQIA pastoral care

  • Regular events to learn more and connect with others

• Learn about the experiences of faith of Trans people by visiting TransFaith 

• Learn more about Trans and other LGBTQ saints at QSpirit

• Honor and remember Trans people killed in the US and around the world (“mourn the dead and fight like hell for the living”) by visiting Trans Day of Remembrance 

• Donate to a mutual aid or emergency fund to support trans folks impacted by the COVID-19 crisis; find a list of funds through the National Center for Transgender Equality