The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has announced several policies that expand various types of restrictions that prevent transgender members of the church from participating fully in church life.
The policy, adopted last month as part of a wider overhaul of the church’s general handbook, bans transgender people from working with children in religious settings, working as teachers or serving as priests.
The LDS Church also expanded existing rules banning transgender people from being baptized.
Under the new rules, transgender people will reportedly be categorized and likely have their membership records annotated alongside individuals who have engaged in criminal activity such as incest, sexual assault, predatory behavior or misappropriation of church funds. NBC News.
“Church leaders discourage people from seeking to surgically, medically, or socially transition from their biological sex assigned at birth,” the church said. General Handbook “Leaders have warned that taking these steps would result in certain restrictions on church membership.”
In other words, transgender people have a choice: they can deny their transgender identity entirely (and undergo conversion therapy to solidify the sex they were assigned at birth), or they can choose to be deemed problematic and relegated to the ranks of “undesirables,” preventing many from fully participating in the religion they were raised in.
The General Handbook notes that transgender people who transition socially will not be excommunicated from the church but will be subject to all kinds of restrictions, and that transgender people and their families are encouraged to discuss their participation in the religious life of the church with local church leaders.
The baptism ban is an expansion of a policy first announced four years ago that previously barred transgender people from receiving Communion only if they had undergone medical intervention related to gender transition. The revised policy expands it to anyone who socially transitions by changing their name, pronouns or appearance.
The LDS Church plans to allow exceptions to the restrictions if religious leaders give the go-ahead for greater access, and restrictions on transgender people can be lifted if they decertify.
The new policy contradicts the church’s recent efforts to be more inclusive and affirming of LGBTQ people.
The LDS Church was one of the main groups leading the push to ban same-sex marriage in California through Proposition 8, but church leaders also helped pass a “compromise” civil rights bill in Utah that gave conservatives some religious protections while banning various forms of discrimination against LGBTQ people.
In 2022, despite the LDS Church officially opposing same-sex marriage and consensual same-sex acts, the church also supports the Respect Marriage Act, a law that would provide federal and state recognition for same-sex marriages legally performed in states that do not have laws banning same-sex marriage.
Similarly, in 2019 the Church announced that it would allow the baptism of children of same-sex couples, provided that the parents oblige the child to remain chaste and not engage in premarital sex.
Like the Catholic Church, the LDS Church does not appear to want to completely sever ties with transgender people, stating in its handbook that it “takes no position” on people who experience gender dysphoria.
“These people often face complex challenges,” the handbook states. “They, and their families and friends, should be treated with compassion, kindness, compassion and Christ-like love. They are all children of God and have sacred worth.”
Source: Metro Weekly – www.metroweekly.com
