When the 226th General Assembly opens next week, members of the Race, Sexuality and Gender Justice Committee will consider two resolutions and receive one report during their time together online beginning Tuesday, June 25.
RSG-04 is a joint resolution from two committees, the Advocacy Committee for Women and Gender Justice and the LGBTQIA+ Equity Advocacy Committee, to recognize March 31st as Transgender Day of Visibility in all future printings and distributions of the Presbyterian Planning Calendar.
Work has been underway since the 223rd General Assembly (2018) to continue to fully embrace the LGBTQIA+ community, but “what more can we do as a denomination to ensure God’s love is reflected in our actions of inclusivity?” the resolution’s rationale asks. The committees that brought RSG-04 forward say this is not a symbolic act of solidarity, but “a bold and consequential statement.” The General Assembly Committee on Representation recommends this resolution in part for its continued support of creating community. Co-Chairs the Rev. Anna Flores Kendig and the Rev. Dr. Eric Thomas stated, “One aspect of better representation and equity practices in our church is visibility, including in popular places like the planning calendar, which many congregations use as a Christian formation and worship planning guide. We hope this will lead to more congregations considering Transgender Day of Visibility as an important outreach and formation opportunity in their congregations as we connect together our understanding of God's boundless works of love, our congregational witness, and the sacred lives of trans people.”
The second resolution is RSG-04. The four-point resolution, sponsored by the Racial Equity Advocacy Committee in solidarity with the Hispanic Latino Caucus, calls for the reimagining of Hispanic Latino ministry in the PC(USA), works to help promote theological education, addresses the response of reparations, and encourages a renewed commitment for mid councils to offer support. This resolution addresses the diversity, equity and inclusion of Hispanic Latino Ministry.
The committee will also receive the Interim report of the Special Committee on the PC(USA) and Race, found here.
“We have identified a need to operate from a paradigm of repentance and repair, building on the work of the Special Committee on Racism, Truth and Reconciliation,” the special committee says in its interim report. “Rooted in this paradigm is a need to understand and heed our denomination’s history, including naming our failures to listen, speak truth, confess, lament, repent, atone and seek reparations. Aspirational statements of reconciliation have been and are insufficient. Without seeking repair for institutionalized racism and white supremacy culture and its associated harms, there will be no tangible movement toward justice.”
For more information about the 226th General Assembly, go here.