Catholic Bishop, Sister Spar Over Guidelines for Transgender People
medical guidelines related to gender-affirming care said he consulted with her beforehand.Transgender individuals have requested a bigger stake in their particular faith-based quarters dating back to at least 2015, according to the Pew Research Center during that time, which found that Reform Judaism, the United Church of Christ, Unitarian Universalist and Episcopal churches all supported transgender people being fully included in the life of the church and that they could be ordained as ministers.A poll conducted two years earlier found that LGBTQ+ Americans were less likely to be involved with any type of organized religion, singling out Islam (84 percent), the Mormon church (83 percent), the Catholic Church (79 percent) and evangelical churches (73 percent) as those they claimed were "unfriendly toward people like them."A unanimous vote occurred on June 16 at the U.S.
Conference of Catholic Bishops' spring assembly to revise the Ethical and Religious Directives (ERDs), causing trepidation for some within the LGBTQ+ community of whether certain services will be downsized or eliminated together at Catholic-based hospital systems.The voice vote, introduced by doctrinal committee chair Bishop Daniel Flores of Brownsville, Texas, was met with some concerns before voting was conducted.
The ERDs do not just single out transgender individuals—though they are among those who would be affected. Mandates on other issues include end-of-life care and abortion.Flores said the directives on transgender care "is a sensitive matter and will require a wide consultation," according to National Catholic Reporter (NRC), a newspaper that reports on issues related to the Catholic Church.
