The Union for Reform Judaism in November approved a resolution affirming the rights of transgender and gender nonconforming people and welcoming them to the faith. This isn’t a first — they join other religious organizations, like the Episcopal Church and Unitarian Universalist Association, in being inclusive of trans people.
But other religious groups aren’t as accepting. As the Pew Research Center noted on Wednesday, a few organizations still take ambiguous but seemingly negative stances toward trans people — and some, particularly more conservative religious groups like the Mormon Church and the Southern Baptist Convention, are downright hostile, rejecting trans people altogether.
It’s likely that some of these organizations will change or clarify their positions over time, especially as trans acceptance continues to grow. As Pew previously reported, more religious organizations have sanctioned same-sex couples’ marriage rights in recent years as marriage equality spread. With polls showing that younger people are generally more accepting of trans rights, it’s possible younger people will push more moderate or liberal religious organizations to be more inclusive as they grow up and become more involved in their respective faiths. And maybe conservative groups will eventually follow, too.
Still, some religious organizations have recently strengthened their opposition to LGBTQ inclusion — the Mormon church, for instance, recently imposed a ban on same-sex couples and their children. So for as much progress as we’ve seen in LGBTQ rights, some groups’ outright bans on LGBTQ people show we still have quite a ways to go.
