Committee on Race, Sexuality and Gender Equality considers two resolutions and an interim report

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When the 226th General Assembly begins next week, members of the Committee on Race, Sexuality and Gender Equality will consider two resolutions and receive a report during their joint online meeting starting Tuesday, 25 June.

RSG-04 is a joint resolution of two committees, the Advocacy Committee for Women and Gender Justice and the LGBTQIA+ Equity Advocacy Committee, to recognize March 31 as Transgender Day of Visibility in all future printing and distribution of the Presbyterian Planning Calendar.

Work has been underway since the 223rd General Assembly (2018) to continue to be fully accepting of the LGBTQIA+ community, but “what more can we do as a denomination to ensure that God’s love is reflected in our inclusive actions?” asks the resolution’s rationale. The committees that introduced RSG-04 say this is not a symbolic act of solidarity, but “a bold and consistent statement.” The General Assembly’s Committee on Representation recommends this resolution, in part, for its continued support for building community. Co-chairs Rev. Anna Flores Kendig and Rev. Dr. Eric Thomas stated, “One aspect of better representation and equality practices in our church is visibility, including in popular places like the planning calendar that many congregations use as a guide for Christian education and worship planning. We hope this will lead more churches to view Transgender Day of Visibility as an important opportunity for outreach and education in their communities as we connect our understanding of God’s limitless works of love, our witness in the church, and the sacred lives of transgender 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 a redesign of Hispanic Latino ministry in the PC(USA), works to promote theological education, addresses response to reparations, and calls for a renewed commitment by the Councils of Appropriations 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 PC(USA) and Race, which can be found here.

“We have recognized that we must move from a paradigm of repentance and reparation, building on the work of the Select Committee on Racism, Truth and Reconciliation,” the Select Committee’s interim report states. “Rooted in this paradigm is the need to understand and heed our denomination’s history, including naming our failures to listen, tell the truth, confess, lament, repent, atone, and seek reparation. Sophisticated statements of reconciliation have been and continue to be inadequate. Without reparations for institutionalized racism and white supremacist culture and the harms they cause, there will be no tangible movement toward justice.”

More information about the 226^th General Assembly, go Here.

By Shani E. McIlwain, General Assembly News