Transgender People
The Discipline doesn't address gender identity and transgender people. The paragraph on sexuality says some very positive words about everyone being of sacred worth and understanding that our sexuality is a good gift from God. But it's silent on gender identity, leaving opportunities for questions and challenges.
In 2007, a United Methodist elder in good standing reported a name change to the Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference. This action prompted a question on whether an elder who's in good standing and who has undergone a gender change is eligible for appointment in the United Methodist Church. The bishop ruled that the name change didn't change the clergyperson's eligibility for appointment within the conference. The Judicial Council affirmed this ruling, stating that the adjective placed in front of the noun "clergyperson" doesn't matter. What matters is that clergypersons, once ordained and admitted to membership in full connection, can't have that standing changed without being accorded fair process. The Judicial Council didn't address any other questions related to gender change.
"God says I am who I am! How can we possibly put I am who I am into binaries like male-female, natural-unnatural, compatible-incompatible?" --Rev. Drew Phoenix, United Methodist minister who is transgender
Read a statement by the Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference regarding Rev. David Weekley sharing his story as a transgender man.
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