A group consisting of over 100 leaders in the Episcopal Church has organized an LGBTQ+ Caucus that will focus on advancing LGBTQ+ inclusion in the wider church. The group leaders are currently preparing for their denomination’s General Convention, which will occur July 7 to 14 in Baltimore, Maryland.
While the Episcopal Church passed a resolution in 2018 granting LGBTQ+ members full access to sacraments and marriage rites, the group reports that not all Episcopal spaces are affirming and welcoming at this time. The caucus hopes to make the 2018 resolution more of a reality through their work in the coming months and years.
Egan Millard with the Episcopal News Service writes:
Among the groups with a presence at this year’s General Convention will be a new self-organized caucus of LGBTQ+ members of the House of Deputies. The group of over 100 members is working in small groups as the July 7-14 convention scheduled to take place in person in Baltimore, Maryland, approaches, identifying priorities and developing potential resolutions that could advance the cause of LGBTQ+ inclusion across the church.
The LGBTQ Caucus, one of several groups of deputies who have organized themselves around common identities and interests, was formed around the idea that “there’s still plenty of work to do in The Episcopal Church” for LGBTQ+ people, the Rev. Susan Russell told Episcopal News Service. Russell, a longtime advocate for LGBTQ+ Episcopalians, is one of seven members of the caucus’s planning team.
Among the caucus’s priorities are issues relating to transgender and nonbinary people – such as introducing gender-expansive language and opposing anti-transgender laws – and ensuring that existing canons on equal access to the sacraments are consistently followed across the church.
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