North America’s biggest Jewish denomination adopts transgender resolution
By Will Stroude
Trans people are welcome in one of North America’s most prominent Judaism movements.
Reform Judaism, the largest Jewish movement in the US and Canada, has passed what they call “the most far-reaching resolution on transgender rights of any major religious organisation”, The New York Times reports.
The “Resolution on the Rights of Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming People” was unanimously approved at a Union for Reform Judaism conference in Orlando, Florida.
Among other things, the resolution compels Reform Jewish congregations and institutions to refer to transgender people “by their name, gender, and pronoun of preference”, as well as to provide gender-neutral bathrooms.
“Our delegates voted overwhelmingly to pass a resolution affirming the full equality, inclusion and acceptance of transgender/gender non-conforming individuals, officially welcoming them into our congregations, camps and other Reform institutions,” the group posted on Facebook.
The Reform Jewish movement has a history of advocating LGBT rights, so this development isn’t controversial or altogether surprising. And while other religious organisations have shown varying degrees of support for transgender issues, the Reform Jews’ new resolution is the most progressive so far.
“I don’t think we’ve seen anything as comprehensive as this from any other faith communities,” said Michael Toumayan, religion and faith program manager at the Human Rights Campaign.
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