TransEpiscopal: Keep On Keeping On
The British WWII propaganda poster "Keep Calm and Carry On" has been used by various organizations. At General Convention, stickers with "Keep Calm and Let the Archivist handle it" were passed out. But how does one Keep Calm, and should we keep calm? The past two weeks at General Convention have been full of anxiety, apprehension, vulnerability, and hope. As an organization, TransEpiscopal rejoiced at the Supreme Court rulings that upheld the Affordable Care Act and recognized marriage equality throughout the country. We held an outdoor "flash mob" Eucharist that included a rite of name change for one of our members. We gave testimony for resolutions D036 Adding Name Change Rite to the Book of Occasional Services and D037 Amending Names in Church Records, Registries, and Certificates. We waited as these resolutions went through committee and into consideration in the Houses. We celebrated Louie Crew and 40 years of Integrity at the Integrity Eucharist. After exhortations to the House of Deputies to be respectable, we were quiet in the gallery and on the floor as Resolutions A054 and A036 passed in the house, reacting with restrained joy.
After eight legislative days, there is an exhaustion that permeates one's body, but it is with hope that we look towards the last legislative day. D036 & D037 are still under consideration and hope lives on that they will be passed by both houses. There have been sweeping changes in both the law of the land and the law of the church, but our work is not yet not done. Trans people (particularly trans women of color) are still being murdered at an alarming rate in our
- Kori Pacyniak
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