Mormon Church Severely Restricts Trans Members
Transgender church members will be barred from working with children, serving as teachers, joining the priesthood, and being baptized.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has issued several policies expanding various types of restrictions that will stop transgender adherents of the religion from fully participating in church life.
The policies, adopted last month as part of a broader update to the church’s General Handbook, ban transgender individuals from working with children in religious settings, serving as teachers, and becoming priests.
The LDS church also expanded an existing rule preventing transgender individuals from being baptized.
Under the new rules, transgender individuals are likely to face annotation on their membership records, grouping them with individuals who have engaged in criminal behavior, such as incest, sexual assault, predatory behavior, or embezzlement of church funds, reports NBC News.
“Church leaders counsel against pursuing surgical, medical, or social transition away from one’s biological sex at birth,” the church’s General Handbook states. “Leaders advise that taking these actions will result in some Church membership restrictions.”
In other words, transgender people have a choice: they can deny their transgender identity altogether (possibly even pursuing conversion therapy to remain fixed in their assigned sex at birth), or they can choose to be relegated to a class of “undesirables” who are considered problematic and are prevented from fully participating in the religion in which many of them were raised.
The General Handbook notes that transgender individuals who do transition, even socially, will not be excommunicated from the church but are subject to all sorts of restrictions. It also encourages trans people and their families to talk with their local church leaders regarding their participation in the religious life of the church.
The ban on baptism is an expansion of a policy first issued four years ago, in which trans people were only prevented from the sacrament if they had undergone medical interventions related to transitioning. The updated policy extends that to anyone who socially transitions by changing their name, pronouns, or appearance.
The LDS church will allow for exceptions to the limitations if its religious leaders grant permission for expanded participation opportunities. The restrictions on trans participation can be reversed if a person detransitions.
The new policy conflicts with the church’s more recent efforts to be more inclusive or affirming of LGBTQ individuals.
While the LDS church was one of the top organizations leading the charge to ban same-sex nuptials in California through Proposition 8, church leaders also helped reach a “compromise” on civil rights legislation in Utah, which granted some religious protections for conservatives while prohibiting various forms of discrimination against LGBTQ people.
In 2022, despite its official opposition to same-sex marriage and consensual same-sex activity, the LDS church also came out in favor of the Respect for Marriage Act, a law that provides federal and state recognition of same-sex marriages legally performed in states without existing bans on same-sex marriage.
Similarly, in 2019, the church said it would allow children of same-sex couples to be baptized — provided that the parents agree to require their children to remain chaste and not engage in premarital sex.
Much like the Catholic Church, the LDS church does apparently not wish to completely sever ties with transgender individuals, with the handbook saying it “does not take a position” on people who experience gender dysphoria.
“These individuals often face complex challenges,” the handbook reads. “They — and their family and friends — should be treated with sensitivity, kindness, compassion, and Christlike love. All are children of God and have divine worth.”
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