eBar.com – by Heather Cassell
Transgender religious leaders are convening the first-ever Transgender Religious Summit at the Pacific School of Religion this weekend in Berkeley.
Religious leaders, academics, and policymakers are meeting January 19-21 to focus on how people of faith can respond to discrimination and hatred against transgender people within their congregations and communities.
“It’s important to mobilize progressive people of faith who want to see more justice for transgender people in their own communities,” said Justin Tanis, a graduate of Harvard Divinity School and program director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, who helped organize the summit.
The conference, while not open to the general public, is open to people of all faith traditions. The conference is being held in part to examine those of the religious right who are sometimes the only people speaking in opposition to legislation that would protect transgender people.