Palmer Events Center
To Trans Texans: You are Loved
RECEIVED Fri., March 4, 2022
Dear Editor,
Transgender people embody the inherent worth and dignity that is a pillar of our Unitarian Universalist faith. At the Texas Unitarian Universalist Justice Ministry, or TXUUJM, our hearts are with trans kids, their families and caregivers, and all trans and nonbinary people. We love you fiercely and will forever fight for your rights and honor the beautiful ways you are you.
Attorney General Ken Paxton’s and Gov. Greg Abbott’s threats to kids who are transgender and their families are unconscionable and imagining a nonexistent problem, yet their fear-mongering does pose real danger to the health and safety of Texans who are transgender.
We also want to send reassurance from TXUUJM partners such as Texas Impact, which assures us the attorney general’s and governor’s opinions have no legal standing, and spiritual encouragement from UU ministers, who remain in steadfast support of our transgender congregants, colleagues and community members.
To transgender Texans and parents, caregivers and families of transgender kids: You are deeply loved. Paxton and Abbott do not speak for your communities of faith. Your clergy are not required to report gender-affirming care, nor would we. We pray you are tending to your needs and doing what gives you joy. Please reach out to local Unitarian Universalist clergy or our UU church care teams for support. We pledge to do everything we can.
Transgender people embody the inherent worth and dignity that is a pillar of our Unitarian Universalist faith. At the Texas Unitarian Universalist Justice Ministry, or TXUUJM, our hearts are with trans kids, their families and caregivers, and all trans and nonbinary people. We love you fiercely and will forever fight for your rights and honor the beautiful ways you are you.
Attorney General Ken Paxton’s and Gov. Greg Abbott’s threats to kids who are transgender and their families are unconscionable and imagining a nonexistent problem, yet their fear-mongering does pose real danger to the health and safety of Texans who are transgender.
We also want to send reassurance from TXUUJM partners such as Texas Impact, which assures us the attorney general’s and governor’s opinions have no legal standing, and spiritual encouragement from UU ministers, who remain in steadfast support of our transgender congregants, colleagues and community members.
To transgender Texans and parents, caregivers and families of transgender kids: You are deeply loved. Paxton and Abbott do not speak for your communities of faith. Your clergy are not required to report gender-affirming care, nor would we. We pray you are tending to your needs and doing what gives you joy. Please reach out to local Unitarian Universalist clergy or our UU church care teams for support. We pledge to do everything we can.
The Rev. Erin Walter, minister and executive director, Texas Unitarian Universalist Justice Ministry, Austin, Texas