Gender-Affirming Care

The Episcopal Church has endorsed “gender-affirming care” at all ages, including mastectomies and “bottom” surgeries that sterilize and cause sexual dysfunction. From the Episcopal House of Deputies Resolution: Resolved, that the 80th General Convention calls for the Episcopal Church to advocate for access to gender affirming care in all forms (social, medical, or any other) and at all ages as part of our Baptismal call to “respect the dignity of every human being”; and be it further Resolved, that the 80th General Convention affirms that all Episcopalians should be able to partake in gender affirming care with no restriction on movement, autonomy, or timing; and be it further Resolved, that the 80th General Convention understands that the protection of religious liberty extends to all Episcopalians who may need or desire to access, to utilize, to aid others in the procurement of, or to offer gender affirming care; and be it further Resolved, that this 80th General Convention supports public policies at the local, state, and national levels in all our countries to support gender affirming care. This means puberty blockers that can impede proper bone growth and hormones that can have deleterious side effects that have not been fully studied. Castration of boys who believe they are girls. Destroying the vaginas of girls who believe they are boys. This, at a time when major medical-negligence lawsuits are soon to be filed in the U.K. against Tavistock Gender Clinic because it did not properly protect children from exactly the interventions the Episcopal Church has endorsed, as health authorities in France, Finland, and Sweden are hitting the brakes on this awful approach to caring for children with gender dysphoria, not to mention the bitter testimonials of detransitioners furious that they were not protected from such actions by doctors and parents. The Episcopal Church believes it is being affirming of human dignity, when it is endorsing actions that really entail the opposite. Children have to be protected — even, sometimes, from themselves.