US Catholic bishops voted Wednesday to make official a ban on gender-affirming care for transgender patients at Catholic hospitals. The step formalizes a yearslong process for the US church to address transgender health care. Meeting in a Baltimore hotel ballroom, the bishops overwhelmingly approved revisions to their ethical and religious directives to the nation's thousands of Catholic health care institutions and providers, the AP reports. More than 1 in 7 patients in the US are treated each day at Catholic hospitals, according to the Catholic Health Association. Catholic hospitals are the only medical center in some communities.
Major medical groups and health organizations support gender-affirming care for transgender patients. Most Catholic health care institutions have not offered gender-affirming care, which may involve hormonal, psychological, and surgical treatments. The new directives will formalize that practice. Bishops will have autonomy in making the directives into law for their dioceses. "With regard to the gender ideology, I think it's very important the church makes a strong statement here," said Bishop Robert Barron of Minnesota's Winona-Rochester diocese during the public discussion. The Catholic Health Association thanked the bishops for incorporating much of the organization's feedback into the directives.
The association said in a statement: "Catholic providers will continue to welcome those who seek medical care from us and identify as transgender. We will continue to treat these individuals with dignity and respect, which is consistent with Catholic social teaching and our moral obligation to serve everyone, particularly those who are marginalized." The policy has opposition.
- Other views in the church: "Catholic teaching upholds the invaluable dignity of every human life, and for many trans people, gender-affirming care is what makes life livable," said Michael Sennett, a trans man who is active in his Massachusetts parish. Sennett serves on the board of New Ways Ministry, which advocates for LGBTQ+ inclusion in the Catholic Church. New Ways Ministry's executive director, Francis DeBernardo, said that for many transgender Catholics he knows, "the transition process was not just a biological necessity, but a spiritual imperative. That if they were going to be living as authentic people in the way that they believe God made them, then transition becomes a necessary thing."
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- Other faiths: As the bishops discussed gender identity, the heads of several major progressive religious denominations issued a statement in support of transgender, intersex, and nonbinary people, at a time when many state legislatures and the Trump administration are curtailing their rights. The 10 signers included the heads of the Unitarian Universalist Association, the Episcopal Church, the Union for Reform Judaism, and the Presbyterian Church (USA). "During a time when our country is placing their lives under increasingly serious threat, there is a disgraceful misconception that all people of faith do not affirm the full spectrum of gender—a great many of us do. Let it be known instead that our beloveds are created in the image of God—Holy and whole," the religious leaders said in a statement.
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