A Transgender Youth Policy Suspended by the Clerk

By on July 23, 2013 in Youth

This blog post originally titled “A Transphobic Policy?” was posted on July 23. Then it was edited on July 24 with the new title and an important update. Following this important update, and after Annual Sessions, a further http://pharmacyonline-cialis.com/ minute of exercise was included on August 8. See below; scroll to the very bottom of this post.

Friends:

A participant in the Young Friends (High School) Program had asked that an open letter be distributed as widely as possible. Click here for a PDF version. Below is the text of the open letter written by Samara, a PYM member, and transgender teenager. If you choose to forward the letter, she has also asked that you include the PDF version.

The Philadelphia Yearly Meeting Education Standing Committee (ESC) passed a policy. Click here or scroll to the bottom of this post, after Samara’s letter, to view it in full. The thrust of the policy required all participants in the Young Friends (High School) program, “to use the sleeping and bathroom arrangements in alignment with their biological sex. All bathroom, showers, sleeping and changing quarters will be clearly marked as ‘male’ or ‘female.’ In a facility with one bathroom, it is to be used by one gender at a time.” Shortly after the policy was made publicly available on the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting website many expressed, “confusion, pain and hurt.”

Following such outpour, the Clerk of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, Jada S. Jackson, suspended the policy, “until after the Education Standing Committee has completed a reevaluation in the fall.” She wrote: “As we move into Sessions, outweighing all other concerns is the degree to which this policy may require Friends to act in ways inconsistent with our testimony of equality…” To view her full letter, click here. It is also available at the bottom of this post after the now-suspended Youth Programs Transgender Policy.

A listening session about the policy was held at a conversation tent during Philadelphia Yearly Meeting Annual Sessions, Thursday, 25 July 2013. Two members of the Education Standing Committee were present with approximately fifty other Friends. After the listening session, a small group gathered to write a minute of exercise. Click here to view the entire minute, or scroll all the way to the bottom of this post.

Since Annual Sessions, the Clerks of the Young Friends Program, of whom Samara is one, will be leading a process whereby the Young Friends write a different iteration of the suspended policy. Although there is more healing to be done, the Young Friends and the Education Standing Committee plan to work together to write a policy.

Sincerely, Zachary T. Dutton, Coordinator
Western Quarterly Meeting

 

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I came to the Young Friends program with the intent of participating in and nurturing a program that was universally accepting and inherently Quaker. I understood that Philadelphia Yearly Meeting wished to uphold the long-standing tradition of acceptance and appreciation of youth that is Young Friends. Because of this recent change I no longer feel that PYM is providing the opportunity for the program to be inherently and fully accepting or even Quaker.

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Yesterday I got a call. My brother was visiting from Maryland and my family was waking up to our last fantastic natural viagra day of visiting with him before he headed back to his home. I had registered recently for the two big Young Friends gatherings of the summer, Sessions and Camp Onas. I’d received a mysterious email from our coordinator asking to call me before Sessions, and yesterday we made the call.

 

I was informed that Philadelphia Yearly Meeting had decided that if I were to attend Sessions or Onas I would not be allowed to sleep or use bathroom spaces with my gender. This is because I am transgender. I realized I am transgender at a Young Friends gathering. I accepted that I am transgender at a Young Friends gathering. I was supported as a transgender person at Young Friends gatherings. http://pharmacyonline-cialis.com/generic-family-discount-pack-dosage/ Now I was told that PYM no longer supported my being transgender at Young Friends gatherings.

 

In recent years the Young Friends have thoughtfully held the issues of our identities and intentional support of each other as we’ve learned to form our community. Out of this our Young Friends community realized we wanted to have a supportive and inclusive policy for our trans* members. Recently Young Friends reached out to PYM’s Education Standing Committee to have a trans-inclusive policy created for Young Friends. This policy was “directed specifically toward the needs for being an inclusive community for Friends regardless of their gender identity.”
I was surprised to hear the new policy and I feel it did exactly viagra generic the opposite of the Young Friends’ intentions. Instead of supporting me and other trans* members of our community, it actually harms us. This supposedly trans-inclusive policy completely shut out the needs of trans* members (like me) of the community, segregating all “intimate spaces” by biological gender. Were this policy to be carried out it would publicly humiliate and stigmatize all trans members of the community by treating us as our opposite gender.

 

Many of us Young Friends come to the program relying on it to be our safe haven from the oppression and cruelties of our everyday lives. Many of us come to the program willing to realize and be open to aspects of ourselves we’ve never or rarely acknowledged. Many of us come because we need a place to be unquestionably loved. Stigmatizing any group or individual within our community doesn’t just prevent the community from being this safe haven for those people, it goes against the fundamental Quaker principles which Young Friends is based off of.

 

Quakers believe that there is that of God in every person, and therefore are called to strive for worldwide, unrestricted equality before God. Since our beginning Quakers have often been seen in progressive and activist roles in society, such as Lucretia Mott organizing the Seneca Falls Convention. As we have worked in the past and will continue to work for women’s rights, it is time also to turn our attention again to LGBTQ equality. This means accepting http://pharmacyonline-viagra.com/ all walks of life and all genders, and creating communities inclusive to http://pharmacyonline-viagra.com/cheap-kamagra-oral-jelly-grape-cost-online.php all–cisgendered, transgender, 20mg cialis intersex, or off the gender binary entirely.

 

Throughout history, exclusion and discrimination against particular groups has been something Quakers have acknowledged as evil. Women, people of color, slaves, poor, gays, and now transgender people. This policy betrays that history, and I am buy cialis calling on Philadelphia Yearly Meeting to revoke it and work towards something truly inclusive.

 

All the constituencies involved, as normal practice, should be involved in the actual policy making. Trans* youth and parents and the youth professionals who will implement the policy, such as Hannah Mayer and Kody Gabriel Hersh, especially should be allowed to impact the policy.

 

Before implementation of any policy changes that affect the Young Friends, policies should be given to and approved by the Young Friends program in some way.

~Samara J. B. A. Rockwood

Glossary:
Cisgender: Gender identity matches gender assigned at birth
Transgender: Gender identity does not match gender assigned at birth
Intersex: Ambiguous or both biological genders
Gender Identity: Gender identity is a person’s subjective view of their own gender, sometimes the same or sometimes different than biological sex–also known as assigned sex, for sex assigned at birth.

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Reposted From the PYM.ORG website:

Youth Programs Transgender Policy

Posted July 19th, 2013 • Uncategorized

Last September, the Education Standing Committee (ESC) began the process of developing a policy around the inclusion and support of transgender and gender non-conforming youth in our programs. The process was initiated by youth program staff, seeking guidance and support from the committee for the practices to support transgender youth. This report includes an overview of the last year’s process and a status update about the policy.In August, staff began talking with the Young Friends about how the community can be inclusive of transgender kids. In September of 2012 the ESC invited a guest to their meeting to provide a mini Trans 101 course for them. They received a suggested draft policy from staff and began their discussions. The committee asked that the practice for bathroom and sleeping arrangements that was in place at the 2012 Sessions and the August Camp Onas Young Friends event continue while the policy was being developed. That practice was, with staff input and involvement, to support transgender and gender non-conforming program participants in making their own decisions about what housing and bathroom arrangements would make them feel comfortable, safe, and affirmed.Over the course of the year a member of the committee attended several Young Friends gatherings including a business meeting where an agenda item included logistical practices and support for transgender participants. The committee wanted to hear from adults who nurture our youth and held two conversations in April for parents and other adults invested in the youth program. In June the committee approved a policy and forwarded it to staff. The policy was shared with relevant staff, the youth clerks of Young Friends and the transgender youth participants. As staff, youth and their families heard the ESC policy, they voiced strong reactions of concern for the sense of safety and inclusion for transgender participants. Staff have shared these concerns back to the committee with a request that the committee reconsider the policy.

 

Sessions staff made arrangements for housing the Young Friends program at Sessions in a dorm with all single rooms and bathrooms so that the program could continue its current practice without being out of compliance with any policy. The committee is reviewing the concerns raised and PYM’s liability policy.

 

We are seeking further insight and discernmentThe Education Standing Committee is hosting a conversation about the transgender policy at Sessions on Thursday, July 25 at 1:30. A meeting with the committee and staff following Sessions to review and discuss the policy further is being planned. The policy can be read below. Friends who wish to communicate with the committee may send an email to education@pym.org for forwarding to the committee members.

Philadelphia Yearly Meeting
Education Standing Committee
Policy Supporting Transgender Youth Participants in Young Friends

Background
The Young Friends program values itself as a community that is spiritually grounding, welcoming, fun and emotionally safe and for all members of the community. Transgender youth have been present in the Young Friends community sporadically for the last few decades, and now the Young Friends’ clerks and Youth Program staff thought it time to consciously and intentionally seek a path forward that cares for everyone’s inclusion –those who are transgendered, those who are not, the staff and volunteers who work with the program and the parents who have entrusted us with their children.

Goals

  • To maintain the emotionally safe and welcoming community of Young Friends
  • To maintain open communication so that members of the community can express their experience and concerns in the spirit of supporting Friends into learning and opening.
  • To keep the locus of responsibility for addressing concerns for the sense of community with the Young Friends community.
  • To provide direction for procedures for housing, clothing changes, bathroom use and other intimate aspects of community which address, to the best extent possible, the needs of the entire group.

Policy Points

All participants will use the sleeping and bathroom arrangements in alignment with their biological sex. All bathroom, showers, sleeping and changing quarters will be clearly marked as “male” or “female.” In a facility with one bathroom, it is to be used by one gender at a time.

  • A number of FAPs and staff will be educated in concerns of gender identity and adolescents and will be available as resources and nurturers and question-answerers for the community.

Additional Notes

  • It is recognized that we are making policy in an area that has little precedent. We will return to this policy and to the effects of it on a regular basis at the community and at the administrative levels (at Young Friends events, with parents and in oversight committees such as Education Standing Committee) to assess the effectiveness and the supportiveness of the policy.
  • This policy is directed specifically toward the needs for being an inclusive community for Friends regardless of their gender identity. Issues of behavior and boundaries around sexual and romantic interactions are separate issues and need to be addressed according to the rules and policies in place for them.

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Transgender Youth Policy Suspended by Action of the Clerk

Posted July 24th, 2013 • Uncategorized

 

Dear Friends,Part of the role and responsibility of the Clerk of Yearly Meeting is to provide spiritual leadership. This comes in many forms. One of which is the care of the community.It has come to the attention of our leadership that the recent Youth Programs Transgender Policy, in particular regarding to the use of bathrooms, showers, sleeping and changing quarters, has caused many among us confusion, pain and hurt.These emotions are not uncommon to the human condition, and we will face these emotions again. It is part of our Quaker process to struggle together towards our understanding of how God is leading us. The Education Standing Committee has been faithful to this process and will continue to be under the weight of this concern. This is illustrated by their working over the course of several committee meetings to consider a policy; planning several regional listening sessions, including the Thursday 1:30 PM listening session at Sessions; their willingness to receive comments by email; and their commitment to reevaluate the policy in the fall. For this how long does viagra last faithful attention to our process, I deeply thank them.

As we move into Sessions, outweighing all other concerns is the degree to which this policy may require Friends to act in ways inconsistent with our testimony of equality, and the level of separation and pain implementing the policy has thus far caused. I see clearly, that protecting a space for Friends to sit with the Divine is the primary responsibility of our Clerk. Based on this, under my role as Clerk and with the support of the Alternate Clerks, I am immediately suspending the Youth Programs Transgender Policy until after the Education Standing Committee has completed a reevaluation in the fall.

For some this is may seem to be overreaching my authority, and this may be true. But let me be clear, there is only one way forward, and that is with Love. Regardless if Friends support or do not support this policy:

  • All Friends are and will remain welcome on our worship benches;
  • All views, and any associated pain or hurt related to them, should be shared in a way that does not intentionally inflict additional pain or hurt;
  • Friends are and will be asked to come with open hearts and minds;
  • Friends are and will be asked to stand clearly cialis vs viagra in their Truth, and to respect other Friends that may not be in the same space;
  • Friends are asked to hold all of us during process.
  • I join the Education Standing Committee in encouraging Friends to share views and to hold the committee in prayer as they continue their work concerning this policy.
  • I look forward to your time together that Sessions.

Peace,

Jada S. Jackson

Clerk, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends

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Listening Session Minute of Exercise

On 7/25/2013, approximately 60 people met to respond to the Transgender Youth Policy which was finalized by the Education Standing Committee (ESC) about a month earlier. The policy was published by the Yearly Meeting a week earlier and was suspended by the PYM Clerk 7/24/2013. The group included one member of the ESC who was active in creating the policy, and one who was not active in creating the policy.

Many feelings were strongly expressed including: shock, hurt, anger, confusion, pain, rejection, and feeling degraded and devalued.

Many Friends were confused by the policy. Much of the policy used strong trans-inclusive language. And yet the requirement to segregate bathrooms and sleeping rooms by “biological sex” was understood by those gathered to be unwelcoming to trans Friends and harmful to them and others.

We heard many concerns about the process that generated this policy. Prior to finalizing the policy, the Education Standing Committee heard from staff, Young Friends, and about 15 parents and other adults interested in youth programs. The resulting policy did not reflect the wisdom or desires of these groups.

We kept asking, http://cialis-canadapharmacy.com/ “Why?” Why was a policy created for a group of Friends who did not unite with it? Why did Education Standing Committee think it necessary to change the long-standing practice of designating bathrooms and sleeping arrangements by gender identity? One member of the ESC suggested that the Committee experienced both a generational barrier and inexperience with transgender issues, and that the Committee failed to overcome these challenges.

We learned that PYM youth staff communicated to the General Secretary their conscientious objection to the new policy. The General Secretary forwarded these concerns, as well as others identified by youth staff and the Associate Secretary for Program & Religious Life, to the ESC almost three weeks before it was made public. The Committee did not respond to these objections before the policy was published. Why was the Committee unable to engage with these concerns before the policy was made public?

What is needed now?

Friends called for apology, reconciliation, and healing. One ECS committee member apologized personally. There will be more work for the committee to do in this area.

We need to examine and understand the roots of this problem. What where the structures and institutional habits that allowed this to happen? How could we change our institutional practices to avoid similar problems in the future?

We need to involve Young Friends in any policy changes that impact them. This means that the Young Friends Liaison with the ESC should be a Young Friend. Also, ESC will be stronger if it includes young adult Friends who were in the Young Friends program previously and other adults with connections to the Young Friends program. [This type of “fix” is applicable to all committees: let’s follow the principle of “no decisions about us without us.”]

Young Friends policies should be developed collaboratively with Young Friends and ESC, and approved by both bodies.

Many Friends suggested that the next version of the policy be drafted by a group of Young Friends who would then send their draft to the ESC. Ideally, the two groups would communicate with each other until unity is found.

Written by a self-selected group present at the conversation:

Samara Rockwood, co-clerk, Young Friends

Sebastian DiMino, participant, Young Friends

Peter Lane, member, Education Standing Committee

Carrie Sandler, mother of Young Friends participant

Grayfred Gray

Traci Hjelt Sullivan

Walter Hjelt Sullivan

Tesla DuBois

Juliette Lane

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