This week has been another reminder that the forces of misogyny, patriarchy, and white supremacy continue to shape our world.

The Southern Baptist Convention voted to further exclude women from pastoral ministry. In Ohio, HB 472, originally intended to help unhoused people obtain free identification, has been transformed into a vehicle for voter suppression. The Cleveland Clinic reached a settlement that will end gender-affirming healthcare for transgender youth and establish a detransition clinic.

These actions may seem disconnected, but they are rooted in the same belief: that power belongs to a select few, while everyone else should know their place. Women. Transgender people. Poor people. Black and Brown communities. Disabled people. Anyone who challenges the expectations of patriarchy and white supremacy becomes a target.

Yet this week, I am ending my week in a very different place.

I am at the 2026 retreat of the Young Prophet Collective, an LGBTQ+ led community that welcomes people across race, ability, gender, sexual orientation, and neurodiversity. The mission is to empower people to “speak and act boldly and compassionately for justice.”

In a world that keeps trying to narrow who belongs, communities like this expand the circle. They create spaces where excluded voices are not merely tolerated but celebrated, where leadership is shared, where people are encouraged to bring their whole selves, and where justice is not an abstract idea but a daily practice.

The forces of exclusion may dominate headlines, but gatherings like this are how the world changes. Not through fear. Not through control. But through communities of courage, compassion, and belonging.

This is what gives me hope.

And this is what will transform the world.

Initially, HB 472 focused on helping Ohioans experiencing homelessness receive free state ID and birth certificates so that they can be empowered to fully function.

Now, lawmakers are trying to replace it with a substitute bill that makes major changes to Ohio’s vote-by-mail system. The new bill would require photo ID for absentee voters, create a new online application system, and impose significant new responsibilities on county Boards of Elections.

Today, a hearing was hastily called, waving rules on reporting time. With all of minutes to spare, I submitted the following testimony againt the substitute version of Ohio HB 472:

Chair, Vice Chair, Ranking Member, and members of the committee, Thank you for the opportunity to provide testimony regarding House Bill 472.

My name is Rev. Joelle Henneman. I serve as a pastor at Church for All People in Columbus. Every day I work alongside people experiencing poverty, housing instability, disability, and other barriers that make navigating government systems difficult. I also serve communities that have historically faced exclusion from full participation in civic life.

I am deeply concerned that portions of House Bill 472 will make it harder for eligible Ohioans to exercise their fundamental right to vote. The bill requires additional proof of citizenship documentation for voter registration and creates new documentation requirements when a person’s current legal name differs from the name on their citizenship documents. While these provisions are presented as election security measures, they will create real barriers for real people.

At Church for All People, we regularly encounter individuals who struggle to obtain or replace birth certificates, passports, and other identity documents. Many people experiencing homelessness have lost important paperwork. Many low-income Ohioans cannot easily afford replacement documents. Elderly voters may have records that are difficult to locate. Survivors of domestic violence may have complicated documentation histories.

As a transgender woman, I am especially concerned about provisions that require additional documentation when a person’s legal name differs from citizenship records. Many transgender people have legally changed their names and have spent years updating records across multiple agencies.

Requiring additional paperwork creates yet another hurdle for people who are already navigating complex bureaucratic systems. The right to vote should not depend on a person’s ability to locate decades-old documents, pay fees, take time off work, or successfully navigate complicated administrative requirements. The people most likely to be affected by these provisions are often the same people whose voices are already underrepresented in our democracy.

I believe strongly in secure elections. Ohio already has numerous safeguards in place to ensure election integrity. What I do not support are policies that risk preventing eligible citizens from participating in our democracy in pursuit of solving a problem that has not been shown to exist at a meaningful scale. Voting is not merely a legal right. It is a matter of human dignity and belonging. When we place unnecessary obstacles between citizens and the ballot box, we weaken our democracy and exclude voices that deserve to be heard.

I urge the committee to reject any provisions that would make it more difficult for eligible Ohioans to register and vote and to pursue policies that expand participation rather than restrict it. Thank you for your consideration.

Rev Dr Joelle Henneman

United Methodist Church for All People

Ben Weger, clergy, Stoughton UMC

Board Member, Reconciling Ministries Network

Siblings in Christ,

I rise to speak in favor of this resolution.

I rise, because, for me, this is not an abstraction. It is personal.

I am a transgender man. I am also a United Methodist pastor. There was a time when I did not believe those two realities could coexist. I knew the gifts God had given me. I knew the call I had heard. But I also knew the fear of rejection, exclusion, and wondering whether there would be a place for me in the church I loved. And those fears came to life when I began my transition from female to male in 2016, while I was serving on staff as laity at a United Methodist Church in Florida. After promising their full support for my transition - the clergy couple co-pastors came to my house after church, the Sunday following my top surgery - as I sat there with surgical drains hanging at my sides, this couple, who had served communion at our wedding just one year prior, sat on my lanai and in front of my beloved wife, as our daughters napped - told me the church just wasn’t ready. They gave me the option to resign or be fired, and if I resigned there would be a severance check. They were willing to pay me a significant amount of money to go away, rather than back up the beliefs they proclaimed with their actions.

Suddenly, our ability to finalize the adoption of our girls was at risk, as I was now unemployed. Would I be able to find another job while in the middle of my transition? Where would we worship and where would we find community, when we had relocated there for the sole purpose of being in ministry with a church that had promised the whole of its support for exactly who we were.

There was, at that time, no ability for me to challenge this discrimination - after all, the conference office was stroking the severance check given in exchange for me signing the separation agreement they had crafted.

Our faith begins with the conviction that every person is created in the image of God. The question before us is whether transgender, non-binary, and gender-diverse people will hear that promise from us—not only in our words, but in our actions.

This resolution affirms what our denomination has already recognized: that gender identity is not a barrier to ministry, leadership, or participation in the life of the church.

I stand before you today because people in this conference and throughout this denomination chose courage over fear. They chose welcome over exclusion. They chose to trust that God’s grace is bigger than their uncertainty.

And because they did, I have had the privilege of preaching the gospel, welcoming new members into God’s church, sitting beside hospital beds, burying the dead, serving communion and so much more. My inboxes still fill weekly with hateful sentiments and proclamations that I am a heretic and an abomination.

But God calls me and all of my trans and gender nonconforming siblings: beloved.

I am not asking you to make a political statement. I’m asking you to uphold your baptismal vows to resist evil, injustice and oppression in all its forms.

I am asking you to support for the teenager wondering if God still loves them.

For the fearful parent trying to keep their child safe.

For the person who has given up on the church because they have only heard rejection.

And yes, for people like me, who have discovered that God’s call remains steadfast and God’s love remains true.

If we are created in God’s image, as we claim to believe, then the more diverse we are gathered around any table, the more full a picture of who God is, we get to see.

Friends, this resolution is an opportunity to proclaim with both our words and our witness that every person is of sacred worth, deserving of dignity, protection, and belonging.

Thank you.

What do we have to do to be loved by God?

Romans 4 tells us that Abraham trusted God and that was enough. Because he trusted God he was right with God.

For queer people, that is good news.

In a world that often questions our worth and threatens our existence, we trust that God created us, loves us, and walks with us. We trust that our identity is not a mistake and that God’s grace is bigger than the voices that tell us otherwise.

That trust is enough.

And it is that trust that leads us to Pride. Not pride as arrogance, but pride as freedom from shame. Pride is the celebration of knowing who we are and whose we are. It is the joy of living as the people God created us to be.

Like Abraham, we may not know exactly where the road leads. But we trust the God who walks beside us.

And that is worth celebrating.

Join us on Tuesday, June 9 at 6 PM ET as we welcome RMN's new Executive Director, Rev. Andi Woodworth, for a live virtual conversation about who she is, her vision for RMN, and what's next for the Reconciling movement.

Register: https://hubs.li/Q04k6rx50

Join UMATI Community Connections

Please help us determine the best day and time for our monthly community meetups (UMATI Connect) by indicating your availability.  This meetings will be an informal time to meet, chat about life, and find connection/support outside of other UMATI meetings: https://www.tinyurl.com/UMATIConnect

Save the date PRN and UMATI workshop on being the parent of a transgender kid.

July 21 at 7pm

More info coming soon

In the video above, Angela Davis asks “why is it so difficult to recognize transgender women as women?”

Davis goes on to describe how Black women were not recognized as women, because they were seen as too angry to be proper women.

This video left me to wonder, in our culture, what is a woman? Who is allowed to claim the title of woman?

Surely not a person with brown skin and certainly not an immigrant.

Not a person who has given birth to too many children and not to a person who has not given birth to any children at all.

Not a person who is queer who resists being a tool of patriarchy.

Not a person who calls for social change or who serves in leadership.

Under the dominant culture, a woman is often one who has adopted a particular esthetic described by Inae Oh of Mother Jones as having a “Dramatic sort of makeup. Heavy on the eyeliner. Almost all of them have this, like, long flowing hair. The outfits tend to be very close to the body. I know sheath dresses are very big within that circle. And ultimately, pushing a very sort of, like, hyper feminine look in traditional conservative senses.”

This is the kind of woman that systems of power lift up for their appearance and allegiance.

Look feminine, obey conservatism.

But women have always been on the leading edge of social change.

Davis points out that the majority of Black Panther Party members were women.

Historically, women have organized and led foundational campaigns for gender equality, civil and voting rights, labor reforms, peace movements, and environmental protection. Today we see women leading movements against data centers and their impact on poverty and the environment.

From this historic view, a woman is not limited to someone who conforms to a static definition of patriarchal expectations. Instead, from a feminist and intersectional approach:

A woman is working class.

A woman is a person of color.

A woman is one who cries for justice.

A woman is queer and celebrates her sexuality.

A woman crosses borders to protect her children.

A woman is transgender. She is a living defiance of social constructs and binary structures that are the foundations of empire.

A woman is one who does not rest until freedom comes for all of her children.

As part of his seminary thesis, a friend in Cincinnati is conducting a survey on how people feel and think about several aspects of Christianity. You do not have to identify as a Christian to participate. The survey should take about 15-30 minutes and is anonymous; although, there's a way to leave your contact info if you choose. Your answers will help to inform his thesis which will investigate how people navigate the challenges and blocks to spiritual formation and transformation. 

https://cliftonumc.com/thesis-survey/

Over the last five years, politicians have escalated attacks on transgender people as a winning strategy. So far this year, legislatures have introduced 766 anti-transgender bills. But something may be changing.

Americans are increasingly focused on issues like the economy, housing costs, healthcare, and war. Most people are worried about paying their bills, not policing someone else’s gender identity. The culture war that once dominated headlines is competing with concerns that feel far more immediate to voters.

Courts are also pushing back. This week, a federal appeals court blocked enforcement of the Pentagon’s transgender military ban, finding that the policy was unconstitutional and targeted a politically unpopular group rather than serve a legitimate military purpose.

Public opinion remains complicated, but majorities of Americans continue to support basic nondiscrimination protections for transgender people. The political payoff of attacking transgender people may not be what it once was. A 2026 study commissioned by the Human Rights Campaign showed that “85% of Americans believe Transgender people should have the same rights and protection as everyone else.”

But this is not the time to breathe a sigh of relief.

The wall is cracking, not collapsing.

History shows that vulnerable communities are often scapegoated during times of uncertainty. As election season approaches, transgender people remain an easy target for politicians looking to distract voters from larger problems they cannot solve.

That is why now is the time to make our voices heard. To tell our stories. To organize. To vote. To advocate. To build relationships and challenge misinformation wherever it appears.

The cracks in the wall did not happen by accident. They exist because transgender people refused to disappear.

If the wall is going to fall, it will not be because justice arrives on its own. It will be because we keep pushing until fear and scapegoating can no longer hold it up.

The wall is cracking.

Keep pushing.

Grace, peace, and abundance can sound like luxuries in a world marked by violence, fear, and uncertainty. Peter writes these words not to people living comfortable lives, but to people navigating hardship.

Grace is the assurance that our belovedness does not depend on the approval of others. Before any law is passed, any church votes, or any critic speaks, God has already claimed us as beloved.

Peace is not the absence of conflict, it is a wholeness that is not shaken by circumstance. Peace allows us to keep working for justice without surrendering to despair.

We live in a culture of scarcity, one that tells us there is not enough dignity, freedom, or belonging to go around. The Gospel tells a different story. God’s abundance means there is enough love for everyone, enough grace for every failure, and enough hope for every challenge.

Living in grace, peace, and abundance does not mean ignoring the difficulties around us. It means trusting that God is still present within them. It means refusing to let fear define us, refusing to let bitterness consume us, and refusing to believe that scarcity is the final truth.

The world offers anxiety and division. Christ offers grace and peace in abundance.

Not after the struggle ends.

Right here, in the middle of it.

The struggle continues as hundreds of laws target transgender people. Politicians use our lives as talking points. We see the efforts to erase us from public life, from schools, from healthcare, and from history itself.

But this Pride Month, I find myself making a different observation: Look at what God has done!

It was only two years ago that harmful anti LGBT+ language was removed from the United Methodist Book of Discipline. Earlier this year Bishop Trimble, the General Secretary of Church and Society stated “The United Methodist Church unequivocally supports gender inclusivity, sacred worth and equal protection for transgender and non-binary people.”

As annual conferences are gathering, there is a new spirit in the place, and it is queer. LGBT+ people are being ordained and supportive legislation is being passed.

Reconciling Ministries Network has named my friend Rev Andi Woodworth as its next Executive Director—hiring a transgender woman in to this positing of leadership is a statement in itself.

I have experienced the movement of this same Spirit in my personal life. Top surgery has given me more wholeness than I could’ve imagined and I’ve signed a contract with Abingdon Press for a book on gender theology.

This year, I have been given so many opportunities to preach, write, organize, testify, advocate, and celebrate. The very part of me that some lawmakers want to erase, is the same part that is blossoming with life and opportunity.

The goal of Pride was never mere survival, it is thriving. Jesus said, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” Abundant life is not simply making it through another legislative session.

Pride is joy.

Pride is community.

Pride is healing.

Pride is purpose.

Pride is becoming who God created us to be.

This Pride Month, I am grateful for every victory, large and small.

For the scars that tell the truth about who I am.

For the book that will soon make its way into the world.

For the church that continues to change.

For the communities that continue to grow.

For the people who continue to choose love over fear.

The challenges facing transgender people have not disappeared.

But neither have we.

While others spend their energy trying to stop us, God continues creating something beautiful through us.

Pride is not only about resisting what harms us.

It is also about celebrating what is flourishing.

So this month, I am choosing gratitude.

I am choosing joy.

I am choosing hope.

And I am taking a moment to look around and say: Look at what God has done.

I wonder what they will be up to next.

Is God one or three? How do Father, Son, and Holy Spirit relate to one another? Every answer seems to create new questions.

But maybe the most important thing about the Trinity isn’t who God is. It’s what God is like.

At the heart of Christian faith is a God whose very nature is relationship. A God who exists in community. A God whose life is defined not by domination, isolation, or hierarchy, but by mutual love.

The Trinity tells us that diversity and unity are not opposites. Difference does not threaten love. Relationship is more important than uniformity.

As transgender people, we know what it is like to have others obsess over identity categories while missing the deeper truth of who we are. The church sometimes does the same thing with God, focusing so much on defining God that we forget to embody God’s love.

The mystery of the Trinity reminds us that we will never fully understand God’s identity. But we can understand God’s character.

God is love. God is relationship. God is community.

That may be the most important doctrine of all.

I experienced that multiple times during this conference. I saw it in the tears of a mother yearning for a closer relationship with her transgender child and realizing that loving her kid is enough.

I saw it in someone searching for safe church home. They felt that they would not be accepted because of who they are, but they left the conference knowing they are enough.

I saw it in the ordination of my friend, Angie Cox who had been denied six times because she is married to a woman. She proved that God’s call on her life is enough, while waiting for the church to catch up to what the Spirit was already doing.

I saw it in friends who have come to serve in ministry from other countries that would not accept them for the fullness of who they are. A prophet is not welcome in their own home, but a safe place where you are fully known is enough.

Abundance is a message I often preach but still have to be reminded of in practice. Today I presented a resolution centered on transgender rights.

Only hours before, at lunch, I wondered aloud how the vote would go. I did not know how my call for standing with transgender people amongst injustice would be received. I was awed when the vote was called and hundreds of hands were raised in favor and only a handful against.

This is truly a new day in the church. We have everything we need. We are everything we need. All we have to do is lean in to abundance, love in abundance, and stand in the fact that we are enough.

Watch the video presenting this recommendation at: https://vimeo.com/1185981543/3fe0fd0f61?fl=pl&fe=vl

The United Methodist Church stands at a moment of great opportunity. In 2024, the General Conference of the Church removed restrictions around ordination and marriage for LGBTQIA+ people. Since then, the Church’s constitution has been amended to affirm the role of people of diverse genders and abilities. On March 23rd of this year, Bishop Julius Tremble of Church and Society stated “The United Methodist Church unequivocally supports gender inclusivity, sacred worth and equal protection for …

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This bill targets transgender people, drag performers, queer communities, and anyone who dares to have a public presence while wearing clothing or makeup different than their gender assigned at birth.

Show up in solidarity. Show up in joy. Show up wearing something that is authentically you. Show up exactly as you are.

Wednesday, May 27
Ohio Statehouse
4 PM

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For most of American history, transgender people have not been able to safely serve in the military as themselves. People like Albert Cashier in the Civil War and Alan Hart  in World War I lived their lives as men and served in combat while hiding the fact that they had transitioned. People like Monica Helms served in the Navy during the Vietnam War for a country that denied her humanity, but she went on to create the transgender flag.

When transgender people died in combat, they were buried under names and identities that were never truly theirs. That sacrifice is the cost of erasure. As a result, Memorial Day is not only a day of remembrance, but also a day of lament.

We lament the lives hidden.

We lament the stories untold.

We lament the people who gave everything for a nation that made authenticity dangerous.

Scripture tells us in Psalm 139 that God knows us completely, t…

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What began as a bipartisan effort to honor women’s history collapsed after Republicans added an amendment banning transgender women from representation in the museum and giving President Donald Trump direct authority over the museum’s location and oversight.

A museum dedicated to women was rewritten so that a man would have expanded power over its direction, while women, both transgender and cisgender, would face new erasure and political policing. The amendment claimed to protect women while placing control of women’s history into the hands of male political authority.

Democratic Women’s Caucus Chair Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández said plainly, “It was a simple bill. You kind of ruined it with your trans obsession and your culture wars.”

She also warned, “A museum about women, fought for and suppo…

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