TRUUsT.org

Please change your bookmarks and RSS feeds. We’re moving to truust.wordpress.com

This should be our new permanent address.

Oh, and we have a retreat coming up next month, so updates should be coming!

–a commentary by Rev. Sean–

Clearly, Rev. Christine and the event she attended about “Excellence in Ministry” got me thinking. Today’s thoughts revolve around the ideal of excellence and how oppression works.  If, by virtue of being part of an “historically marginalized group” I am seen as very different from the image  of the “ideal minister,” how will that affect perceptions of excellence?  For example, as a transgender man, my very identity causes anxiety in many congregations and search committees.  I am often perceived as a “risky” candidate–not because of the quality of my ministry, but because of worries about my identity.  Those worries are not something I create, but are created to serve the status quo–stigmatizing, punishing, and planting fear of any who differ from the norm.

But wherever they come from, fears about identity get in the way of perceiving excellence.  A “marginalized” identity looms so large that the quality of a person’s ministry is overshadowed and hidden.  This is the reason it is openly admitted that ministers from “historically marginalized groups”  have to be twice or thrice or ten times as good as ministers whose identity fits the ideal. Even as women have slowly become the majority in our ministry, this is still known to be true of their ministry.  Imagine how it is for ministers even further from our Unitarian Universalist “norm!”  There is little room for them to be ordinary. Or have a bad year. Or–and this is especially sad–have time to acquire the skills and wisdom they need to become truly excellent. So many people from historically marginalized communities leave ministry within just a few years.

There’s another part to this.  Every time I’m rejected because of my identity, I begin to question my own excellence.  My confidence suffers and with it, I’m sure my ministry does too.  This is internalized oppression at work and it wears at the soul of any minister who is marginalized for differing from the norm.  I’ve seen it time and time again–a slow-growing soul weariness at having to explain, educate, and sometimes defend one’s right to minister and even one’s right to exist.  And even when that battle is won, there is the soul-deadening work of “covering.”

“It is a fact that persons who are ready to admit possession of a stigma (in many cases because it is known about or immediately apparent) may nonetheless make a great effort to keep the stigma from looming large. . . . this process will be referred to as covering.” Erving Goffman, Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity (1963).

The need to manage identity, stigma, and difference magnifies the vulnerability of these ministers exponentially.  The hard work of covering makes the need for self-care and other soul-satisfying activities and relationships vitally important.

And yet, most of these vulnerable ministers end up in small, struggling congregations. These are the congregations for whom the hunger for ministry outweighs the “risk” of having a “non-ideal” minister.  The ministry of these churches is often conflicted, poorly paid, and full of the stresses of trying to grow and change in order to survive.  Thus, our historically marginalized ministers are most often serving congregations where they are managing many things at once, far from colleagues and chances for ongoing support.  And in some cases, colleagues themselves may struggle to understand and accept a minister whose identity is outside their comfort zone.

I have just one more point.  Those of us from historically marginalized social locations are not really free to talk about these challenges. (It’s one of the bigger aspects of “covering” to maintain the fiction that we are fine, everything is fine…”)  If we do admit that we are exhausted, disillusioned or angry, we are often labeled as “whiners” or “trouble-makers.” It’s only been said to me once, but it has been said to me: “You should be grateful to be a minister at all.”  To be perceived as “excellent” most ministers of color, ministers with disabilities, genderqueer or transgender ministers, gay, lesbian and bisexual ministers, (and many more who challenge the norms of our culture of ministry) are expected to hide our struggles and offer unending hope and encouragement to our movement–sometimes to the very people whose words stung so badly or whose rejection hurt us to the core. And with that, I’ve probably said too much…

*cross-posted at ministrare

Hello!  One thing that this website needs is a logo.  So I am announcing a logo contest.  The prize will be a basket of trans-related resources for you and/or your congregation.  There will be books, DVDs–even children’s resources! To enter, send the logo–with your name, address, email, and any other relevant contact information to truust@truust.org.

There are a few things we’re looking for and a few things we’re NOT looking for.  Here is what I remember of our conversation about what we’d like:

• It’s important that the image not imply that transgender is simply “male, female, or other” or that being trangender is simply being between male and female.  So no combining of pink and blue or the “male” symbol and the “female” symbol.  While gender is often described as a continuum, we want to make sure our logo includes people who see themselves as “off the charts” or something that is different than “in-between.”
• It’s important that our logo clearly convey that we are Unitarian Universalist.  We’ve played around with the word “TRUUsT” with the “U’s” coming together to form a chalice.
• While we are part of the BLGTQQI community and we claim that boldly, we don’t have to rely on rainbows, triangles, or pink and lavender to make the connection.  Bold colors would be nice.
• We need it to be print ready, scalable, and for you to be willing to donate it us. You will get credit on all publications with the words “Logo designed by…”(as well as receiving the nifty prize basket.)
• We need all entries by June 15.  We will notify the winner by July 1, 2008.

Have fun being creative!

Sean

Transgender Religious Professional Unitarian Universalists Together (TRUUsT) is a newly forming organization within the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations (UUA) that serves as a touchstone for transgender policy issues within the UUA.

TRUUsT’s steering committee held its first meeting April 22-25, 2008 in a retreat setting where the participants started developing working relationships, uncovering transgender history in the UUA, and planning for future meetings. Membership on the steering committee has been by invitation.

Membership in the TRUUsT organization is open to any Unitarian Universalist transgender or transgender ally who is a member of either the Liberal Religious Educators Association (LREDA) or the Unitarian Univeralist Ministers Association (UUMA). The organization plans to hold an annual membership retreat for transgender religious professionals and their religious professional allies (date to be announced, possibly beginning in 2009).

Welcome to the website for TRUUsT, a new group being formed for transgender religious professionals and their allies in the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations. Yes, there are transgender ministers, religious educators, administrators and musicians in our congregations!

We’ll use this site to keep you informed as our planning continues, to ask for your input, and to keep in touch. We hope it’s helpful as we launch TRUUsT.