A handful of liberal churches, religious groups and LGBTQ+ organizations are celebrating the fact that Transgender Day of Visibility, recognized each year on March 31, falls on Easter Sunday in 2024.
Easter Sunday, which is not a fixed date, also falls on March 31, marking one of the most important liturgical celebrations as millions of Christians commemorate the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Though Transgender Day of Visibility has been celebrated since 2009 on March 31, several liberal religious and non-religious organizations have rejoiced that Easter will fall on the same day. Some churches are superimposing transgender themes on Easter celebrations.
In commentary shared by Rachael Ward, the United Church of Christ’s minister for Gender and Sexuality Justice Ministries, the author declared that “LGBTQ+ people need a resurrection moment where death does not have the word and love transcends hate.”
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“The resurrection story holds for LGBTQ+ people of faith the ultimate promise and truth: God is constantly coming out for your love and your personhood. And God knows intimately the ways it aches when those around us deny us of our rights to be human and in relationship to each other,” Ward wrote in an article published on the Ohio-based, socially liberal protestant church’s website.
“Resurrection this Easter Sunday can look like uplifting not just the disparities trans and non-binary siblings are facing, but offering space for their gifts from God to be celebrated.,” Ward added.
To celebrate Easter in Canada, the Calgary Unitarians, a liberal religious organization, is incorporating a drag show as part of its Sunday service that will show “support [for] our Trans Siblings” and serve as a “sacred act of protest.”
“This will be a thought-provoking service and sacred act of protest as we support our Trans Siblings during this current political climate. We’ll exploring the concept of TRANSformation in today’s society with DRAG Queen performances and story time, singing, dancing, and thought provoking speakers,” the group wrote on Facebook earlier this month.”
An advertisement for the Easter Sunday celebration dubbed the event “DRAG ME TO CHURCH” and included images of four drag queens.
A California church is also planning to interweave its celebration of Easter with this year’s Transgender Day of Visibility by recognizing “trans and nonbinary people” in a new photo-text exhibit that will be available for viewing for three Sundays beginning on March 31.
Dubbed the “New life, fuller life, authentic life,” the Easter Sunday service at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto will be held on March 31 and will be led by church Revs. Amy Zucker Morgenstern and Catherine Boyle.
“How appropriate that Easter and the Transgender Day of Visibility coincide this year! The trans and nonbinary people shown with their families in the photo-text exhibit that opens today at UUCPA exemplify the joyful rebirth one can experience by being authentically oneself with others,” the pair of church leaders shared in a post to the church’s website.
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“All of us, no matter what our gender identity, are called again and again to fuller life. To respond to the call, we may feel we are dying to the old self and being reborn. In this intergenerational Easter Sunday service, let us celebrate one another’s courageous, faithful leaps into new life, and the love that makes them possible,” they added.
Last week, Pride Source, a Michigan-based publication, also urged its readers to go “to church (or temple), observe trans day of visibility, catch a queer film, [and/or] see an aerial drag performance” to celebrate the Transgender Day of Visibility.
In a list of suggestions, the publication urged its readers to take part in “a religious Easter service on March 31 at a local queer-affirming church.”
“Places like the First Congregational Church of Ann Arbor (fccannarbor.org), where out lesbian head minister Rev. Dr. Darcy Crain leads congregants in joyful, fully inclusive services each week and a sign along State Street reads, ‘God’s doors are open to all,’ welcome local LGBTQ+ community members to join them on Easter Sunday,” the publication noted.
The celebrations come amid President Biden’s issuing of an official proclamation on Friday declaring March 31 as the Transgender Day of Visibility.
“On Transgender Day of Visibility, we honor the extraordinary courage and contributions of transgender Americans and reaffirm our Nation’s commitment to forming a more perfect Union — where all people are created equal and treated equally throughout their lives,” a statement released by the White House read.
“Today, we send a message to all transgender Americans: You are loved. You are heard. You are understood. You belong. You are America, and my entire Administration and I have your back,” it continued.
Several social media users, including former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and other Republican lawmakers, called Biden out on X for the declaration.
Traditional Christians regard transgender ideology as contrary to the Gospel.
Pope Francis has repeatedly warned of the “dangers” of gender ideology. “Why is it dangerous? Because it blurs differences and the value of men and women,” the Pope said in November.
Fox News’ Haley Chi-Sing contributed to this report.
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