If you are new to understanding gender identities or want to learn more about transgender and nonbinary experiences, here’s a great place to begin: Transgender 101
Every November 20th, the Transgender Day of Remembrance calls us to honor the lives taken by anti-transgender violence and to confront ongoing injustice. For the United Methodist Church, it is a moment to reckon with past exclusions, stand against the harm inflicted on the queer and trans community, and recommit to valuing every person as a beloved child of God.
As we live out the Social Principles, United Methodists call on “churches, governments, businesses, and civic organizations to do all in their power to combat such unjust treatment and to promote equal rights and protections for all.”
As we honor the lives lost, we must also envision and work toward a future where such remembrance is no longer necessary—a world that fully embraces every person’s inherent dignity and divine worth.
Honoring Lives Lost
We honor Quanesha Shantel, a 26-year-old Black transgender woman and performer, who was tragically shot and killed on Sunday, November 10, 2024, in Greensboro, North Carolina, making her at least the 30th violent killing of a transgender or gender-expansive person in 2024.
We remember Kassim Omar, a 29-year-old Black trans woman and Somali refugee, who fled to the U.S. to escape anti-LGBTQ+ violence but faced continued harassment in Columbus, Ohio, where she was shot by two teenagers targeting her for her gender identity and sexuality.
We also honor Sasha Williams, a 36-year-old multiracial transgender woman known to sew her own clothes and described as having a “heart of gold,” who dreamed of becoming a performer, but was tragically stabbed and killed in Las Vegas.
These losses are magnified by the escalating violence and political attacks targeting transgender individuals.
Violence and Legislative Attacks on Trans Lives
The numbers are devastating. According to the Human Rights Campaign, 76% of murdered transgender individuals are people of color, with over half being Black transgender women. Nearly 60% are killed with firearms, often by people they know.
These figures expose the harsh reality of the dangers faced by transgender individuals—particularly Black trans women—simply for existing.
This violence does not occur in a vacuum—it is compounded by a political climate increasingly hostile to trans people. As we approach 2025, the ACLU is tracking 558 anti-LGBTQ bills across state legislatures, targeting transgender people’s access to healthcare, education, and public spaces.
This legislative assault is bolstered by Project 2025, an agenda from the incoming administration that threatens to strip away federal protections for LGBTQ individuals, restrict gender-affirming care, eliminate inclusive educational content, and impose “traditional” family structures.
The Deeper Roots of Transphobia
The hostility faced by transgender individuals is deeply rooted in colonial systems that imposed rigid gender categories to erase Indigenous cultures’ fluid understandings of identity and undermine existing social structures.
These constructs were not only tools of domination but also served as a justification for colonization, replacing nuanced Indigenous perspectives with restrictive Western binary norms that continue to marginalize transgender experiences.
Transgender people, through their authentic self-expression, reveal a profound truth: the gender binary is fundamentally restrictive and harmful to everyone.
For cisgender individuals, this authenticity can be confronting, challenging deeply internalized norms that have quietly confined their own understanding of gender and self. When this internalized discomfort is projected outward, it becomes deadly for trans people, manifesting as violence and systemic harm.
By committing to personal transformation and actively opposing transphobia, cis allies dismantle not only individual prejudices but also challenge the broader white supremacist colonial systems that weaponize gender as a tool of control and oppression, working toward a world of collective healing and liberation.
UMC’s Journey Toward Inclusion
The United Methodist Church’s 2024 General Conference marked a turning point—removing the declaration of homosexuality as “incompatible with Christian teaching,” ending bans on LGBTQ clergy and same-sex marriages, and redefining marriage as between “two people of faith.”
While these policy changes represent meaningful progress and are to be celebrated, they are only the first step in addressing the spiritual trauma caused by the church’s decades-long exclusion of queer and trans people, which forced many to hide their identities or leave their faith communities entirely.
Affirmation of queer and trans lives requires offering genuine apologies for past harm, creating truly welcoming spaces, rebuilding trust, and celebrating the sacred worth and invaluable contributions of queer and trans individuals to the life of the church. The Commission on Archives and History’s launch of the LGBTQ+ Heritage Center offers a glimpse of what this affirmation can look like, as it begins to honor the history and contributions of queer and trans people within the church.
Originally published by Church and Society. Republished with permission by ResourceUMC.