The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) is updating its handbook to include an expansive section on transgender church members that states “gender” is “biological sex at birth.”
In a press release about the newly released chapters of the updated handbook, Elder Anthony D. Perkins, executive director of the church’s Correlation Department, which is supervising the development of the manual, said one of the church’s new moral policies concerns transgender individuals:
The reason that policy has been added is we’ve had an increase in questions coming from bishops and stake presidents saying, “What can a transgender person do? What are the guidelines?” The transgender policy states that everyone is welcome to attend our meetings and that we should create a warm, welcoming environment for all — including persons who identify as transgender. At the same time, the policy clarifies that some of things in the church are gender-specific.
Section 38.6.21 of the handbook, titled “Transgender Individuals,” states transgender individuals “should be treated with sensitivity, kindness, compassion, and an abundance of Christlike love.”
The church continues to assert, however:
Gender is an essential characteristic of Heavenly Father’s plan of happiness. The intended meaning of gender in the family proclamation is biological sex at birth. Some people experience feelings of incongruence between their biological sex and their gender identity. As a result, they may identify as transgender. The Church does not take a position on the causes of people identifying themselves as transgender.
The handbook states transgender individuals “may be baptized and confirmed,” and “partake of the sacrament and receive priesthood blessings.”
Nevertheless, the church says “priesthood ordination and temple ordinances are received according to birth sex.”
The LDS Church ordains only males to the priesthood.
The church continues that its leaders advise against “elective medical or surgical intervention,” since such actions “will be cause for Church membership restrictions.”
“Leaders also counsel against social transitioning,” the handbook continues. “A social transition includes changing dress or grooming, or changing a name or pronouns, to present oneself as other than his or her birth sex.”
Those who do begin a social transition “will experience some Church membership restrictions,” the manual states.
“Restrictions include receiving or exercising the priesthood, receiving or using a temple recommend, and receiving some Church callings,” the church states. “Although some privileges of Church membership are restricted, other Church participation is welcomed.”
While the LDS Church is welcoming to those who identify as LGBT, it affirms in its updated handbook that “marriage between a man and a woman is essential to the Creator’s plan for the eternal destiny of His children.”
“The Church also affirms that God’s law defines marriage as the legal and lawful union between a man and a woman,” the church asserts.
In April 2019, however, the church rescinded rules that labeled same-sex couples as “apostates” and that barred children of those couples from baptism.
Perkins described the updated handbook further in a video provided by the Church Newsroom.
The handbook generally reflects a softer tone in the church.
“If you look at the evolution of the handbook over the last hundred years, it’s been evolving from administrative procedures to a more ministerial voice,” Perkins said. “What we mean by that is previous handbooks had been sort of designed for large units — let’s say Alpine, Utah — and we need a handbook that can be applied even in the smallest units.”