Alex Clare-Young and Christina Beardsley and the Changing Attitude England steering group have replied to the Bishop of London convinced that the formation a working group to consider gender identity and transition supplementary to the work already undertaken in this area by the LLF project would be inadvisable.
Tina Beardsley and Alex Clare-Young have written to the Rt Revd and Rt Hon Sarah Mullally, bishop of London and chair of the LLF Next Steps Group, asking her to confirm that the new working group on gender identity and transition will be composed of a wide range of trans members, including transfeminine, transmasculine and non-binary people together with those who are recognised specialists in the field of gender identity and in overseeing people’s transitions.
The House of Bishops’ meeting held on Monday 17th and Tuesday 18th May “agreed in principle to the formation of a working group on gender identity and transition under the auspices of the LLF Next Steps Group.” Tina Beardsley and Alex Clare-Young argue that the membership of the proposed working group should embrace a broad range of trans and gender variant people. It must also include people who are specialists in the field of gender identity and in overseeing people’s transitions. It should not include those who dismiss trans people’s experience as a mental illness, a fantasy, a sinful temptation, a gnostic claim to secret self-knowledge, or a symptom of the decadence of Western self-consciousness.
