Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Reform Movement Poised for Groundbreaking Recognition of Transgender Rights

The Reform movement, the largest in American Judaism, is set to pass what is being called the most extensive resolution on transgender rights of any major religious organization.

The “Resolution on the Rights of Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming People” is set to be considered and voted upon Thursday at the Union for Reform Judaism’s biennial conference in Orlando, Florida.

Prepared by the URJ’s Commission on Social Action, the resolution affirms the movement’s commitment to the “full equality, inclusion and acceptance of people of all gender identities and gender expressions.” It calls on Reform congregations, congregants, clergy, camps, institutions and affiliates, including the NFTY youth group, to refer to transgender individuals by their name and gender of choice and to advocate for the rights of people of all gender identities, including gender-neutral bathrooms and using gender-neutral labels.

READ: The Forward’s e-book on transgender Jews

The resolution also calls on Reform institutions to review their use of language in prayers, forms and policies, as well as to call on institutions to create ritual, programmatic and educational materials “that will empower such institutions to be more inclusive and welcoming of people of all gender identities and expressions.”

The resolution urges the adoption and implementation of legislation and policies that prevent discrimination based on gender identity and expression, and the revision of U.S. and Canadian laws to ensure full equality and protection for transgender individuals.

Other religious bodies, including the Episcopal Church, the United Church of Christ, the Unitarian Universalist Association and the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association, have approved resolutions affirming equality for transgender and non-gender-conforming people, according to The Associated Press.

In 1977, both the Union for Reform Judaism and the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the main rabbinical association of the Reform movement, passed resolutions affirming “the rights of homosexuals.” In 2003, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, the movement’s seminary, admitted its first openly transgender rabbinical student.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.