Bishop Speaks Before Legislative Committees in Support of Education and Transgender Rights

On March 29, 2023, Bishop Ruth Woodliff-Stanley traveled to our state capitol to speak before members of the state legislature as they consider bills currently before the House and/or Senate. 

She was allowed to speak directly to subcommittees against two of the three bills against which she wanted to voice her opposition. A video of her testimony against Senate bill S.623 is below, and the text of her remarks against the other two bills is below as well.

S. 623 - A BILL TO AMEND THE SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS BY AMENDING SECTION 44-63-100, RELATING TO THE PROCESS THROUGH WHICH A PERSON MAY MAKE CHANGES TO HIS BIRTH CERTIFICATE, SO AS TO PROVIDE THAT GENDER CHANGES TO A PERSON'S BIRTH CERTIFICATE MAY ONLY BE TO CHANGE FROM MALE TO FEMALE OR FROM FEMALE TO MALE AND TO PROVIDE FOR AFFIDAVITS THAT MUST ACCOMPANY A PETITION TO MAKE A GENDER CHANGE TO A PERSON'S BIRTH CERTIFICATE

Testimony of The Rt. Rev. Ruth Woodliff-Stanley
To the Senate Medical Affairs subcommittee
Against Senate Bill 623
March 29, 2023

Thank you, Chair and Members of the Committee, My name is Ruth Woodliff-Stanley, and I serve as Bishop of The Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina—the lower and coastal parts of this beautiful state. I am here to speak in opposition to Senate Bill 623 because it creates hardship and pain for our transgender and gender non-binary citizens by establishing obstacles that hinder their efforts to identify themselves accurately in official documents of the state.

And because, more broadly, I believe it sets the stage for discrimination later in life, in a society where all subsequent official documentation, such as passports and drivers licenses are based off of the primary document of the birth certificate.

Senate Bill 623 also rejects the possibility of any nonbinary identity. And, it uses definitions that are unclear or problematic, including using a definition of “gender change” itself as something that can only occur due to clerical error or within one year of birth.

Initial biological identity at birth is ambiguous for physical, hormonal, genetic, or other reasons close to 1% of the time, which affects millions of people. This bill fails to recognize that in some cases the consequences of gender assignment do not emerge for several years.

This bill narrows options rather than creating them. It makes life harder for people who already have a hard path, in order to bolster the comfort of some who do not understand gender difference. There is no reason for any of this. I don’t think this bill is about love.

The Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church says, “If it’s not about love, it’s not about God.” So, I say, let’s be about love.

We have enough suffering; we don’t need to legislate more.
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In the Episcopal church, we promise to respect the dignity of every human being.We join with our transgender and gender nonbinary siblings and their loved ones in opposing government interference in their lives that compromises their dignity and creates suffering. With them, we ask you to vote NO on Senate Bill 623. Be about love.

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S. 627 – A BILL TO AMEND THE SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS BY ADDING SECTION 40-47-300 SO AS TO DEFINE GENDER, SEX, AND OTHER TERMS; BY ADDING SECTION 40-47-310 SO AS TO PROHIBIT THE PROVISION OF GENDER TRANSITION PROCEDURES TO A PERSON UNDER EIGHTEEN YEARS OF AGE;  BY ADDING SECTION 40-47-320 SO AS TO PROVIDE EXCEPTIONS; BY ADDING SECTION 40-47-330 SO AS TO PROHIBIT THE USE OF PUBLIC FUNDS FOR GENDER TRANSITION PROCEDURES; BY ADDING SECTION 40-47-340 SO AS TO PROVIDE PENALTIES; AND BY ADDING SECTION 59-32-36 SO AS TO PROHIBIT SCHOOL STAFF AND OFFICIALS FROM WITHHOLDING KNOWLEDGE OF A MINOR'S PERCEPTION OF THEIR GENDER FROM THE MINOR'S PARENTS.

Testimony of The Rt. Rev. Ruth Woodliff-Stanley
To the Senate Medical Affairs Subcommittee
Against Senate Bill 627
March 29, 2023

Thank you, Chair and Members of the Committee, My name is Ruth Woodliff-Stanley, and I serve as Bishop of The Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina—the lower and coastal parts of this beautiful state.

I am here to speak in opposition to Senate Bill 627 because it creates hardship and pain for our transgender youth and their parents by creating obstacles to their efforts to obtain the care these youth need from medical professionals.

This bill makes an already challenging journey much more difficult by taking options away, even when everyone directly involved agrees that these options would be the best choice for a particular youth.

From decades of experience in ministry, I have come to know transgender youth and been witness to their courage. I have sat with youth and families in enough situations to understand that often it is very clear that a person is transgender before adulthood. To create a law that denies this experience and delays time sensitive, much needed medical care creates avoidable suffering.

In addition, this bill puts teachers in the untenable position of outing trans or possibly trans youth to their parents even when doing so might put the youth at risk. In some cases, such disclosures could put these youth at risk of physical, psychological, or sexual violence or of being turned out into the streets to face a myriad of dangers.

I do not think this bill is about love.

The Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church says, “If it’s not about love, it’s not about God.” So, I say, let’s be about love.

We have enough suffering; we don’t need to legislate more.
​
In the Episcopal church, we promise to respect the dignity of every human being. We join with our transgender and gender nonbinary siblings and their loved ones in opposing government interference in their lives that compromises their dignity and creates suffering. With them, we ask you to vote NO on Senate Bill 627. Be about love.

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H.3728 - A BILL TO AMEND THE SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS BY ENACTING THE "SOUTH CAROLINA TRANSPARENCY AND INTEGRITY IN EDUCATION ACT"; BY ADDING ARTICLE 5 TO CHAPTER 29, TITLE 59 SO AS TO EXPRESS RELATED INTENTIONS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY, TO PROVIDE NECESSARY DEFINITIONS, TO PROHIBIT CERTAIN CONCEPTS FROM BEING INCLUDED IN PUBLIC SCHOOL INSTRUCTION AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT, TO PROVIDE MEANS FOR ADDRESSING VIOLATIONS, AND TO PROVIDE PROCEDURES FOR PUBLIC REVIEW OF PUBLIC SCHOOL CURRICULUM AND INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS; AND BY AMENDING SECTION 59-28-180, RELATING TO PARENTAL EXPECTATIONS IN THE PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT IN THEIR CHILDREN'S EDUCATION ACT, SO AS TO PROVIDE PARENTS ARE EXPECTED TO BE THE PRIMARY SOURCE OF THE EDUCATION OF THEIR CHILDREN REGARDING MORALS, ETHICS, AND CIVIC RESPONSIBILITY, AND TO PROVIDE A PARENTAL PLEDGE OF EXPECTATIONS MUST BE PROVIDED TO PARENTS AS PART OF THE REGISTRATION AND ENROLLMENT PROCESS.

​Testimony of The Rt. Rev. Ruth Woodliff-Stanley
To the K-12 Subcommittee of The Education Committee
Against House Bill 3728
March 29, 2023

Thank you, Chair and Members of the Committee, My name is Ruth Woodliff-Stanley, and I serve as Bishop of The Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina—the lower and coastal parts of this beautiful state.

I am here to speak in opposition to House Bill 3728 because it compromises the education of our children and youth by threatening the ability of public educators to teach the full truth. In addition, it subjects educators to interference in their teaching, burdens them with a cumbersome complaint process, and risks the loss of state funding.

I have recently returned from a visit to the Legacy Museum and lynching Memorial in Montgomery, Alabama. While there, I was utterly flooded by the sheer magnitude of the numbers of lives destroyed, the countless families ripped apart, the unspeakable horrors of physical torture and mental anguish imposed by those who enslaved on their fellow human beings.

The very idea that we would be more concerned to create laws that shield us from the deepest possible understanding of how these horrors came to be than to create laws that would foster such understanding boggles my mind.

In a state that was the entry point to nearly half of all enslaved people and where indigenous people were driven out violently from their homeland, it is deeply troubling that we are more concerned to protect sensibilities of those who may disagree with particular concepts or approaches to our hard history than to engage the pain of those who continue to experience the impacts of our long legacy of racism.

To heal this land, we must speak the truth in love to one another. I do not believe this bill fosters such loving truth telling. This is not a bill about love.

The Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church says, “If it’s not about love, it’s not about God.” So, I say, let’s be about love.
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We have enough suffering; we don’t need to legislate more. I urge you to vote NO on House bill 3728. Be about love.