Response to Harmful Presidential Proclamation

Below is a statement from the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) regarding the recent White House proclamation entitled, ‘National Child Abuse Prevention Month,’ issued by the office of the President on April 3rd, 2025.

Let us say it unequivocally and without hesitation: affirming the inherent worthiness and belovedness of transgender people is an expression of our Unitarian Universalist faith. The safety and well-being of trans and nonbinary beloveds is not someone else’s work, it is ours: both those of us whose gender identity makes us most acutely vulnerable and those of us to whom allyship is central to our being. We are all part of one family. We are parents, children, siblings, chosen kindred, and we are one another’s people.

Unfortunately, this foundational understanding within our faith is not universally recognized. On April 3, 2025 the Trump administration released a Presidential Proclamation for child abuse prevention month that included myriad bigoted, unsubstantiated claims about trans and nonbinary children and youth and their families, including the spurious claim that “the sinister threat of gender ideology” is one of the gravest and most widespread forms of child abuse in our nation. This assertion is not only patently false; it is deadly.

While this proclamation alone does not have the force of law, it is dangerous. In a 2023 survey by The Trevor Project, 86% of trans youth reported that they have been watching the debate over their right to exist. The Washington Post did a study last year finding that, in states where anti-LGBTQI+ policies like the ones hinted at in this proclamation were enacted, hate crimes committed in schools quadrupled.

Affirming and defending trans lives is, in and of itself, a moral duty prescribed by the values that lie at the heart of our faith. Our core understanding of profound interdependence also reminds us that our struggles are inextricably linked. Any attempt to undermine the bodily autonomy of one group is part of a larger authoritarian agenda to exert control far beyond the bounds of the law.

Political strategy that scapegoats and vilifies LGBTQI+ Americans for short-term electoral gain is not new. This is the most recent chapter in a playbook that goes back to the purge of LGBTQI+ people from government service during the Lavender Scare, sodomy and HIV criminalization laws, and prohibitions on the legal recognition of same-sex unions. By the time the Supreme Court declared marriage equality a constitutional right, 30 states had passed laws defining marriage as between a man and a woman. In the last two years alone, 10 states have passed laws defining “biological sex” as male or female. UUs were central in the fights that came before, and we are committed fighting just as hard now as we did then.

Authoritarianism thrives on splintering solidarity between groups who share common interests and will continue brazenly stripping freedoms from more and more people until it is decisively checked. This proclamation includes dangerous language that foreshadows much more severe targeting of both the trans/nonbinary community and other populations. The language about “child protection” in this proclamation is a thinly veiled entrée into the criminalization of parents and families of trans kids. This is the first step toward the outright criminalization of trans identity at any age, which will undoubtedly be a precursor for attacking and attempting to control or eradicate any number of other identity groups.

The times are perilous, and the risks are only growing. And yet the moral imperative to embody our values and protect our beloveds is clearer than ever: Donate to organizations losing federal grants because of their work to support transgender rights. Support trans families in relocating to safer places by volunteering with or donating to PinkHaven. Take the Transforming Hearts Collective's online course “Responding to the Anti-Trans Movement.” Push back on misinformation whenever and however you encounter it. Do not comply in advance.

This proclamation gets one thing right in its declaration that “our message to every American child should be simple: you are perfect exactly the way God made you.” So let us proclaim with unwavering clarity to our young people: If life, and Love, and all that is holy made you transgender, that part of you is also part of the Divine. You were not made wrong -- you were made sacred, and through you we are all made more whole.

In these days of mounting white Christian nationalism, people and policymakers have come to expect religion to be on the side of fear. Faith has been co-opted and twisted into a tool of control. We will not cede moral authority to those who would use it as a weapon. It is our responsibility as people of faith to use our voices and wield our values as a shield between the powerful and those being scapegoated and threatened. It is our responsibility as people of faith to speak the truth in fierce, unshakable love.