Rev. Michelle's Message March 12, 2026
- Apr 14
- 3 min read
2026 has already seen a rash of anti-trans legislation all over the country. States like Texas, Florida, Tennessee, and most recently Kansas have passed laws that prohibit trans people from having gender designations on their driver’s licenses that match their actual gender identity and expression. In Kansas, this new law retroactively invalidated 1000s of trans people’s driver’s licenses which had been legally obtained previously.
New legislation also seeks to ban transgender people from using bathrooms, changing rooms, or locker rooms in public or government buildings that align with their gender identity. To be clear, what this means is that trans men must use the women’s restroom and trans women must use the men’s restroom, irrespective of how they look and express their gender identity. So, for example, a trans woman who clearly presents as female (such as being dressed in a skirt, blouse, and heels) would need to use the men’s restroom.
Some proposed legislation also criminalizes noncompliance, so that repeat offenders could be charged with a misdemeanor, and people could be sued in civil court for using a bathroom that does not match their gender assigned at birth.
Other states, such as Kentucky, have proposed legislation that effectively ban trans people from being teachers by refusing to issue or renew state teachers’ licenses to anyone who admits to having any kind of “gender identity disorder.”
And of course, in 2025 Trump issued an executive order acknowledging only two sexes—male and female—designated at birth. Among other things, this order has caused many trans people to have their passports declared invalid and be denied travel. The ACLU has filed lawsuits to stop the executive order, and the cases are now in the courts.
As a response to this wave of anti-trans legislation, this week Rev. Jacquie Fernandez, a Unity minister friend and former seminary teacher of mine who is the senior minister at Unity of Overland Park, joined with other clergy in peaceful protest at the capitol building in Jefferson City, Kansas. The action, which was essentially a sit-in, was organized by Kansas Interfaith Action, a multifaith advocacy organization.
Thankfully, Rev. Jacquie was not harmed nor was she arrested, although she was handled roughly, pushed, and shoved numerous times by capitol police, which can be clearly seen in a video she has posted on her social media.
I am so proud that there are Unity ministers like Rev. Jacquie who are willing to stand up for the rights of the trans community, which includes an estimated 2.8 million people in the United States. She and the other clergy who protested showed bravery, commendable restraint, and deep commitment to a cause I believe Jesus would also be standing up for, were he alive today.
Back when I was protesting the First Gulf War while a student at UC Santa Cruz, it never occurred to me that I might be harmed by police. We knew being arrested was a possibility, but we didn’t think we were risking our lives. Today it is clear that any kind of protest in this country carries a realistic risk of bodily harm or even death.
Jesus and his followers also risked their lives to stand up to a cruel and tyrannical regime. For Jesus and his disciples, questioning authority and advocating on behalf of the poor, the sick, the imprisoned, the oppressed, and the outcast were very dangerous things to do. And of course he and many of his followers paid the ultimate price.
This week, as we study what Jesus says in the gospels about being willing to “lose our life to save it,” we will consider what things we stand for today, and whether the issues we currently face are important enough to us to risk our own lives for.
Blessings of Peace and Justice,
Rev. Michelle
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