United Methodist Alliance for Transgender Inclusion (UMATI)

The Transgender Extension Ministry (TEM) was formed in 2011 with the following mission

TEM challenges the United Methodist Church (UMC) to live into its visionary policy of being a church free from gender discrimination at every level, equipping and empowering people to transform our church and society into places that celebrate gender diversity. Embracing the God-given reality that from our genesis we are created in God’s image, TEM understands gender diversity as a divine gift. Accordingly, we particularly welcome, support, and advocate for those who are transgender, gender variant, and otherwise transcend binary gender expectations.

Our work takes the form of three interrelated ministries:

• Nurture: Offer support, fellowship, and connections to transgender individuals and their families throughout the UMC.
• Outreach: Provide tools, resources, and strategies to work toward the full inclusion of transgender people in the church and society.
• Witness: Provide a public witness in support of transgender people in local congregations, at UMC Conferences, and in society.

In 2015, we changed our name to the United Methodist Alliance for Transgender Inclusion (UMATI) to better reflect our religious grounding, our commitment to collaboration with an ever-widening circle of individuals and organizations in the struggle for transgender justice, and our hope that people of all gender identities and expressions will one day experience full inclusion in the life and leadership of the United Methodist Church, and in our society.

UMATI is also proud to be part of the broader movement of transgender religious organizing through our relationship with Transfaith. With a shared focus on the intersection of faith and transgender experience, UMATI and other Transfaith organizational partners support each other with dialogue, networking, content development, and publicity.