The updated Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Hospitals passed by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops during their annual meeting this week violate fundamental principles of Catholicism, according to DignityUSA. The group is the oldest organization of Catholics working for justice, equality, and full inclusion of LGBTQ+ people in the church and society.

“The bishops’ decision to officially ban all gender-affirming care at Catholic hospitals and medical centers will cause tremendous harm to many individuals and families,” said Marianne Duddy-Burke, executive director of DignityUSA, and mother of a transgender son. “It means that many transgender people will not be able to get medical care that relieves psychic and physical pain. This vote undermines their ability to live the abundant life Jesus spoke of in the Gospels.”

Duddy-Burke noted that Catholic hospitals are often the only accessible medical centers in rural areas and may be the provider for people with limited or no medical insurance. “This means that the people least able to have a choice in where they get treatment will be those most harmed,” Duddy-Burke said. “The social teachings of our faith compel us to remove oppressive structures. Instead, our bishops have just erected new obstacles for already vulnerable people. This is shameful.

“The bishops clearly did not consider years of testimony from transgender people and family members whose lives have been transformed through gender-affirming care. They also did not listen to medical practitioners with expertise in this area or pay attention to the scientific standards for such care,” said Duddy-Burke. “Religious policies should be established only after consultation with experts. This vote clearly violates that ethical demand.”

“We are also concerned that this directive will be used by people inclined towards dehumanizing transgender people. There is already an astounding degree of violence and discrimination inflicted upon this community. Instead of responding to that, our bishops have given tacit approval to looking at transgender individuals as unequal and undeserving of essential human rights,” said Duddy-Burke.

Maxwell Kuzma, a Catholic transgender man, columnist for National Catholic Reporter, and DignityUSA board member, said, “At a time when the U.S. government is already restricting gender-affirming care across healthcare systems nationwide, the bishops had an opportunity to stand not just with immigrants, as the Pope asked them to do, but also with transgender and gender-diverse people, who are marginalized and stigmatized in society. It is shameful that the bishops chose to align with the state’s coercive control over the bodies and lives of transgender people.

“The contrast could not be more striking. After courageously against the inhumane treatment of immigrants in this country, they now fail to uphold the same basic human dignity for transgender and gender-diverse people. Standing with the state instead of the marginalized is not the way of Christ,” said Kuzma.

“Jesus never divided the vulnerable into categories worth saving and those to be sacrificed for the sake of political convenience. He stretched out his hands to heal those who came to him—the marginalized, the stigmatized, and those deemed “sinful” by society. He was not caught up in culture war talking points—he spent his time ministering to those on the margins.”
Kuzma added, “As a transgender man, I know firsthand how essential and life-giving gender-affirming care is. It allows people like me to live authentically, joyfully, and without fear. Restricting that care is not an act of moral clarity—it is a denial of the sanctity of life the Church claims to defend.

“I also know what it means to receive real support from Catholics—not only from friends and faith communities who pray and grow with me, but even from Pope Francis himself, whose hand I shook as I told him in Spanish that I am transgender. He smiled at me, pastoral and warm, just as he was with the many other transgender people he greeted and supported.

“The bishops’ own words on human dignity cannot be hollow. If they truly believe that every life reflects the image of God, that conviction must extend to trans and queer people as well as to immigrants. Anything less is a failure of solidarity and a distortion of the Gospel.

“Gender-affirming care encompasses more than trans people alone—these restrictions will harm cisgender patients, parents, and healthcare providers too. To abandon solidarity with one marginalized group while standing with another makes no moral sense. Jesus identified himself with all who suffer. To follow him is to do the same,” said Kuzma.

DignityUSA believes that all medical institutions, including Catholic hospitals, should abide by the WPATH standards for the care of people with gender dysphoria.

DignityUSA is the world’s oldest organization of LGBTQIA+ and ally Catholics. Founded in 1969, it provides affirming spiritual community, education, and advocacy to make the Catholic church and society more just and inclusive of LGBTQIA+ people.

‍