Pauli Murray Documentary Showing & Discussion

The St. Michael’s Immigrant Welcoming Congregation (IWC) Ministry’s Rainbow Initiative and our Reckoning with Racism Ministry are un-erasing Pauli Murray for Pride month. We invite you to come to a special showing and discussion at St. Michael’s on Sunday, June 29, from 3:30-5:30 pm, of the award-winning 2021 documentary My Name is Pauli Murray. At a time when many transgender persons no longer feel safe where they live, whether in another country or another state in the US, we hope you will join us to learn more about and celebrate this pioneer and Episcopal saint.

Who is Pauli Murray? Did you know that Episcopalians celebrate Rev. Murray’s feast day on July 1? Although the first African-American women to be ordained an Episcopal priest, Murray was best known as a lawyer. A life-long advocate for racial justice, their work also provided the foundation for legal arguments in support of equal rights for women. Less known is that they self-identified as both a woman and a man (hence Pauli) and is now considered to have been nonbinary or a transgender man. Her family believe that because of this aspect of her identity, the current US administration erased Murray’s biography from the National Park Service website and withdrew federal grant funding from the Murray Center at the family home, a National Historic Landmark in North Carolina.

Here are several sources from the Episcopal church for you to explore: 

https://www.episdionc.org/about-us/our-priorities/formation/north-carolinasaints/pauli-murray/

https://www.episcopalchurch.org/lectionary/pauli-murray/

https://www.emmanuelboston.org/mission/history/pauli-murray/life/priest/

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