Pope Francis met with a group of transgender and intersex Catholics and LGBTQ allies at the Vatican on Sunday. 

During the meeting, participants shared their personal stories, urging the pope to support greater acceptance within the church and address its stance on gender-affirming care.

Sister Jeannine Gramick, one of the co-founders of New Ways Ministry, a U.S.-based Catholic organization advocating for LGBTQ people, arranged the meeting that took place at Casa Santa Marta, Francis’s residence in Vatican City.

The delegation that met with the pope included Nicole Santamaría, an intersex woman, Michael Sennett, a trans man, and Cynthia Herrick, a doctor who works in a gender medicine clinic. Over the course of more than an hour, they recounted to Francis their struggles with depression and suicide on their transition journey and emphasized the positive impact of gender-affirming care. 

New Ways Ministry Executive Director Francis DeBernardo, who was present at the meeting, said Francis didn’t respond vocally so much, but, clutching his cross, looked “sincerely pained” as he listened to people describe their hardships and “nodded vigorously when they talked about how positive medical transition was for them.”

“He really thanked them. He was very grateful that he had this opportunity,” DeBernardo said. 

The impetus for bringing the pope in direct conversation with trans and intersex people was the Vatican’s release of the “Dignitas Infinata” declaration in April. While the document emphasized the need for respect and dignity for all, it also condemned gender-affirming medical care, framing it as incompatible with human dignity. 

Gramick, who had been corresponding with the pope and had met him with members of the New Ways Ministry last year, was disappointed by the declaration and proposed that he hear directly from trans and intersex Catholics about their experiences, to which he agreed. 

“Part of the problem is that the Vatican documents had not consulted transgender, intersex people, or any of the medical professionals who work with them. So we were encouraging the pope to consult with people more and to view people’s stories,” DeBernardo said.

The participants in the meeting had previously shared their personal testimonies with a group of two dozen Catholic bishops in the U.S. earlier this year as part of New Ways Ministry’s efforts to educate church leaders about the experiences of LGBTQ people and to advocate for their full acceptance. 

During the meeting, Gramick stressed to Francis that other Vatican officials must also listen to the voices of LGBTQ people. DeBernardo said the pope fully agreed with this suggestion. 

DeBernardo believes that by accepting the invitation to meet the group and listening to the experiences of trans and intersex people, Francis was deliberately setting a precedent for other church leaders to engage more meaningfully with the LGBTQ community.

In its doctrine, the Catholic Church condemns any same-sex sexual relations and rejects same-sex marriage. However, under Francis, the church has generally adopted a more inclusive tone toward LGBTQ people. The Vatican last year reversed a 2015 absolute ban on trans people serving as godparents, and approved priests to bless same-sex couples — but not same-sex unions. 

Two LGBTQ activists from Africa — Clare Byarugaba of Chapter Four Uganda and Rightify Ghana Director Ebenezer Peegah — met with Francis in August.

A local group of volunteers organized by gay D.C. State Board of Education member Allister Chang is working with the Kamala Harris presidential campaign to operate a twice-weekly phone bank through which LGBTQ volunteers call voters in swing states to urge them to turn out to vote and to vote for Harris and Tim Walz.

Called Out For Harris-Walz DC, the group’s volunteers assemble each Wednesday between 6-8 p.m. at the Woman’s National Democratic Club at 1526 New Hampshire Ave., N.W., and each Saturday from 2-4 p.m. at the Human Rights Campaign headquarters at 1640 Rhode Island Ave., N.W. where the phone bank operation takes place.

Chang, who is running unopposed for re-election this year for his Ward 2 school board seat, said he and others who helped him organize the Out for Harris-Walz DC phone bank effort did so because they want to do all they can help the Harris-Walz ticket win in what election experts say is a race too close to call against GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump.

With D.C.’s three electoral votes certain to go to Harris with D.C.’s overwhelmingly Democratic electorate, Chang said he and his fellow volunteers want to help the Harris-Walz campaign win in the key battleground or swing states that are expected to decide the winner on Nov. 5.

“One of the things I’m most proud of is that the vast majority of people who are joining this, including myself, are first-time volunteers for a national campaign,” Chang said. “And I think that’s also representative of the responsibility we feel at this time to do something to make a difference,” he said, especially since the outcome of the presidential election is expected to have a major impact on the LGBTQ community.

Chang told the Washington Blade that about 15 volunteers turned out on Oct. 2 at the Woman’s National Democratic Club for the launching of the Out for Harris-Walz DC phone banking. He said about 15 turned out on Saturday, Oct. 5, for the kickoff of the group’s phone banking at the HRC building.

Through a social media promotional campaign, Chang said about 50 LGBTQ volunteers turned out to do the phone banking this past Saturday, Oct. 12, at the HRC location. Amazingly, he said 261 people have signed up through an online site to do the phone banking this Wednesday, Oct. 16, at the Woman’s National Democratic Club.

According to Chang, the Harris campaign and the Democratic National Committee have provided a high-tech platform using the online site called Mobilize to give instructions on how to make the phone calls though the volunteers’ own cell phones and through use of their own laptops, which volunteers are asked to bring with them.

Although volunteers use their own phones, the calls go through a campaign connection that uses a different phone number, not the caller’s number, Chang said. He said volunteers are also given a script to read to voters they call before engaging in a dialogue with the voters.

“They’re not necessarily Democrats,” Chang said of the voters that he and other volunteers have been calling. “All of us have spoken to a bunch of folks who are undecided, who are Trump supporters as well as supporters of Harris-Walz,” he said. “And the opportunity for us is to really engage.”

Chang noted that Out for Harris-Walz DC is being supported by the D.C. gay bars Number 9, JR’s, and Crush, among other things, by their hosting gatherings for the volunteers. He said Number 9 is offering a complimentary drink for the volunteers after they finish their phone banking on Saturdays at the HRC building.

Out for Harris-Walz DC is urging LGBTQ community members to turn out to volunteer for the phone banking in the remaining total of six days on Wednesdays and Saturdays before the Nov. 5 election through these signup links: events.democrats.org/event/704929/ and events.democrats.org/event/714458.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Tuesday announced the Pentagon has upgraded the paperwork of more than 800 veterans who were discharged other than honorably before discriminatory policies like “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” were repealed.

“More than 96 percent of the individuals who were administratively separated under DADT and who served for long enough to receive a merit-based characterization of service now have an honorable characterization of service,” said Christa Specht, director of legal policy at the department’s Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness.

The change will allow veterans to access benefits they had been denied, in areas from health care and college tuition assistance to VA loan programs and some jobs.

Separately, this summer President Joe Biden issued pardons to service members who had been convicted for sodomy before military laws criminalizing same-sex intimacy were lifted.

More than a decade after the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the administration has made a priority of helping LGBTQ veterans who are eligible to upgrade their discharge papers, directing the department to help them overcome bureaucratic barriers and difficult-to-navigate processes.

However, as noted by CBS News, which documented the challenges faced by these former service members in a comprehensive investigation published last year, these efforts are ongoing.

The department is continuing to review cases beyond the 800+ included in Tuesday’s announcement, with an official telling CBS, “We encourage all veterans who believe they have suffered an error or injustice to request a correction to their military records.”