Checking the Gender Identity Box
Spring 2022
The Church Pension Group (CPG) remains committed to respecting and affirming the gender identities of our clients. To that end, we have been listening to and meeting with members of TransEpiscopal, as well as other individuals who identify as transgender, nonbinary, two-spirit, or gender-diverse, to inform us about issues of mutual concern. For example, CPG CEO and President Mary Kate Wold recently hosted a joint listening session with Portico Benefit Services, the benefits organization of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), to hear from members of the Episcopal and Lutheran transgender and nonbinary communities.
We are pleased to announce that we have completed a multiyear effort to update our internal systems, which now allow our clients to designate nonbinary and self-described gender identities when they contact our Client Services team. Since February, as part of a broader effort to improve the way our clients manage and access their benefits information, people are now able to make such designations themselves when they log on to MyCPG Accounts or when their administrators log on to My Admin Portal.
As we continue to focus on meeting the needs of our whole Church, we are committed to ongoing advocacy with our health plan and other vendors about the need for their systems to recognize nonbinary gender identities. While we have been successful in making these updates to our own systems, we recognize that our vendors must now make these system changes themselves. We will continue to keep the Church apprised of these developments.
Be Part of the Picture
In support of the Church’s Becoming Beloved Community initiative and resolutions passed by the 79th General Convention, CPG is collecting data on gender identity and sexual orientation as well as race and ethnicity from all clergy on a voluntary basis. Are you part of the picture? Please participate if you haven’t already done so.
Comments? Questions? Concerns? CPG is listening. Please reach out to us at corpcomm@cpg.org