English Freemasons Open the Door to Transgender Members
The grand lodge said that its new rules were in keeping with British anti-discrimination law, but stressed that no legal action had prompted the changes.
A person joining a lodge must be male, but an application from a person who “has become a man” must be treated “in the same way as for any other male candidate,” the grand lodge instructed. (Many transgender people would argue that the language is a bit off - that the transition merely confirms what a person has always been, even if not anatomically.)
Similarly, the grand lodge wrote, “a Freemason who after initiation ceases to be a man does not cease to be a Freemason.”
A person joining a lodge must be male, but an application from a person who “has become a man” must be treated “in the same way as for any other male candidate,” the grand lodge instructed. (Many transgender people would argue that the language is a bit off - that the transition merely confirms what a person has always been, even if not anatomically.)
Similarly, the grand lodge wrote, “a Freemason who after initiation ceases to be a man does not cease to be a Freemason.”