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Sr. Luisa Derouen: “I am absolutely meant by God to be a companion to transgender people.”
Human Rights Campaign, or HRC, hit social media Sunday to honor a nun who’s been working with the so-called transgender community for two decades.
Tweet: “As we celebrate #Easter, Sister Luisa Derouen reminds transgender folks of our goodness and our beauty and that we deserve to be treated with dignity and respect.”
Sr. Derouen: “There is a narrative out there that says, ‘Transgender people really don’t exist.’ I’m here to tell you they exist, and they have a right to be treated with dignity and respect.”
Sister conducted her undertakings in secret for 20 years, beginning in 1999, going by the pseudonym Sr. Monica David. She operated underground to remain hidden from those she feared might compromise what she was doing, until 2018, when she revealed her real name.
Sr. Derouen: “Once the clarity came, from God, that now is the time to stand up and use my name and be me and be visible the way I encourage transgender people to do, I experienced a profound inner freedom.”
In her experience of “profound inner freedom,” sister is pushing for legislation that would profoundly restrict the religious freedom of others, in violation of the First Amendment.
The so-called Equality Act, according to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, or USCCB, “discriminates against people of faith, threatens unborn life and undermines the common good.”
Sr. Derouen: “There needs to be legislation that protects the common good of all people, particularly marginalized people — and from my perspective, transgender people.”
Predictably, pro-LGBT Jesuit James Martin was quick to share HRC’s tweet: “A beautiful video about my friend (and hero) Sister Luisa Derouen, OP, who has worked with trans people since 1999.”
Martin has not officially endorsed the Equality Act, but he seems to support it indirectly, chiding the USCCB for denouncing the bill’s attempt to redefine gender.
Sister Derouen is a Dominican, an order founded by St. Dominic, who once said, “It is better to be a hammer than an anvil.”
The saint was referring to the passions, meaning, if one does not master them, he or she will be enslaved by them.
