(New Ways Ministry. Angela Howard-McParland).
An extensive report by the National Catholic Reporter details how two anti-transgender groups have been building influence and shaping diocesan policies for several years, especially those written for Catholic schools. NCR’s Katie Collins Scott focused her investigation on the efforts of the Person and Identity Project, a part of the larger anti-LGBTQ+ Ethics and Public Policy Center, as well as the Cardinal Newman Society, a conservative group largely known for its attempts to police Catholic colleges and universities. According to NCR’s investigation, the groups began influencing Catholic policy around 2016 when then-president of the Ethics & Public Policy Center Ed Whelan spoke out in support of a North Carolina law preventing transgender individuals from using restrooms aligned with their gender. To counter trans acceptance, Whelan and the Center created the Catholic Women’s Forum Gender Project, a precursor to the Person and Identity Project, to “respond to the challenges of gender ideology.”