I was grateful to be involved in an observance at Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center on January 19, 2023 in remembrance of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr and his legacy for an interfaith audience. These were my comments invited on behalf of the LGBT+ community, where I highlighted the campaign in Memphis where MLK ultimately would be assassinated. Good afternoon. As a long time transgender religious organizer, I love reading civil rights history. Not just the highlight reels, but the back stories. Not just the quotes you see on social media, but whole speeches. It’s such a rich legacy ..read more

It turns out that the Rev. Sarah Flynn, who was the first known transgender clergy on my UMC timeline was friends with the Rev. Tomila Louise (of blessed memory, d. 2005) who transitioned “a year or two” earlier than Sarah. I hope to share more of Tomila’s story in the near future, but for now here is Sarah’s letter to the UMC Judicial Council in support of Drew Phoenix, citing Tomila’s story (and her own). From: Sarah Flynn Sent: Friday, September 14, 2007, 9:00 AM To: judicialcouncil@umc.org Subject: RE: Rev. Drew Phoenx To the members of the United Methodist Judicial Council ..read more

It’s “sexual orientation” day in seminary. I’m cranky even though nobody did anything wrong. I’m grateful for professors who push to talk about hard things. I’m just tired since I’ve been “on the record” for so long. This is what I wrote in a 1997 issue of The Other Side magazine. God created us as sexual beings. As God-given gifts, our sexualities should be approached with humility and awe.  We find Scripture to be ambiguous on homosexuality. Through cultural assumptions, selected passages are often mistranslated, misunderstood, and misused as weapons of abuse and condemnation.  Mar ..read more

OtherWise Christian is very much focused on making resources related to transgender-affirming religion (and Christianity specifically) more accessible at the grassroots. Meanwhile,  I am also moving into academia! The complexity of this dance will likely show up here in some subtle ways, though I expect my focus here will remain oriented toward the grassroots. That said, a prominent research topic now that I have some access to academic databases, journal articles, and a theological library is transgender pastoral or spiritual care. For a research class, I was able to spend some time digg ..read more

While I will be listing this resource with other transgender and religious curriculum, it is actually much more than that. This guide from the MCC Transgender Ministries team (led by Angel Collie) provides a recommended process for developing a comprehensive ministry with “transgender, gender non-conforming, and intersex people including educational, worship, and programmatic resources.” The suggested timeline is two to three years and includes goals around activism, education, and worship. In the context of Metropolitan Community Churches, a congregation or organization can be “certified” as ..read more

The history of Gender Identity and Our Faith Communities is complicated, but it’s a useful effort that centers many transgender voices (including Jewish and Muslim contributions even though it’s mostly Christian), literally, with the inclusion of audio files by the contributors to accompany the written materials. While the curriculum stands on its own, HRC wisely deployed the curriculum with transgender facilitator/trainers who can add impromptu wisdom and guidance beyond the written and audio materials. HRC prepped a team of facilitators who could be scheduled to lead the curriculum in congre ..read more

I’m looking over past blog entries and realizing that I didn’t yet have a landing page for curriculum options. I’ve already posted about several options, but there are more that I’ll be adding as this isn’t yet a complete list! Most (but not all) of these are oriented toward Christian audiences. I would love to learn about additional resources to support conversation in other traditions! Transgender Audio/Visual Resources Christian Faith and Gender Identity (2019 book, with audio book available) Trans-forming the Church: Blessed Bodies and Gender Justice (2017 from United Methodist context, Y ..read more

Suzanne DeWitt Hall has self-published several books talking about sex, sexuality, gender, and Christianity. As a cisgender, queer author, she admits that she is a observer to the transgender experience. Her concise introduction to gender and the Bible in Transfigured: A 40-day Journey through Scripture for Gender-queer and Transgender People (2018) is useful. However, I would recommend it “for” cisgender allies more than “for” gender-queer and transgender people. The basic format of each entry is title, short scripture (sometimes more than one), prose text, and then a quote from someone (from ..read more

“But they/them is plural!” This is an argument (or question) that feels real and pervasive. Unfortunately, it is not a grounded in a thorough understanding of English grammar at all! If you need more formal sources (dictionary, style guide, etc), there are more references here–or you can watch some or all of these videos (total 23 minutes of content). Often, we find that the question (under the question) isn’t really about grammar at all. If what you really want to hear more about is non-binary or they/them gender experiences, then I recommend this other “What Does They/Them Singular Really Me ..read more