TransEpiscopal
  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Resources
    • Transgender 101
    • Pastoral Care
    • Welcome and Inclusion >
      • Nonbinary Resources
      • Assessment Tool for Churches
    • Liturgy Resources
    • Scripture and Theology
    • Children and Youth
    • Spanish Language
    • LGBTQ 101
    • Further Reading & Resources
  • Policies & Legislation
  • Contact
  • Donate

Coming Out: Gender and Faith - a trans / nb roundtable

10/11/2023

0 Comments

 
For this blog post, we decided to do something a little bit different - to create a virtual roundtable of sorts from across our organization and community/ies in response to the idea of coming out, both as a trans/non-binary person and as a person of faith. These two identities are often mistakenly put into opposition to each other, ignoring centuries of lived experiences and perpetuating a false narrative that trans and non-binary people of faith do not exist. 

We are also acutely aware that there is an ever growing movement to legislate away the rights of transgender people in the U.S. - by banning books that provide affirming representation, banning trans people from playing sports and accessing bathrooms, and prohibiting gender affirming medical care. In such an environment, coming out is not always a safe thing to do. While visibility and living one’s truth is important, we cannot ignore the issues of safety that are an acute concern for so many trans and non-binary folks today, especially trans women of color. 

What does it mean to you to be out as a trans/non-binary person and as a person of faith? 

“It means everything to me to be both a trans woman and a Christian. To me, the unfriendly attitudes of many Christian people and denominations toward queer people have a lot to do with being able to make discomfort disappear. If I were not a queer and trans person, I would be vulnerable to that same instinctual drive to feel at peace, regardless of the cost to others. Holding these identities together keeps me uncomfortable, and keeps me from lapsing into the easier kind of belief that says "I've got the answers, and they apply to everyone." “ -Allie

“At a spiritual standpoint, God's love for me is an important part of my continual faith. The fact that I know that he loves me as I am helps me to love myself. Our physical bodies will be left behind when we die and go off to heaven, so why should it matter if I change it on earth to better my mental health. However, having faith and being queer is hard when faced with other Christians, some of whom regard me as less than or heretic because of my identity.” - Cameron (he/him) 

“It was difficult at first, but I can be an example of God's inclusive love. Even in my secular life I've been around and out for so long that most people are used to me. This exposure seems to help.” -Deacon Carolyn 

“It means being willing to openly queer binaries — especially the idea that there is only male or female, that there is only gay or straight, and that one can be trans/nb or Christian but not both. It means claiming my and my community’s created goodness as trans and/or nb.” - Rev. Cameron Partridge (he/him)

“For me it means not having to hide either part of myself - my transness or my faith. But it’s also been difficult - being out as trans and finding a faith community that affirms that hasn’t always been easy. On the flip side, sometimes a hostility towards faith permeates queer and trans spaces. It means holding the tension of the harm that has been done in the name of faith towards queer, trans, and non-binary folks and being committed to live openly as a trans person of faith, making sure there are faith communities that affirm trans and non-binary folks and provide opportunities for them to flourish.” Rev. Kori Pacyniak (they/them) 

“It means a lot to me, and honestly I don't think I would be who I am today without my faith.” - Andrea

“Living with the Dignity that is pledged in our Baptismal Covenant.” - Vicky M. 

What do you see as the most important and pressing issues facing your community/communities? 

“I live in a rather conservative area, so fear is a definite factor which, I think, makes it hard for many. I also believe, insofar as faith communities are concerned, the fear of rejection is an issue. In my diocese, that is not a real problem, but I know of many other churches which loudly and proudly condemn LGBTQ+ people.” - Deacon Carolyn

“The issue that worries me the most is the blatant lack of understanding or acceptance shown by those in charge of my diocese. I feel afraid to be out in places such as summer camp, because of how other pastors’ children, and staff/clergymen might treat me or my family differently. I also fear that the commonality of board/committee members treating/talking about lgbtq people as an "idea" and not as people who have lives and feelings will lead to decisions being made without the people affected by them really being thought of.” - Cameron (he/him) 

“I see the most pressing issues to be the demonization of the trans community. In the mainstream world we seem to be viewed as deviants or simply confused. The recent political battles over our existence, and the outright banning or limiting of our ability to receive necessary medical care have also been stressful to the extreme.” - Andrea

“Trans people are vulnerable in so many aspects of our lives because of the ways our identities are stigmatized in society. That manifests in housing precarity, food scarcity, joblessness, lack of social support, mental health issues - but it's all rooted in disconnection from our neighbors, driven by their discomfort with the ways we're different from them.” - Allie

“The assaults of misinformation that are in opposition to our dignity and well-being and are creating terror in our community and the whole of Cis/Het siblings in the Church.” - Vicky M. 

“The use of trans and nb people as political wedge issues — increasingly targeting trans youth and especially trans girls— which has a huge emotional and spiritual impact on the trans and nb community, including our families. It is part of a widespread and evolving culture of violence seeking our eradication.” - Rev. Cameron Partridge (he/him)


We invite further responses to these two questions in the comments: What does it mean to you to be out as a trans/non-binary person and as a person of faith? What do you see as the most important and pressing issues facing your community/communities? 

On this coming out day, we remember that coming out can be a lifelong process, full of both the joy and exhilaration of living as your truest self as well as the fatigue and fear of having to disclose time and time again. For many trans and non-binary folks, coming out is not a one time thing. For all those who are out - balancing visibility and vulnerability, as well as for those who are not or cannot come out, we pray on this day, asking God to embrace them with love, strength and support and the knowledge that each one of us, in all our splendid gender diversity, is a reflection of God’s divine image. 

In closing, we offer this prayer by the Rev. M Jade Kaiser:

(Be)coming out.
Not so much an unveiling of a hidden static treasure,
nor a final declaration or destination.
Not so much a correction of the past, now properly amended,
nor solely a discovery of a word for difference long felt.
(Be)coming out.
An impermanent clarity about the self in community.
A fleeting certainty about a something always uncertain.
A question of what politics to pursue.
A constant reconstituting.
A holy reconfiguration.
A reconstructing sexuality, gender, race, what it means to be human –
Creating on different terms, with different values.
A resistance to white supremacist cishetero patriarchy.
A development of friction on purpose.
A slow work.

It is a forever-practice
to actively dis-entangle from the web of destruction,
to become something otherwise.

It takes so much intention
to become queer –
to seek the identity of an ever strange(r) thing,
to create ourselves over and over and over again
as power and proximity to normalcy changes or evolves.
To call each other home
when the way is nomadic.

(Be)coming out.
It unsteadies Histories.
And calls forth futures unfixed.
Turning away from essentialist temptations,
it refuses to be reconciled
while so much is still broken.

What do we hope to become?
Not a thing to be accepted,
but a location of solidarity from which the world is built anew.

– Rev. M Jade Kaiser, enfleshed (https://enfleshed.com/liturgy/lgbtq-related/)  – inspired and deeply influenced by Shane Phelan’s essay (Be)Coming Out in Getting Specific, Postmodern Lesbian Politics (University of Minnesota Press, 1994).
0 Comments

    Archives

    April 2025
    March 2025
    January 2025
    November 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    October 2023
    September 2023
    July 2023
    May 2023
    March 2023
    November 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    May 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    November 2021
    August 2021
    May 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    August 2020
    June 2020
    November 2019
    March 2019
    December 2018
    October 2018
    July 2018
    February 2018
    November 2017
    August 2017
    April 2017
    July 2015
    June 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    September 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    February 2013
    November 2012
    September 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    March 2012
    January 2012
    November 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    February 2010
    January 2010
    December 2009
    November 2009
    September 2009
    August 2009
    July 2009
    June 2009
    April 2009
    January 2009
    November 2008
    October 2008
    August 2008
    July 2008
    June 2008
    April 2008
    March 2008
    February 2008
    January 2008
    December 2007
    November 2007
    October 2007
    September 2007
    August 2007
    July 2007
    June 2007
    May 2007
    April 2007
    March 2007

    Categories

    All
    77th General Convention
    80th General Convention
    81st General Convention
    A063
    A063 2022
    A064 2018
    A068 2018
    A088 2018
    A091 2018
    A143 2018
    A284 2018
    Aaron Scott
    Advent
    Advocacy
    Allies
    All Saints
    Allston/Brighton
    Anglican Communion
    Anglican Communion Listening Process
    Anglican Comprehensiveness
    Anglican Primates Dar Es Salaam Communiqué
    Anti Trans Legislation
    Anti Trans Violence
    Anti-trans Violence
    Archbishop Of Canterbury Rowan Williams
    Art
    Asceticism
    Author Anderson C.
    Author: Bear
    Author: Cameron Partridge
    Author: Carla Robinson
    Author: Charley Labonte
    Author: Christina Beardsley
    Author: Dante Tavolaro
    Author: Donna Cartwright
    Author: Gari Green
    Author: Gwen Fry
    Author: Iain Stanford
    Author: Jim Toy
    Author: Kit Wang
    Author: Kori Pacyniak
    Author: Liz
    Author: Louise Brooks
    Author: Meredith Bacon
    Author: Mia Nikasimo
    Author: Michelle Hansen
    Author: Penny Larson
    Author: Sarah Lawton
    Author: Shelly Fayette
    Author: Teal Van Dyck
    Author: Vicki Gray
    Author: Weston Morris
    B012 2018
    B033
    Baptism
    Baptismal Covenant
    Becoming
    Believe Out Loud
    Bishop Barbara Harris
    Bishop Bill Swing
    Bishop Bud Cederholm
    Bishop C. Andrew Doyle
    Bishop Catherine Roskam
    Bishop Catherine Waynick
    Bishop Chet Talton
    Bishop Dabney Smith
    Bishop Dorsey Henderson
    Bishop Duncan Gray
    Bishop Election Consent Process
    Bishop Gene Robinson
    Bishop Geralyn Wolf
    Bishop Ian Douglas
    Bishop J. Clark Grew
    Bishop John Chane
    Bishop Jon Bruno
    Bishop Larry Benfield
    Bishop Marc Andrus
    Bishop Mark Beckwith
    Bishop Mark Lawrence
    Bishop Mary Glasspool
    Bishop Otis Charles
    Bishop Prince Singh
    Bishop Samuel Howard
    Bishop Steven Charleston
    Bishop Tom Shaw
    Bishop William Love
    Blackburn Motion
    Blessing
    Book Of Occasional Services
    Boston
    Brandon Teena
    Buddhism
    Bullying
    C001 2009
    C001-2009
    C006 2018
    C010 2024
    C019 2015
    C022 2018
    C029 2018
    C030 2006
    C031 2018
    C046 2009
    C046-2009
    C048 2009
    C048-2009
    C054 2018
    C056 2009
    C061 2009
    C061-2009
    Cameron Partridge
    Camp Aranu'tiq
    Campus Ministry
    Canon Edward Rodman
    Cathedral Church Of St. Paul
    Catholic
    Chanelle Pickett
    Changing Attitude
    Changing Attitude Nigeria
    Chaz Bono
    Chris Ashley
    Christian Formation
    Christmas
    Church Of England
    Church Of The Advocate
    Collaboration
    Colonialism
    Coming Out
    Communion Of Saints
    Compassion
    Complementarianism
    Connecticut
    Courage
    D002
    D002 2012
    D005 2018
    D012 2009
    D012-2009
    D019
    D019 2012
    D022
    D022 2012
    D025
    D029 2022
    D030 2022
    D032 2009
    D036
    D036 2015
    D036 2018
    D037 2015
    D039 2009
    D066 2022
    D069 2018
    D072 2022
    D090 2009
    Dallas Transgender Advocates And Allies
    Damien De Veuster
    Dante Tavolaro
    David & Goliath
    Davis Mac-Iyalla
    Debra Forte
    Deployment
    Dialogue
    Diatesseron
    Diocesan Convention
    Diocese Of Arkansas
    Diocese Of California
    Diocese Of Connecticut
    Diocese Of Florida
    Diocese Of Los Angeles
    Diocese Of Louisiana
    Diocese Of Massachusetts
    Diocese Of New York
    Diocese Of Olympia
    Diocese Of San Joaquin
    Diocese Of South Dakota
    Diocese Of Texas
    Discernment
    Discrimination
    Divinity School
    Donna Cartwright
    Drew Phoenix
    Easter
    Easter Embodiment
    Easter Vigil
    ELCA
    ELCA New England Synod
    Elizabeth Clark
    Empathy
    ENDA
    Episcopal Church
    Episcopal Divinity School
    Eunuchs
    Evangelical Christianity
    Executive Council
    Exodus
    Families Of Trans People
    Family
    Family Diversity Project
    Florida
    Forms
    Fringe Festivals
    Gay
    #GC80
    Gender
    Gender Affirming Care
    Gendered Language
    Gender Identity
    Gender Justice Staff Officer
    Gender Neutral Restrooms
    Genderqueer
    General Convention
    General Convention 2006
    General Convention 2009
    General Convention 2012
    General Convention 2015
    General Convention 2018
    General Synod
    #givingtuesday
    GLAD
    Gospel Of John
    Gospel Of Luke
    Grace Cathedral
    Grief
    Gwen Araujo
    Gwen Smith
    Harvard Divinity School
    Harvard University
    Harvey Milk
    Hate Crimes
    Haunting
    Hawaii HB 546
    Healing
    Hinge Days
    HIV/AIDS
    Holy Spirit
    Homophobia
    Homosexuality
    Hope
    House Of Bishops
    House Of Deputies
    HR 1913
    HRC
    Iain Stanford
    I AM
    Incarceration
    Incarnation
    Indaba Groups
    Institute For Welcoming Resources
    Integrity Eucharist
    IntegrityUSA
    Interfaith Coalition For Transgender Equality
    Intersectionality
    Iowa Equal Marriage
    Isaiah 56
    Jendi Reiter
    Jennifer Finney Boylan
    Jim Toy
    John 21:1-19
    Joy
    J.R.R. Tolkien
    Judith Butler
    July 4th
    Jump Rope
    Kintsukuroi
    Kit Wang
    Kylar Broadus
    Labor Organizing
    Lambeth Conference
    Lay Ministry
    Lent
    Leprosy
    LGBTIQ
    LGBTQ Africans
    LGBTQ Anglicans
    LGBTQIA+
    LGBTQ Pride
    Liberation
    Liminality
    Louie Crew
    Louise Brooks
    Lutherans Concerned North America
    Mark Jordan
    Marriage Equality
    Maryland HB 235
    Mary Miller
    Masks
    Massachusetts
    Massachusetts HB 1722
    Massachusetts HB 1728/SB 1687
    Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition
    Matthew 25
    Media
    Michelle Kosilek
    Myra Chanel Ical
    Name Change In Church Records
    Name Change Liturgy
    Names
    Narrativity
    National Transgender Discrimination Survey
    New England
    News Coverage
    Nigeria
    Nonbinary
    Nondiscrimination Canons
    Oasis California
    Oregon
    Organization
    Other Sheep
    Pain
    Palm Sunday
    Parachute
    Parenting
    Parents Of Trans People
    Passion Narratives
    Philadelphia
    Prayer Book
    Prayer Book Revision
    Presidential Election
    President Of The House Of Deputies
    President Of The House Of Deputies Bonnie Anderson
    Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori
    Presiding Bishop Michael Curry
    Press Release
    Priesthood
    Prison Ministries
    Proclamation
    Public Accomodations
    Queer Youth
    Race
    Racial Justice
    Racism
    Reconciling Ministries Network
    Reign Of God
    Religion
    Religious Life
    Remain Episcopal
    Renaming Service
    Repair
    Resilience
    Resistance
    Restrooms
    Resurrection
    Retreat
    Rhiannon O'Donnabhain
    Richard Hooker
    Rita Hester
    Roman Catholic Church
    Ronald Miller
    Ruby Rodriguez
    Salem
    Same Sex Blessings
    San Francisco Night Ministry
    Sarah Lawton
    Sedementation
    Sermon
    Sexism
    Sexuality
    Sexuality Debates
    Sexual Minorities Uganda
    Sexual Orientation
    Sex Work
    Side-wound
    Sonia Burgess
    Spirituality
    St. Anne's
    Stephanie Spellers
    Stigma
    St. Luke's And St. Margaret's Allston
    St. Martin In The Fields
    Stockton
    St. Paul's
    Stumbling
    Suicidality
    Suicide
    Supreme Court Ruling
    TDOR
    TDOV
    Testimony
    Texas
    Texas HB 25
    The Briggs Initiative
    The Consultation
    The Cross
    The Crossing
    The Episcopal Church
    The Good Shepherd
    The Honorable Byron Rushing
    The Laramie Project
    Theological Anthropology
    The Philadelphia Eleven
    The Rev'd David Weekley
    The Rev'd Deacon Carolyn Woodall
    The Rev'd Deacon Vicki Gray
    The Rev'd Dr. Christina Beardsley
    The Rev'd Drew Phoenix
    The Rev'd Gari Green
    The Rev'd Gay Clark Jennings
    The Rev'd Gwen Fry
    The Rev'd Junia Joplin
    The Rev'd Michael Barlowe
    The Rev'd Paul Washington
    The Rev'd Susan Russell
    The Sibyls
    The Task Force
    Trans
    Transafro
    Trans Awareness Week
    Trans Civil Rights
    Trans Clergy
    Trans Day Of Visibility
    TransEpiscopal Eucharist
    Transfiguration
    Transformation
    Transgender
    Transgender Athletes
    Transgender Clergy
    Transgender Day Of Visibility
    Transgender Faith Leaders
    Transgender Moment
    Transgender Non Discrimination
    Transgender Non-discrimination
    Transgender Youth
    Trans Health
    Trans Inclusion
    Transition
    Trans Justice
    Trans Lesbian
    TransLutherans
    Trans Medical Care
    Trans Misogyny
    Transmisogyny
    Trans Narratives
    Trans Ordination
    Trans Ordinations
    Trans People Of Faith
    Transphobia
    Trans Preaching
    Trans Pride
    Trans Representation In Media
    Trans Sermons
    Transsexual
    Trans Spirituality
    Trans Studies
    Trans Women
    Trans Youth
    Trauma
    Travel
    Trinity Episcopal Cathedral Sacramento
    Trump Gender Memo
    UCC
    Uganda
    UMC General Conference
    United Kingdom
    United Methodist
    UUA
    Vendela Vida
    Vermont Equal Marriage
    Vice President Of The House Of Deputies
    Viktor Juliet Mukasa
    Violence
    Vocation
    Voices Of Witness Africa
    Voices Of Witness Out Of The Box
    Welcome One Another Fellowship
    Wholeness
    Wilderness
    Women Bishops
    Women's Ministries
    Women's Ordination
    World Mission Committee

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly