Posts Tagged ‘Gender Identity’
Coming Out As Trans In An Affirming Faith Community
Click here to find a welcoming church! Affirming pastors can have an immeasurably positive impact in the lives of their LGBTQIA congregants. Hannah Soldner, a Believe Out Loud blogger, is lucky to have three affirming pastors who accompany her on her faith journey. Rev. Mieke Vandersall, the second openly gay minister to be ordained in…
Read MoreThe Courage To Be
Last week I wrote on hope, and the reason I wrote on hope was that I needed a bit of hope. I needed to be reminded that even my body carries the story of hope. And as we near the end of 2016 and stand in the liturgical season of Advent where we wait for…
Read MoreQueering Mary Magdalene
Many of the revolutionary women in my Holy Women Icons Project identify as queer in some way. Many are emboldening straight allies. And there are many whose sexuality we know nothing about. When it comes to some of the women in scripture, reading their stories through the lens of queer theory, or “queering” their stories,…
Read MoreWe Need A Movement For Trans Resilience
This week marks Trans Awareness Week, which culminates with Trans Day of Remembrance. TDOR (Trans Day of Remembrance) is that moment that many of us dread, because it is the ritual where we mindfully mark the passing of our Trans siblings, many of whom are Trans Women of Color who are victims of relentless violence…
Read MoreTransgender Awareness Is Not Enough
I am sick of Transgender Awareness. November is a month that has become riddled with our religious allies checking off the box for transgender “issues”—often with a special service that turns the death of transgender women of color into a sort of morbid pageant. It is an annual performance of care and concern that seems…
Read MoreChanging Minds: A Young Seminarian Learning to Love
As a young seminarian in the late 1970’s, I enjoyed being a graduate student on the campus of a major university in the Midwest. The big library and vast intellectual community were a thrill, but the greatest joy was attending Sunday services at the university’s chapel, an elaborate modernist/Gothic building on the edge of campus.…
Read MoreBeing Trans In An Age Of Violence
Trigger warning: description of transphobia, violence, and physical assault I grew up in Northern Mexico, the Republic of Texas, and learned to think thru my body and not only depend on rational thinking per se. As an always gender non-conforming person who later found a home in naming themselves a non-binary Transgender person, I have…
Read MoreI’m Bisexual, Transgender, & Happy
Standing amongst the rows of trees I stared across at my partner. She was smiling, grabbing apples from the trees with an excited exclamation as if each one was a new find, a sparkly treasure, with that same childlike wonder that made me first fall in love with her. Every time I see it, it…
Read MoreWhy Coming Out Isn’t For Everyone
Coming out is a powerful experience. It is a story that many people in the LGBTQ community have in common. Whether subtle or dramatic, disclosing one’s sexual orientation or gender identity is often met with celebration and praise. With the advent of inclusive religious institutions, scholars, and others who make a strong case of God’s…
Read MoreGrowing In My Faith & My Marriage
Who am I? I know the answer that is normally given would be; name, age, hometown, college, work, children, pets. Those answers are available, but before I list the things you can find out with a quick search I will define myself. I am a lover, free spirit, one who is easy to laugh, but…
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