Where Would Jesus Go To The Bathroom?

The nativity scene with jesus on a donkey.

Rev. Dr. Justin Tanis is an ordained Christian minister in the Metropolitan Community Church. He is also transgender, and he is the author of a book titled Transgendered: Theology, Ministry, and Communities of Faith. In it Rev. Tanis writes: “We tend to create God in our own image. If we ourselves are uncomfortable with gender variation,…

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Continuing The Work After Houston’s Fallen HERO

A group of people in red shirts standing around a table.

Our work toward justice continues. Yesterday, Houston voters rejected Houston’s Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO), an ordinance that would have protected the rights of 15 different categories of people. Opponents of HERO centered their campaign on a shameful, transphobic message—“No Men in Women’s Bathrooms.” Faith leaders in Houston advanced this harmful message and advocated to defeat…

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It’s Time for Trans Lives to Truly Matter to Us All

A person holding a candle in front of a crowd.

Each November LGBT centers, local groups, and churches host events for Transgender Day of Remembrance. It’s a single evening, a few hours, dedicated to memorializing those who were violently murdered for being transgender. Nearly all of the victims of violence are women, of color, poor, and many likely engaged in sex work. In the United…

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Saying “Yes” To Life

A group of people holding signs that say justice.

Etched in my memory on a daily basis these days are the Black men who have been killed over the last several months by people whose task it was to protect and serve them. As a black, queer trans-identified male, who is also aware of the violence too often inflicted upon queer and Trans bodies…

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A Prayer For Transgender Day Of Remembrance

A group of candles lit in a dark room.

Today, let us pray to whatever Universal energy, whatever God, whatever entity we feel resonates most with our intentions. Let us remember to hold space for all the trans people that have unfairly lost their lives due to discrimination, due to violence and due to the indifference of those who remain silent. Universe allows us…

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A Christian Calling For Transgender Day Of Remembrance

Lit candles in front of a statue in a church.

Trigger warning: discussions of transphobia, violence, and suicide. Last week, a friend sent me a news report about an attack on transgender activist Candice Rose Milligan, who lives in Toledo, Ohio. She has been released from the hospital following two surgeries, including one to wire her jaw closed until it heals. It was broken as…

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Back-To-School Not Welcoming To All LGBTQ Students

Rainbow flags lining a leafy campus path

It’s back-to-school season for most and stepping back into the scene isn’t easy for a lot of students—especially LGBTQ students. LGBTQ-phobias abound in the hallowed halls of higher learning. Unfortunately, we even have to confront them here in Massachusetts, an A+ queer-friendly state. I pray for LGBTQ freshman students walking into Gordon College. Most will…

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“Sorry” Seems To Be The Easiest Word

A man in a blue shirt is smiling at a microphone.

I live under a pop-culture rock, and it is only because of his inner-orbit position on the Six Degrees of Channing Tatum that I even know Jonah Hill’s name. But his recent run-in with a paparazzo, culminating in him angrily calling the man a derogatory term for a gay man and commanding him to perform…

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