Journey Story
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…
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As we honor and celebrate Trans Awareness Week, we pause today to honor the journeys of transgender and gender nonconforming people of faith by sharing the 10 journey stories below. These blogs are all written by transgender, genderqueer, non-binary, Two Spirit, and gender nonconforming people of faith, a majority of whom identify as Christian. While…
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Yesterday, we launched a #ChristiansVote campaign to transform the narrative about Christian voters. Join us to proclaim loud and clear that we are Christians called to justice! ADD YOUR NAME: This Christian Votes for Justice About two years ago, I got a message on Facebook from my cousin in Tennessee. I had never talked with him…
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In the days of my youth, I knew little of the meanings of terms such as the “religious right” and the “liberal left.” I was taught to believe in a loving God, and I have begun to understand that this is the greatest fortune of my birth. I was raised by parents who believed in…
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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…
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Shortly after coming out to my church, I began to notice just how many LGBTQ people our congregation had. While my time prior to deciding to come out had been full of nerves and worry, my time after was filled with new friends and role models. In particular were two couples, both made up of…
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I realized how much I hated myself the day I admitted to myself that I’m trans. I’d never noticed before then the nauseated feeling in my stomach each time I looked in a mirror, or how I never could take compliment without some type of rebuttal, or how much I clamored for attention while looking…
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“We’re worried that our children’s program won’t grow. Parents won’t bring their child to a church with lesbian pastors and so many gay people,” a deacon stated woefully. “Isn’t she pretty?” he said as he pinched my cheeks and introduced me to a prestigious male academic, “you’d never know she’s smart.” “It’s fine that you’re…
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I’m writing here about what I always, somehow, write about: the unlearning of shame. This is the topic on which I’m most focused. It’s my focus, for in the process of unlearning shame, we simultaneously remember our worth, which connects us to Love. And Love—the inherent sense that we’re both loved and emanations of Love—is…
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I first saw the rainbow flag of LGBTQ Pride in a church. It was 1985, back when same-sex marriage was so taboo that pollsters didn’t even ask about it. I had just come out of the closet as a lesbian and moved to San Francisco with my life partner. On our first Sunday in town,…
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