Transgender
In college I started a blog. The website was orange text on different-orange background that hurt the eyes to read. The top was emblazoned the title “HYPOCRITE,” and below the title was a quote from the book of Matthew. It was the scene of Judas betraying Jesus, but I’d cut the context and just left…
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As a parent of two young children, I make many trips to the public library and I read many children’s books. I can be a bit of a children’s book snob, picking what appears to be a high-brow picture book based on the inclusion of a Caldecott or Newbury award sticker, or by literally judging…
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These days I am one of the first in any group to jump to defend someone’s religious beliefs, including their right to share them in a friendly, respectful manner. It wasn’t always this way. At one point in my life, I found all religion, spirituality, or belief system harmful and hypocritical. The second God was…
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Last month marked a historic occasion. From Monday April 11 through Thursday April 14, fifteen Unitarian Universalist transgender and genderqueer ministers and religious educators gathered together in a first-ever retreat at the beautiful Asilomar retreat center in Pacific Grove, California. They were joined by trans elder, author, and activist Kate Bornstein, who facilitated the gathering,…
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Earlier this month, I testified in a hearing before a Minnesota House Committee on HF3396, a misguided piece of discriminatory legislation that would restrict bathroom access for trans and gender nonconforming people on the basis of “biological sex.” In that committee, I shared my experiences as a pastor, a gay man, and the son of…
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Contact: James Rowe Director, Believe Out Loud Email James 646-723-7826 1,779 Christians Support Transgender Students In Tennessee Bill Sponsor Withdraws HB 2414 After Transgender Students & Allies Deliver 67,000 Signatures New York, NY—Today, Tennessee’s harmful anti-transgender bathroom bill was withdrawn after lawmakers received petitions with more than 67,000 signatures. These petitions included signatures from 1,779…
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Easter service was exactly as one would expect, uneventful even, for most of those gathered that morning. As I joined my congregation early that day, I was greeted with the traditional “Alleluia! Christ is risen!” and the blast of the organ and choir singing, “Christ the Lord is Risen Today.” I took a breath, binding…
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ADD YOUR NAME: Tell Tennessee Lawmakers to Block Anti-Trans Bathroom Bill Five years ago, I was a member of a Southern Baptist Church in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, listening to the same sermons as my Old Hickory Representative Susan Lynn. One Sunday, as our preacher dug deeper into Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, I was struck…
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It may seem like a cliché but as a Christian I often find myself often asking that age old question, “What would Jesus do?” Last Tuesday, I asked myself this question after learning that HB 1008—an anti-trans bill that forces trans students to use restrooms and locker rooms that do not correspond with their gender—was…
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Help us TELL GOVERNOR DAUGAARD: Christians Stand With Trans Students On behalf of a carload of clergy, representing four different Christian traditions, who left Sioux Falls at 3:00am to testify against H.B. 1008 last week, and on behalf of about a dozen clergy colleagues who couldn’t make the trip, I am asking Governor Daugaard to…
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