A Transgender Sister in Christ

[Natasha]

A Transgender Sister in Christ

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rev-rich-rose/transgendered-sister-christ_b_934102.html
8/24/11
By Rev. Rich Rose

"Pastor, I need to know if I'm welcome in this church!" It was with these words, blurted out as she ambled across the threshold of my office doorway, that I was first introduced to Sami (not her real name), a person who was in the process of transitioning from male to female. The words barely out of her mouth, Sami plopped down on the edge of the couch adjacent to my desk and launched into her story.

The western New York church I was serving at the time is an American Baptist church that I would describe as conservative to moderate, and one that had never encountered a trans person seeking welcome, affirmation and, eventually, membership.

As Sami told me her story, she revealed herself to be a 62 year old who had lived her life knowing that she was a woman in the body of a man. Experts state that as many as 1 in 1,500 children are born with ambiguous genitalia. This was Sami's story. At birth her doctor decided to "correct" her by assigning her male genitalia. As Sami matured physically and sexually, she knew that this had been a mistake. Inside, she knew she was a woman.

[Vicky]

If the pastor was able to get a "trans friendly" passage by the method he did, evidently the Bible says more good in our behalf than bad.  The "close your eyes and point to a passage" method of Biblical inspiration is generally not well thought of, but in this case had a happy outcome.  From a positon of more systematic study of the Bible, I can however agree there is more in there FOR us than against us.  Now to get the other fundamentalist clergy to unglue the pages of their Bibles that prevent them from reading the good stuff.

[Lisbeth]

The western New York church I was serving at the time is an American Baptist church that I would describe as conservative to moderate, and one that had never encountered a trans person seeking welcome, affirmation and, eventually, membership.

I grew up in the American Baptist Convention (ABC). I would never describe that group as "conservative to moderate." We were the liberals of the Baptist world. That particular congregation may be on the conservative end of the spectrum, but that would be out of step for American Baptists. Nothing like the Southern Baptists Convention or the Regular Baptist Convention.