Gay Atlanta 2028: Rising to our challenges
Longtime leaders on the biggest changes of the last two decades and the issues that will shape our future
By MATT SCHAFER
MAY. 30, 2008
http://www.sovo.com/2008/5-30/news/localnews/8619.cfmErin Swenson
The next 20 years:
"I think that will continue to be the biggest challenge over the next 20 years. I think the ultimately the rest of the country is going to be receptive to civil unions between two people of the same sex before this area is.
"The discussion I haven't seen that I would like to see happen is when we continue to have discussions about same-sex marriage, and opposite-sex marriage, we use terms that really don't translate to the transgender community. I think it's unfair to use terms of gender that are really more fluid than they are perceived. That is the conversation I would love to see happen, but that is probably just my own dream."
— Erin Swenson moved to Atlanta in 1957, where she graduated from Sandy Springs High School in 1965. She is the first transgender person known to keep her ordination as a Presbyterian minister when she transitioned in 1994-96. She continues to lobby on religious issues affecting LGBT people.
