Ann--thank you for posting this. Our transgender brothers and sisters are among the most vulnerable people in society--to violence, poverty, and illness. In the words of Jesus, they are definitely "the least" among us--not because they are somehow "less than," but because of prejudice and ignorance.

I believe that we, as people of faith, have a special responsibility to listen to them and support them in their journey to be the people they believe they were born to be. I am well-acquainted with secular transgender blogs, but I had not realized that there was an Episcopal Church blog for transgendered people. Thank you for giving me a new and valuable resource.

I agree, transgender persons should have the same rights as a person but I cannot believe that people of God support the support of such people. They should be supported to embrace the gender they were born with, that is how God made them. Could it be because the believe in a god and not the God. BTW ... at least spell God correctly.

I just submitted a comment for "approval". It will be interesting to see if you post it because it is in opposition to the article. Let's see how bias or supporting you really are of differing thoughts?

[Editor's note: I approved it as soon as I saw it. It will be interesting to see if you get over yourself.]

liza Jax - Your ignorance is breathtaking. Why not spend at least a bit of time educating yourself about the quite natural incidence of intersex as well as the even more complex phenomena of gender before you put your fingers to your laptop and leave a comment?

Why do some assume that all of how God made us is determinable by an attending physician at birth? It is strange to see scientific positivism and absolutism mixed with assertions about people of faith. Through our lives we discover many things about ourselves and about how God made us, some of which have been veiled from us and some of which have been veiled from others; we must find out faith and determine much about what God's purpose, plan and intent are, have been and will be for us. That process of discernment is complicated, manifold and tied to our personal relationship with God, not to what was originally listed on our birth certificate. Why do we believe that God could not make women who will start their lives assumed to be men? Why do we assume that God is limited to the palette of man and woman, when God so often presents us with evidence (from intersex people to trans people and many more people around the edges and in between) to the contrary? Are we to assume that God merely allows these people to be deluded about who they are meant to be, that God is making some error when an intersex child is born? Or could it be that God is challenging us, reminding us to not be so steadfast and cocksure in our dichotomies, to not assume that God's work and God's intent are bound by the systems of classification which we have? Does God make people insane by the directions of the DSM? We describe, God creates; the words and systems we use to describe cannot possibly limit or be thought to be complete in the face of God.

Get over yourself, indeed. God seems to me to be reminding us always that we should get over ourselves, stop thinking and seeing so simply and certainly that we must not assume that God thinks and works so simply as we certainly do.

[Editor's note: thanks for the comment. Please leave your full name next time.]

They should be supported to embrace the gender they were born with, that is how God made them.

Well, as God made ME w/ genders (multiple, as in GenderQueer), I trust you'll support me as I embrace them all, Lisa. Thanks!

JC Fisher

But seriously: thanks, Ann. In a world where willfully-ignorant bigotry is still all-too-apparent {ahem}, it's nice to know that there in those in my Church who still have my back (in all its messy/beautiful Imago Dei).

I am very grateful for this post and for the standards and love shown in the Episcopal Church.

I am a transgendered christian, working on a critical care unit, leading my ordinary life, and exploring vocation as a nun with the full support of an Anglican community.

Life as a transsexual woman is not at all easy. It is far from some hedonistic lifestyle choice. It comes at great cost, which for me has included loss of home, and a job as a teacher, and of course the abuse you get on the street, when, truly, all you are trying to do is live an ordinary life (imperfectly like everyone else), and trying to love your neighbour, and seeking above all to love God (or Godde as I sometimes call her, or is that him?). Well we are made, male and female, in the image of a Godde who encompasses both. We may be either. It's not to do with sex. I don't even want sex, I am celibate. Gender is your psychology, your identity. And we live in a diverse world where we are not the same. But we can try to love.

We worship a Holy One who transcends gender, while fully encompassing and feeling and understanding everything it is to be 'woman' or 'man'.

A Holy One who came to live among us, and who stood alongside the marginalised, and who saw deep deep into each person's soul.

When I am a nun and a religious sister (I have not been excluded because of my gender variance, I have been wonderfully accepted) I hope in God's eyes I will be somehow acceptable, though, like each person, I am weak, vulnerable and all too often selfish.

Our Godde is so great, and so compassionate, and so I give thanks for the support and love of other Christians, and I appeal for help for trans brothers and sisters who haven't found the support I have. Because many trans people are very very isolated.

But each person intimately known by God. Known and loved for who they are, not who other people say they 'ought' to be.

God's grace and peace be with you.

Susannah

Thanks very much for posting this, Ann, it's very much appreciated.

Regarding the above thread and the question of whether trans folks embrace or reject the bodies they/we are born with, I would say that a) it's important to recognize that not everyone who is trans medically transitions, b) that both those who do transition and who don't can have quite complex gender identities (as JC so eloquently put it) and sexualities; and c) changing one's body is not necessarily experienced as a rejection of one's body-- it is often experienced as a claiming, indeed a reclaiming and rejoicing in, one's body at long last. God does indeed make all sorts of complex bodies, and I give thanks for that, and want this world-- and church-- to be a place where such bodies and lives are no longer so vulnerable to violence, but encouraged to grow and flourish.

Finally, I wanted to add that I've posted a little piece on the TransEpiscopal and Walking with Integrity Blogs about Transgender Day of Remembrance with a few suggestions of things churches might consider doing.

Thanks again, Ann.

Cameron Partridge