the challege is that winthin society & church , we have a gender binary .. one box or the other
as a church, society we are starting to move into embracing people of all genders, but we're not there yet
UU church Lesbian, Gay bisexual AND /OR transgender
we're catching up with the T
faith traditions have a role in educating the world abuot trans issues
god is many different things -- amorphus amaing being
with that comes the Trans umbrella
made up of various identities -- not just one!
anyone who challenges societies -- the church's -- understanding of male and female
use the umbrella as a starting place for theology
radical liberating forms of faith
invites us to think of both and rather than just either or
we are more than just one identity!
i am a person who happens to be trans
conversation that impacts all of us as we start deconstructing gender and what it means in our lives
sometimes you don't want to go to mom or dad, you want to go to grandma
-- so being able to relate to god as a grandma, as a lover, etc.
... so wider impact on anyone's relationship with the divine and sacred
many of our faith traditions have this at their roots - the dignity of all people -- preferential option for the vulnerable
at the core of who we are as people of fiath
welcoming the stranger
hinduism and buddhism - satia granja .. nonviolent active engagement -- use your power within yourself to transform the world
Juddaism -- repair the world
transofrming faith
when we start to ask these questions, it can be nerracting but also liberating
expanding images of G-od - challenge people to embrace identity
if all the images of the sacred are presented as a white male on a cloud, how does that impact me as trans?
if God created male and female, in their image -- is God trans?
God is much quirkier than I originally thought
God created a spectrum that embodies male and female
not only remembering but re-membering who we are as catholics
we have a tradition of transgressors -- people who troubled their understanding of male and female
Joan of ARc -- challenged the notion of what it meant to be a woman of her time
it's there -- we're not making it up
Teresa was sent to the inquisition because she could understand the trinity better than most male scholars -- that was not a nun's place -- they were to make the clothing for the clurgy .. so she callenged the norm of her day through her writing and theology
.. communion of saints -- looking at all the saints
wider faith world
buddhism - mother quan yin -- trans deity -- .. venerated as male in some places and female in others
juddaism - kabalah - female names for God -- references to God as a female that are just as important as references to God as male
-- recognition of four possible genders -- there is a recognition that there is something else
tuntum and andrognos --
rabbis recognized in early history that the world was much more complicated
there is a concept that the in-between space -- right before evening and morning -- of time those are sacred and where God reveals Godself
so those of us who believe we are something inbetween can use that as a starting place to reclaim our bodies (as sacred)
Two spirit individuals -- sacred because they could be a bridge between male and female
... is a starting place to learn from as catholics
Jesuses and genders
- queering the text
- deborah the judge - riding a chariot
- miriam - sister of Moses - tells off God .. leads the people along with moses --
did they ID as trans* .. we don't know -- but they did things that were manly
Eunichs - the closest thing in biblical terms to our understanding of trans* -- individuals who do not fit male or female of their time -- many of them were castrated men -- may have been inviduals born as intersex
-- the powerful thing about their presence in scripture is the recognition as more than male or female -- and all are affirmed
first convert to christianity --- ethiopian eunich --
what captivated phillip was that this individual was quoting isaiah -- not their body -/ what's between their legs
Jesus as queer - Jesus's ministry was transformative .. challenged norms of his day -- Jesus affirms Eunichs -- challnenged binaries .. used woman as the example of faith, ate with them
guide to the upper room -- as Jesus and the apostles are approaching the last supper
--> man getting water at a well -- that was not what men did!
here we have Jesus recognizing and affirming a person who was transgressive
Jesus's life of radical inclusion of all people
resurrection -- if we believe that God has no gender, what happened to Jesus's body at the resurrection
transforming body
- looking at our lived experiences as texts .. where God reveals Godself
looking at transition not only as the medical process -- but seeing it as a true spiritual journey of living into oneself -- we are all transition with each day .. we grow as human beings!
use the term sexual integrity -- how we express ourselves sexually as a matter of our wholeness
so gender integrity -- invitation to live as whole people with and through our gender
Journey of transitioning -- unique to each individual --
looking at the transition as an opportunity to cocreate with God
when we come out, our families have to come out with us
- so the transition is something we do as a family
joyful and hard experience for the family, too
seeing everyday life as a practice in the holy -- binding oneself, makeup, taking hormones, being an advocate for gender pronouns and language used in communal spaces
many of us within the faith world have received that our bodies are corrupt / bad
.. the transformation that happens by embodying a trans theology is an opportunity for all of us to reclaim our bodies
.... invitation for all of us to feel at home within our bodies and reclaim them as a sacred space
6 religious traditions -- affirm individuals who are trans in pursing religious leadership
two spirits -
inbetween male and female -- we embody both spirits -- both male energies and female energies
can get fired to go to work with your nails painted
are there "trans" male saints?
coptic tradition -- marius -- ... entered the world as a female
official saint within the orthodox church
the other side of that -- of men embodying femininity -- I don't know
beloved apostle -- feminine attributes -- very sensual, feminine relationship between disciple and Jesus
being allies -- trans men -> allies to women
tsa will pat you down with a person of the gender you present as