Editors’
note:
This
is
the
third
and
final
installment
in
a
series
devoted
to
examining
the
views
of
various
religions
on
transgender
issues.
This
week:
A
trans
perspective
on
the
Presbyterian
and
Mormon
faiths.
Visit
washingtonblade.com
for
the
previous
installments.
As
some
religious
faiths,
like
Presbyterians,
progress
toward
accepting
gays,
those
advances
have
not
necessarily
translated
into
a
more
welcoming
environment
for
transgender
people.
The
National
Assembly
of
the
Presbyterian
Church
USA
approved
a
measure
to
enable
churches
and
regional
presbyteries
to
appoint
gay
clergy,
lay
elders
and
deacons
in
June,
by
a
vote
of
298-221.
The
catch
is
that
they
must
refrain
from
sexual
relations
outside
of
heterosexual
marriage.
Officially,
the
church
has
no
position
on
transgender
issues.
The
new
gay
policy
was
viewed
as
a
mixed
blessing
by
gays
fighting
for
acceptance,
but
for
transgender
Presbyterians,
the
silence
speaks
volumes.
Erin
Swenson
speaks
from
experience
when
she
says
that
although
the
Presbyterian
Church
has
no
official
position
on
transgender
individuals,
it
does
not
mean
the
church
is
accepting.
She
was
ordained
as
Eric
Karl
Swensen
in
1973
by
the
Presbytery
of
Greater
Atlanta,
then
part
of
the
Southern
Presbyterian
Church.
Her
ordination
was
threatened
23
years
later
when
she
came
out
as
the
first
known
mainstream
Presbyterian
minister
to
transition
from
male
to
female.
She
fought
to
have
her
ordination
sustained
after
members
of
the
church
called
for
her
ordination
to
be
revoked.
“My
ordination
was
dealt
with
by
the
Presbytery
of
Greater
Atlanta,
which
is
one
of
the
largest
in
the
United
States,”
said
Swensen.
“It
caused
a
stir
across
the
entire
denomination
because
I
am
a
minister
wherever
I
go.
It
was
never
brought
up
in
the
General
Assembly.
My
ordination
stands,
but
it
doesn’t
mean
the
Presbyterian
Church
as
a
denomination
is
accepting
of
transgenders.”
She
said
it
was
a
challenge
to
remain
in
the
Presbyterian
faith
after
members
of
her
church
called
for
her
ordination
to
be
revoked.
She
was
told
that
if
she
continued
to
press
to
remain
ordained
that
entire
church
congregations
would
leave
the
denomination.
Swensen
said
that
other
transgender
ministers
had
resigned
privately
without
explanation,
but
she
was
not
about
to
go
quietly.
“In
the
beginning
I
hung
on
because
I
had
a
severely
disabled
daughter,”
she
said.
“The
only
insurance
we
had
was
through
the
church.”
Swensen’s
fight
became
public
in
1996,
after
a
story
about
her
was
published
in
the
Atlanta
Journal-Constitution.
She
did
not
want
the
article
written,
preferring
to
fight
the
challenge
to
her
ordination
privately.
The
article
set
off
a
chain
of
events
in
Swensen’s
life
that
motivated
her
to
fight.
When
a
transgender
woman
contacted
her
and
told
Swensen
her
story,
she
was
awed
by
the
woman’s
faith
and
by
her
belief
that
it
was
wrong
for
her
to
be
a
member
of
the
Presbyterian
Church
because
she
was
transgender.
“Here
was
somebody
who
did
everything
but
actually
join
the
church
because
she
thought
God
wouldn’t
want
her
to,”
said
Swensen.
Swensen
befriended
the
woman
and
felt
a
sense
of
purpose
and
renewed
calling
to
her
role
as
a
minister,
she
said.
Once
her
ordination
was
allowed
to
stand
by
the
Presbytery
of
Greater
Atlanta,
she
began
to
take
a
national
role
in
ministering
to
transgender
individuals
and
allies.
In
1999,
she
founded
the
Southern
Association
for
Gender
Education
with
Raja
Qasim.
She
said
that
when
she
was
first
ordained,
the
Presbyterian
Church
had
never
heard
of
trans
people.
Swenson
said
that
as
more
trans
men
and
women
come
out,
it
makes
it
harder
for
the
church
to
ignore
transgender
issues
or
dismiss
them
as
unrelated
to
church
life.
Today,
she
is
parish
associate
at
Ormewood
Park
Presbyterian
Church
in
Atlanta,
and
a
pastoral
psychotherapist
at
the
Morningside
Presbyterian
Church.
She
also
serves
on
the
board
of
More
Light
Presbyterians,
a
ministry
for
gay,
lesbian,
bisexual
and
trans
people,
and
as
a
chair
of
the
Health
Ministries
Committee
of
the
Presbytery
of
Greater
Atlanta.
She
said
the
easiest
way
for
trans
people
to
find
support
is
to
seek
out
a
More
Light
Presbyterian
church.
“[More
Light]
is
made
up
of
churches
across
the
country
that
are
welcoming
and
open
to
gay,
lesbian,
bisexual
and
transgender
people.
Get
in
touch
with
people
like
me
who
know
where
to
find
those
churches.”
Trans
Mormon
leaves
church
Like
Swenson,
Rebecca
Nay
struggled
to
stay
in
her
church,
but
Nay’s
story
has
a
different
ending.
Nay
is
a
transgender
former
Mormon
who
hosts
an
online
radio
show
called
“Tranny
Wreck.”
She
grew
up
in
Salt
Lake
City,
Utah,
as
Ryan
Michael
Nay,
the
son
of
non-practicing
Mormons.
She
said
that
she
always
felt
like
a
woman
and
dreamed
of
transitioning.
In
her
autobiography
she
wrote
about
becoming
an
“active”
Mormon
during
her
junior
year
of
high
school.
“The
feelings
that
I
interpreted
as
‘gay’
were
so
strong
that
I
just
wanted
them
to
go
away,”
she
said.
“I
felt
that
if
I
was
a
good
and
faithful
Mormon,
then
God
would
reward
me
by
making
me
normal.”
Nay
hoped
she
would
be
able
to
pray
away
her
strong
sexual
attraction
to
men,
hoping
that
if
her
gay
sexual
...
