Not All Religions Are The Same

There are many who are trans and LGB supportive and one of them now has a trans bishop.

Megan Rohrer Elected As 1st Openly Transgender Bishop In U.S. Lutheran Church
NPR
By Emma Bowman
May 10, 2021


The Rev. Megan Rohrer has been elected as a bishop in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, becoming the first openly transgender person in the U.S. to do so in a major Christian denomination.

Rohrer will serve as bishop of the Sacramento-based Sierra Pacific synod, which encompasses close to 200 congregations in Central and Northern California and northern Nevada.

"I am humbled and honored, and aware that this call is bigger than me," Rohrer said in a speech after the ballots were counted on Saturday. "My hope is that your grandkids will call you, and your kids will call you, and your friends will call you, and ask you about your faith. And when they call, tell them how much you love Jesus and why Jesus' faith in you meant why you could have faith in me."

The Washington Post in an article by Emily McFarlan Miller reported that,

On May 8, the Sierra Pacific Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America made it official, electing Rohrer as the fifth bishop of its nearly 200 congregations in California and Nevada.

That makes Rohrer the first openly transgender bishop in the largest Lutheran denomination in the United States — or any major denomination in the country, for that matter.

The Post article went on to say…

Ellen Armour, chair in religion, gender and sexuality at Vanderbilt Divinity School in Nashville, called Rohrer’s election “groundbreaking” after decades of debate over LGBTQ inclusion in mainline Protestant churches. That debate currently is threatening to split the United Methodist Church, which is in full communion with the ELCA.

[…]

Many Lutherans used social media to express their excitement at the election of the first transgender bishop. That includes ReconcilingWorks, an organization advocating for the full inclusion of all LGBTQ Lutherans, and Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries, whose precursor, the Extraordinary Candidacy Project, had ordained Rohrer extraordinarily in 2006, before the ELCA ordained LGBTQ clergy. (The ELCA officially changed its policy in 2009 and recognized Rohrer’s ordination the next year, making them the first openly transgender pastor in the denomination.)

And Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton, who heads the ELCA, said that while she recognized the historic nature of Rohrer’s election, the appointment was not only about their gender, but about all the gifts the bishop-elect brings to the church, including their focus on those who have been marginalized.

It is only the far right conservatives that are causing the troubles for us, most religions are mum on LGBTQ+ and therefore are complicit in the attacks against us.

Only those religions that are willing to speak up on our behalf can be labeled affirming. I like to point out that when we were trying to pass the GI/GE non-discrimination bill many religions were there beside us in our efforts to pass the law.

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Seeing is believing but sometimes words are different from actions.

This is from a couple of months ago but since I am writing religion I figured it was a good time to bring this up about two of the trans community's antagonists…

Catholic leaders join LGBTQ group to condemn discrimination against transgender people

‘It is our Catholic duty to affirm the dignity of transgender people and to defend them from harm,’ the statement reads.

Religious New Service

By Jack Jenkins

March 31, 2021

WASHINGTON (RNS) — Two Roman Catholic bishops and other church leaders have teamed up with the Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ advocacy organization, to condemn discrimination against transgender people, the groups announced Wednesday (March 31).

In a statement provided to Religion News Service, Archbishop John Wester of Santa Fe, New Mexico; Bishop John Stowe of Lexington, Kentucky; and the Association of U.S. Catholic Priests as well as the presidents of two Jesuit organizations declared that, “we, Bishops, religious and lay leaders of the Roman Catholic Church join with the Human Rights Campaign in calling for an end to the epidemic of violence against transgender individuals.”

March 31 has been celebrated as Transgender Day of Visibility since 2009.

The statement, which cites the words of St. John Paul II, notes that the Catechism of the Catholic Church insists “every sign of unjust discrimination” against LGBTQ people “should be avoided” and condemns violent acts perpetrated against transgender people in recent years that have been documented by HRC.

“It is our Catholic duty to affirm the dignity of transgender people and to defend them from harm,” the statement reads.

Okay… for many of trans people the HRC is not a friend of the trans community (If you don’t know what I am talking about I suggest you Google “2007 HRC backstabbing transgender) and teaming up with a church notorious for discriminating against us leave a sour taste in our mouths.