It Is Complicated!

When I comes to religion and trans people it is complicated, a lot times it comes down to the parish priests, yesterday I went to my cousin’s funeral in a Catholic church and I'll write it this afternoon.

Transgender inclusion? World’s major religions take varying stances on policies toward trans people

AP News

BY DEEPA BHARATH, DAVID CRARY AND MARIAM FAM

April 10, 2024

The Vatican has issued a new document rejecting the concept of changing one’s biological sex – a setback for transgender people who had hoped Pope Francis might be setting the stage for a more welcoming approach from the Catholic Church.

Around the world, major religions have diverse approaches to gender identity, and the inclusion or exclusion of transgender people. Some examples:

Christianity

The Catholic Church’s disapproving stance toward gender transition is shared by some other denominations. For example, the Southern Baptist Convention – the largest Protestant denomination in the United States – adopted a resolution in 2014 stating that “God’s design was the creation of two distinct and complementary sexes, male and female.” It asserts that gender identity “is determined by biological sex, not by one’s self-perception”

Islam

In Islam, there isn’t a single central religious authority and policies can vary in different regions.

[…]

In Iran, the Shiite theocracy’s founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, issued a religious decree, or fatwa, decades ago, opening the way for official support for gender transition surgery.

Hinduism

In Hindu society in South Asia, while traditional roles were and are still prescribed for men and women, people of non-binary gender expression have been recognized for millennia and played important roles in holy texts. Third gender people have been revered throughout South Asian history with many rising to significant positions of power under Hindu and Muslim rulers. One survey in 2014 estimated that around 3 million third gender people live in India alone.

Sanskrit, the ancient language of Hindu scriptures, has the vocabulary to describe three genders – masculine, feminine and gender-neutral.

[…]

Buddhism

Buddhism has traditionally adhered to binary gender roles, particularly in its monastic traditions where men and women are segregated and assigned specific roles.

[…]

Judaism

Reform Judaism is accepting of transgender people and allows for the ordination of trans rabbis. According to David J. Meyer, who served for many years as a rabbi in Marblehead, Massachusetts, Jewish traditional wisdom allowed possibilities of gender identity and expression that differed from those typically associated with the sex assigned at birth.

“Our mystical texts, the Kabbalah, address the notion of transitioning from one gender to another,” he wrote on a Reform-affiliated website.

However,

“In Judaism, each gender has its particular life-role to play,” he added. “The bodies God gave us are indications of what we are and what we are not, and of how He wants us to live our lives.”

It is complicated, just like Christianity Judaism have different sects.

A Reform-affiliated rabbi supported the Transgender Day of Remembrance brought a stained glass panel that is a symbol of Kristallnacht but it cracked on the way over to the TDoR and the rabbi explained that the crack symbolized the pain that the transgender community is facing.

Many Christian sects are affirming… Episcopalian. Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Metropolitan Community Church, Unitarian Universalist Association, and United Church of Christ. When we were trying to pass the gender inclusive non-discrimination law we had a number of religious leader speak in favor of the bill.

So don’t paint all religions with a broad brush.