Originally published on March 30, 2008, by the Arizona Daily Star.
Transgender forum here Tuesday
Region viewed as accepting of gender variance
By Stephanie Innes
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
The word “transgender” does not appear in the Bible. Save a few references to women in masculine clothing and vice versa, it’s hard to know whether Scripture says anything at all about people who change their sexual identity.
Interpreting the Bible as it relates to gender-variant people is one of 80 workshops that will take place this week during an international conference in Tucson, titled “Transgender 2008,” which begins Tuesday.
About 350 people are expected to attend the conference, an annual event sponsored by the Massachusetts-based International Foundation for Gender Education. The event is in its 22nd year, and this its first time in Arizona.
Among items on the conference schedule are a golf tournament, a gala, a poetry reading, music and a new theater performance titled “TransFormations.”
Workshops will cover a gamut of transgender issues, ranging from hormone therapy and post-op blues to transgender Internet dating. The event will culminate Saturday with a public forum about why Tucson is considered a “trans-friendly” place to live.
Tucson organizer C. Michael Woodward said he’s done sensitivity training with local businesses and groups that will encounter conference attendees.
“We want to make sure everyone feels welcome and safe,” he said. “Old Tucson Studios will make the bathrooms gender neutral when we are there. I went to a country-western clothing store to make sure their dressing rooms are gender neutral. They were very welcoming. We’ve found some unlikely allies.”
Woodward said this year’s conference has made more accommodations for females who transition to male, known as FTMs. In the past, conferences have tended to focus on MTFs, or men who become women.
Since the theme of this year’s conference is “Toward a Greater Diversity,” organizers have tried to address lesser-heard voices of the transgender community, including ethnic minorities, youths, elders and faith communities.
Several workshops address issues of religion. Topics include the power of faith, and reconciling Christianity with being a transgender person. Two local residents — the Rev. Bennett D.D. Burke and Erin Russ — will give a talk titled “Did the Bible Really Say That?”
Burke is the pastor of Our Lady of Peace and Hope Liberal Catholic Mission, a congregation he founded in September.
The church, which emphasizes ministry to people who are marginalized, is not part of the Roman Catholic Church or its Tucson Diocese.
Russ is a transgender woman who is a development associate at Wingspan, Tucson’s gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community center. She’s also one of the conference coordinators, a former U.S. Army infantry captain and a lifelong Christian.
In an interview last week, Burke and Russ talked about religion and gender identity:
Tell us about your church.
Burke: “In our view, the supreme messages of the Bible are love for everyone. There are no barriers in our church based on gender, gender identity or sexual orientation.”
Russ: “I attend Cornerstone Fellowship, which is opening and affirming. I spent quite a few years in a number of other churches around the country trying to deal with my gender identity. I started looking for churches that were not quick to throw a judgment on me. I found Cornerstone, and I’m not the only transgender person; there are eight of us.”
What does the Bible say about gender identity?
Russ: “The Old Testament talks about men wearing women’s clothes and women wearing things that belong to men. The context is always important. Some of the text that I looked at seemed to indicate it had more to do with trying to deceive others as opposed to having anything to do with gender roles.
“In the New Testament, there are a couple of passages about effeminate men, but the context has nothing to do with gender identity, and it’s even arguable it has anything to do with masculinity or femininity.”
Burke: “Messages in the Bible that seem to exclude people — specifically passages that seem to exclude people based on sexual orientation and gender — are either misinterpreted by those who use them to do that, or need to be taken in the time and context of when those messages were given. I do believe that while transgender is not specifically mentioned in the Bible, the Bible reminds us always that it is not the stuff on the outside that is ultimate, it is the soul that is ultimate.”
Do you see transgender issues becoming a lightning rod in religious denominations the way gay and lesbian issues already are?
Burke: “Yes, I do. One of the things that unfortunately we as humans are very good at doing is creating ‘us vs. them’ categories. There’s also an element in human nature of simple unfamiliarity. The issue is breaking down with lesbians and gays because they have become more visible and open. Some people are still not familiar with what ‘transgender’ means; they are a small minority and there is fear in the unfamiliar.”
Russ: “Transgender issues are separate from the gay and lesbian issue, but religious people don’t typically see it as a separate issue. It is made to be an issue of sexuality. Transgender people are oppressed and looked down on and seen as being sexually different, but for transgender people it’s not about sex; it’s about identity of who we are.
“I have some friends who have never had sex. They were not wanting to change their gender for sexual purposes, but because ever since they could remember, they wanted to be girls or boys and were the opposite.”
How do religions regard transgender people?
Russ: “That’s a question that can’t be answered in general. There are some religious traditions where transgender is considered to be a special gift. Some of the Native American traditions are that way, some aren’t.
“Some think of it as just being a normal human thing, others think it’s about special powers, others believe it’s a defect that needs to be corrected.
“Christianity varies from location to location, but some Christian traditions are very male-centered and very binary in terms of gender and sexuality — so they are very rigid, which is contrary to what the Bible teaches.”
Why is Tucson considered transgender-friendly?
Russ: “Here, in Tucson, people who care about other people work together to help each other bring the dream of equality closer to reality.
“We are not there yet, but we are closer than we were and closer than most other cities.”
Find more faith and values coverage on StarNet at www.azstarnet.com/faith and in the Desert Beliefs blog at http://regulus2.azstarnet.com/blogs/desertbeliefs Contact reporter Stephanie Innes at 573-4134 or at sinnes@azstarnet.com.
If you go“Transgender 2008″ will take place in Tucson beginning Tuesday at the Doubletree Hotel at Reid Park, 445 S. Alvernon Way. The event includes 80 workshops. Prices vary according to events. For registration and costs see http://www.transeventsusa.org/ifge/
The conference will end with a town hall meeting about how Tucson became such an accepting community, according to participants. The town hall, free and open to the public, is set for 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, also at the Doubletree at Reid Park.
Among the scheduled panelists at the town hall are U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva, former Tucson Mayor George Miller, former University of Arizona President Peter Likins, Tucson City Council member Nina Trasoff, and Dr. Kevin Maxey, who is co-founder of the Southern Arizona Gender Alliance.
