You may wonder how a guy like me (straight, white, cisgender, 50+ male, Bible student, ordained pastor, living in a rural area in the reddest of red states) came to affirm transgender people and be a transgender ally.
A Question of Objectivity
Before getting into that, however, let me address the question of whether, as a father of a transgender person, I can be objective on this issue. I could just as well ask evangelical pastors if they can be objective on transgender issues, since their livelihood depends on conforming to their church’s anti-trans position.
The fact is that we all have a vested interest in adopting the views we do. That doesn’t mean we can’t still hold those views with integrity. Having a loved one who is transgender does impact my approach to these issues. It makes me even more determined than the average person to “get it right” morally, ethically, and spiritually.
We all probably know at least one parent or grandparent whose evangelical beliefs on LGBTQ issues led them to disown—or at least greatly distance themselves from—an LGBTQ family member. If that’s what evangelical Christianity requires, then the stakes are unbelievably high. That’s part of what made me determined, to the best of my understanding and ability, to get beyond the heated rhetoric to know what is right.
The other part, of course, is wanting the absolute best for my child.
The Simple Truth about the Bible and Transgender Issues
Throughout most of my life, the Bible has been my guiding light. I have a Bachelor’s degree in Bible and a Master’s degree in exegetical theology—both from very conservative institutions. I was trained to read the Bible in the original Hebrew and Greek. Regarding the transgender issue, if you think I started anywhere but the Bible, you’re incredibly mistaken.
Here’s what I found. In the Bible, there is not a single verse—or series of verses—that identify being transgender as a sin. There are no verses that prohibit transitioning from one gender to another. If you think I didn’t look hard enough, I challenge you to produce a single verse that even mentions transgender people, much less condemns them.
Genesis 1 and the Supposed Gender Binary
The verse people most commonly use to buttress their anti-trans beliefs is Genesis 1:27: “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” The argument is that this verse establishes a strong “gender binary.”
(Note: Thinking that a strong gender binary rules out people being transgender reveals an ignorance of what it means to be transgender, but we’ll roll with it for now, because it does apply to broader LGBTQ issues, especially those surrounding nonbinary people.)
It’s interesting that people who argue for a strong gender binary based on the language of Genesis 1:27 never argue for a strong “day/night” or “light/darkness” binary based on similar language in Genesis 1:3–4, which asserts that God “separated the light from the darkness.” Do these verses mean that dusk, when light and darkness commingle, violates God’s will? What about dawn? A solar eclipse? Of course not! The distinction between light and darkness is generally helpful, but it doesn’t tell the whole story. So, perhaps the language doesn’t imply a strong binary after all.
Or what about the “land/sea” binary in Genesis 1:9–10? A couple of weeks ago, I waded into the ocean in the Gulf of Mexico. My feet were on the ground, but I was in the sea up to my neck. Was I on land or in the sea? Certainly, it can’t be both? That would contradict the strong biblical binary! Or maybe we’re falsely attributing a strong binary when none is implied.
We could also talk about the “air/sea creature” binary in Genesis 1:20–21 and whether ducks, geese, and other birds that swim violate God’s will. And where do frogs, crabs, alligators, and other semi-aquatic creatures fit into all these binaries?
Broad Categories, Not Binaries
The fact is that throughout Genesis 1, its author was not setting up strong binaries but identifying general categories. The language of “strong binary” does not arise from the text but is imposed on it from the outside by those with a specific agenda.
Just as there is no strong day/night binary or air/sea creature binary in Genesis, neither is there a strong gender binary. Just as we can identify morning, noon, afternoon, evening, and midnight, we can recognize that the biblical categories of male and female fully support the range of gender variations that modern biology tells us exist between the two.
Earlier, I mentioned that the supposed gender binary argument doesn’t have any real bearing on discussions about transgender people. Here’s what I mean. Being transgender doesn’t mean that one sees oneself as breaking free of the gender binary. It means that the gender they were (understandably) assigned at birth is not the one that best defines who they are, which is invariably either male or female. In other words, they live within the supposed gender binary.
I know it’s confusing to those who have never experienced it for themselves. But let’s not fall into the trap of condemning people just because we don’t understand their experience.
Free to Love and Not Condemn
I would hope that conservative Christians who believe in the Bible’s inerrancy would be thrilled to learn that the Bible’s language is consistent with what modern biology teaches and that they no longer have to condemn a whole segment of the population who are just doing the best they can. If this prospect brings you revulsion rather than joy, however, it would be good to ask yourself where that revulsion comes from. It doesn’t come from a God of love.
Far from condemning transgender people, Genesis 1 speaks to the amazing diversity of God’s creation, a diversity that goes far beyond its own simple classification systems. My study of Scripture led me to see that the only reasons left to condemn transgender people were my own biases and preconceived notions and my desire to conform to cultural and occupational norms.
And when transgender peoples’ lives are at stake, that’s simply not good enough.
In fact, knowing what I now know, I believe it would be sinful for me to oppose and condemn transgender people, beautiful individuals who are made in the image of God.
Other Verses
There are other verses that are sometimes used to argue against affirming transgender people. I’ll briefly address a couple of the more common ones.
- Deuteronomy 22:5 has no place in this conversation, as there is a significant difference between crossdressing and identifying as transgender. If anything, transgender people stop crossdressing when they come to terms with their gender identity. They do the same thing you do each morning when you put on clothes that match your gender.
- Deuteronomy 23:1 has no place in this conversation unless you believe a man’s salvation can be violently taken from him by another person. You can’t have it both ways.
A verse that is not often referenced in this context, however, is Galatians 3:28: “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female.”
You’ve maybe heard that this verse really means “everyone can be saved.”
No. That’s a way of explaining away its true and most obvious meaning.
The church has explained away the clear meaning of this verse for centuries, mostly to protect and preserve its own patriarchal structure. But the verse is relevant to the current discussion as well. For now, I’ll leave it to you to meditate on its application.
There’s much more to say about why I became affirming of transgender people, but this at least briefly summarizes the gist of the biblical piece, which I suspect is what most of my readers came here for. But there are other important reasons as well, and I will address those in future posts.
*All Bible verses in this post are taken from the NIV.
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Thank you Kevin.