The church has different views on the issues related to gender identity and the subject of transgender. Christianity has many denominations, and they vary in their approach to the problem of how to relate to the transgender people. Some denominations condemn transgender people as individuals and groups engaging in sinful acts. Others remain divided and unsettled on the issue while some denominations view it as something that should be morally acceptable. Within the given denominations, some individuals and groups could have different opinions on the stand the sect represents. At times, churches have members of their sect that do not support what the church's view is on the issue of transgender. The problem comes in when the church lacks a clear stand and position concerning the transgender people. This paper seeks to address the challenges related to the lack of a clear stand by the church on the issues of transgender relations. It proposes a way by which the decisions of transgender people will be respected and not be subjected to condemnation.
Definition of the problem
Some Christian denominations have no place for transgender people such as the Hasidic Judaism. Everything in this community is entirely determined by the gender roles. For most of the Hasidic Jews, they have not interacted with and do not recognize transgender people. Abby Stein was the first person to come out as someone who is transgender among the Hasidic community. She is a Tran’s activist and an active writer who is a direct descendant of the founder of Hasidic Judaism that is the Baal Shem Tov. After coming out in public as being in support of transgender, Stein was not only avoided by her family but was also faced with a lot of scorn from the Hasidic community.
Abrahamic religions approach the issue of transgender from the point of scriptures that describe that God created people as male and female. This perception forms the basis for interpreting that there is a divine mandate that stands against gender variance. In Judaism, saris, which is Eunuch in English, has been recorded to appear frequently in the Tanakh (Mollenkott, 134). A powerful person has used this term to describe a trusted person but one who is gender variant and has been delegated authority. Though it is not clear on whether most of these people were castrated, in Isaiah 56, it is recorded that there is a promise to eunuchs by God. The promise is categorically addressed to the eunuchs that keep the Sabbath and hold fast to the covenant; they will receive an outstanding monument in heaven that is built for them as a way of making up for their childlessness. Orthodox Judaism also approaches the issue of gender from a different perspective. It asserts that gender is not only an innate category but even one that is also eternal. This assertion is based on verses found in the book of Genesis in the Bible concerning Adam and Eve as well as the creation of maleness and femaleness. The operations made to change one's sex and include the removal of the genital organs are forbidden. Leviticus 22:23 prohibits the removal of one’s organs, which is a prohibition against anything that is mauled, crushed, torn or cut. In Deuteronomy 22:5, there is a prohibition against cross-dressing and any action that is uniquely identifiable with the opposite sex. The ban applies to the operations made to transform a person's characteristics sexually.
Evaluation of the Severity of the Problem
In 2000, the Catholic Congregation produced a document for the Doctrine of Faith that concluded that the procedures to change one’s sex do not change their gender as perceived by the church (Brownson, 217). The document emphasized on the fact that transsexual surgical operation is not only superficial but also external and it does not change one’s personality. They argue that if a person was male or female and they go through sex-change procedures, they remain male or female. According to the final document, a specific sex-change surgery could be acceptable morally in particularly extreme cases. However, it is categorically stated that the transgender people cannot get married validly. According to this approach, gender studies should be denounced since they have a blurring effect on the distinction between male and female and this poses a potential threat to the destruction of the human race. The stand was mainly against the manipulation that occurs in numerous forums that happen at national and international levels in causing alteration to the meaning of the term gender. The position of the church, in this case, views that any transgender relations and efforts stand contrary to what God who created human beings created them to be. It is seen as wrong attempts by man to establish himself and to be independent and in charge of the things that concern him.
Transgender relations are seen as a way by which humanity decides to live against the truth and contrary to the spirit of creation. According to the Catholics stand, transgender persons cannot become godparents. The argument behind this is that the status of transgender individuals reveals publicly of an attitude and way of life that is contrary to the moral ways of solving the problems associated with sexual identity (Martin, 346). This argument is based on the view that changing one’s sex is failing to face the truth of a person’s sexuality. About the fact associated with one's sexuality, transgender people do not own the necessary qualities that lead one's life per the faith. It is therefore not possible to have such persons taking up the positions of being a godfather or a godmother.
The president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in 2006, Albert Mohler pronounced that there is no individual other than God who owns the right to determine one’s gender (Yarhouse, 512). From this pronunciation, he said that any efforts made to change the creation that was created by God are an outright act of rebelling against God. The perception is based on the obligations Christians are expected to have in finding all their definitions in the Bible. The church has condemned the sex-reassignment surgery as a form of body mutilation by the transgender activists and not a way of achieving gender correction. The argument is based on the belief that the chromosomes in one’s body tell their identity and they cannot be changed through some sex-change operations since gender is not something that is under the control of human beings. The embrace of transgender operations is seen as a high level of moral rebellion that only leads to an escalation of the levels of confusion, which cause chaos. Moral clarity is seen to have its primary foundation in the distinction of the male and female genders. A society that is not capable of differentiating between men and women means that such a community lacks the authority and moral clarity in the other areas of life. The Christian approach to transgender issues embraces the perception that in the creation, God's design had two distinct and complementary sexes that are male and female. From this perception, it is ascertained that gender identity is solely determined by biological sex and not by how an individual perceives himself or herself. A resolution emanating from the Southern Baptist Convention stands against hormone therapy as well as any care related to gender transition and any attempts made as a way of altering a person's physical identity. The resolution also poses as opposed to all the efforts made by the government as a way of validating the identity of transgender people and attempting to make the transgender operations to be morally praiseworthy. The position of the Church represented by a presentation of the resolution is for them to trust in God and walk with Christ for them to experience authentic and genuine renewal in the power of the Gospel.
Most of the most significant Christian denominations in the United States such as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) have millions of members throughout the world. In the 1950s, after the gay rights movement started, the church fiercely opposed against the gay and lesbian communities. Initially, the gay and lesbian people were outrightly excommunicated from the church whenever their sexual orientation became public and was discovered. Choosing to be gay and lesbian was considered a sinful choice by the church. If one made such an immoral decision, they needed to go through required repentance. Various forms of reparative therapy could overcome such sins. In the occasion that the treatment did not work for particular gay and lesbian individuals, they would then be excommunicated from the church, and their membership renounced.
Similarly, the church has stood firmly against the provision of marriage equality for couples of the same sex. According to the principles of the church, the family and marriage institution is defined by God as strictly the union between a man and a woman with the intention of raising children. According to the basis of this principle, any individuals, groups of people, communities, and nations that embrace anything contrary to the spiritual foundation of marriage face the danger of bringing down calamities upon themselves as both the ancient and modern-day prophets prophesied it. Based on this belief, homosexuality is therefore completely incompatible with the foundational doctrines of the Christian faith.
In Africa, the rapid growth of the church has significantly influenced the position of the church on the transgender issues. The change of the position of the church has also been witnessed in Latin America as well as in various developing parts of the world. The family is the basic societal unit that the church works tirelessly hard to maintain and uphold its values. From the strict position of the church on transgender issues, most families have been split up, and this has led the church to reconsider its rigid anti-gay stance. With the aim of upholding the family units, some church denominations have softened on their rhetoric and treatment of its members that belong to the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Community. From the need to bring families together, churches have publicized documents counseling the members of the church to accept and relate well with the LGBTQ family members as well as with friends. They are advised to show them love and compassion, and the parents are repeatedly instructed not to reject their children because of their sexual orientation (Tushnet, 127).
The contrast comes in whereby the church advises the members to embrace the transgender people yet still instructs them to have nothing to do with people that do not follow and live by church teachings. The church strictly and solidly states that it stands against marriages of people of the same sex and at this; it reinforces the view that people that are not married to spouses of their opposite sex cannot receive salvation. Therefore, this is where the cause of disagreement exists whereby the church encourages people to embrace the people despite their sexual orientation and their transgender status yet preaches against their settlement and their place of authority in either church or the society.
When it comes to the bisexual and transgender issues, this church denomination perceives them just as gays and lesbians. They are allowed to participate in the church activities as long as they do not give in and act on their attractions that are based on the same sex. It is also permissible for the bisexual people that are married to partners of the opposite sex to participate in all the church engagement and activities without any stipulated limitations. They are also free to join in the rites and sacraments set aside for the married couples these discrepancies are what form the problem on the position of the church about transgender issues. The church has not stated its stand on the subject of transgender people, but a person that has undergone sex reassignment surgery is most likely to be taken through ecclesiastical discipline (Tanis, 98).
The church also views transgender and gay and lesbian people as persons with a chosen behavior and not as a people with a given sexual orientation. According to this approach, the transgender people struggle with having an attraction for people of the same gender. The transgender people are not expected to marry but they are advised to be content, and they will receive their reward in heaven for upholding righteousness on earth (Brown, 190). What the church needs are a clear stand on whether it is in support of the people that are transgender. What the unclear position of the church does to the transgender people and the LGBT population is causing them the loss of religious as well as spiritual identity. The transgender people, gays, lesbians and bisexual individuals are faced with the risk of having adverse experiences concerning their religion. The negative religious experiences are likely to cause struggles and a strain as well as loss of the identity in maintaining their sexual identity (Davie, 235).
Definition of the Proposed Solution
For most churches, their stand is anti-LGBT, but they do not have outright policies that are clear on their position on the matter. Most of them either play safe or are unclear as well as non-affirming with transgender members. The church needs to take a clear stand whereby the transgender people and members of the LGBT community are either welcome or not accepted as their members. Receiving some of the transgender members and only allowing them to participate in some of the church activities while restricting them from some is not right. It brings confusion to what the stand of the church is and its perception of the gender binary individuals and groups.
For church denominations that welcome transgender and LGBT people, they should have clear policies stating the policy. It should mean that the transgender members are welcome to be part of the church entirely whereby they are free to participate in all the activities of the church. It should also mean they are free to be ordained and hired by the church as well as to be married and baptized in the church. It is not okay for a church to claim to embrace the transgender and the LGBT people yet draw a distinction that intentionally discriminates against them (Wood, 117). The church sets up a difference between the attractions and feelings as well as the sexual activities of the people. It should therefore clearly state which ones are acceptable and which ones are not meaning that the people that do not comply with the expectations cannot be a part of the church whatsoever. It does not make sense for the church to acknowledge the existence of temptations and inclinations associated with transgender issues and admit that they do not know the origin of such inclinations yet put a demand on the affected people. The church expects gays, lesbians and transgender people to live and act as celibates who are unmarried heterosexuals. Such expectations are based on assumptions that do not hold water and should be categorically addressed. It is not acceptable for some church denominations to say that gay, lesbians and transgender people are free to participate actively in the church activities provided they uphold the rules of celibacy and some other restrictions. This position makes the church lack a clear stand, and it inconveniences the transgender people.
The church should state what it stands for about the LGBT community. If it cannot hold some of the practices of the transgender people, then they should be outright in denouncing them. They should also clearly state that such people are not welcome to be members of the church. It is not right for some church denominations to claim to embrace the LGBT people yet when the heterosexual members are expected to date, the transgender people, as well as gays and lesbians, are viewed with many suspicions when they engage in similar activities. It also does not augur well that church leadership welcomes members from the LGBT community and at the same time advises them to avoid any relations and associations with the LGBTQ people and groups. Though the council is founded on helping the LGBT church members avoid succumbing to the temptation of sexual activity, it does not represent the stand of the church in matters relating to transgender issues.
Some churches have explicitly said that some people who are genuinely unhappy with the same-sex attraction are free to change their inclinations provided they are entirely devoted to taking such a course. What becomes an issue of contention is the part where the same church leadership declares that such change cannot happen for everyone. It places the transgender and LGBT people in a depressing position (Chaney, 205). It is especially an issue of utmost concern when some of these people are made subject to disciplinary action and are said to have disobeyed the church teachings. Some of these people are placed on probation if they are willing to change their behavior; some are excluded from taking part in some of the sacraments for a period as they correct their behavior. In extreme cases, some of the transgender and LGBT members are excommunicated whereby they are not allowed to participate in most of the activities, and the much they can do is attend meetings since their membership is denounced.
Conclusion
The church should either embrace the LGBT community without restrictions or state that they are not welcome. For these members to be subject to restrictions and disciplinary actions is unnecessary torture for them. They should be free to lead a full life in the society. If the church solidly decides that the LGBT people are not welcome, it makes it possible for them to accept and live with that fact and move on. It also creates room for them to come up with their standards and follow them whereby they are not subject to discrimination and restrictions. I think transgender people should have the right to be who they think they are, despite any objection from our society because we all have our ways to live and we would want others to respect that so why don't we respect their decision. Respecting their choices means that even the church allows them to be who they think they are without any restrictions regardless of whether they do it as members of the church or not. If they are welcomed in churches, they should be given the freedom to live as they have chosen, and if not, then they should be given space to lead their lives according to their standards in their fellowships.
Works Cited
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