I'm a little late on this...mainly because I didn't know about it until last night.

From the website:

I am anything but a Biblical scholar...but I have read the book. When one is an avid reader as a child, one reads whatever she can get her hands on. It was one of the texts in our small home library.

I gave up on Christianity ages ago. That was probably because that religion condemned so many human inhabitants of this planet.

I have absolutely no knowledge of the languages in which the Bible was originally written. so I'm afraid I'm going to take Rabbi Mark Sameth's word for what what is contained in his essay which appeared in the New York Times on Thursday: Is God Transgender? Rabbi Sameth is writing a history of the Tetragrammaton.

In case you don't speak Hebrew (I sure don't), the title phrase translates to "In God's Divine Image."

Now, I'm not religious, identifying as Taoist if asked, but I'm always interested in contextualizing the attacks made by the religious right against trans people. One of the more recent attacks has been that God has a limited view of gender.

Gender identity confusion should not be exploited by social activists — like those in the Obama administration — who want to deny the God-given distinction between the sexes.This is a rebellion against God's plan.

The Bible says 'God made them from the beginning male and female.' Not male, female and question mark. God has determined how many sexes there are—there are two, not three.

--Robert Jeffress

Fortunately, people like Jeffress do not have ownership of religion. Southern Baptists are not the only game in town.

I've said before, on numerous occasions, that I am not particularly religious. But I belong to a community which does not experience wide-ranging acceptance. We are excluded more often than not.

So it should not be a surprise when I highlight any call for us to be welcomed into any community.

Bishop Gene Robinson, who is now a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress, has written and published Transgender Welcome: A Bishop Makes the Case for Affirmation. According to the CAP reuse policy, I may publish Bishop Robinson's document in its entirety if I follow a few rules.

This document was published by the Center for American Progress

This document is a love letter to the transgender community, both a “thank you” and a “welcome” to transgender people. It comes out of my experience of learning so much—about sexuality, gender, and myself—from transgender people. It springs from my belief that God is enriching the lives of us all by bringing transgender people and their insights into our experience and understandings. This resource is an attempt to recognize transgender people as the gift they are to our understanding of God and God’s love.

God is up to something, as God often is! And this time, it’s personal.

The Dean of St. John's College, Cambridge is the Reverend Duncan Dormor. He has published a new paper, Transgenderism and the Christian Church in the book The Legal Status of Transsexual and Transgender Persons

His paper is discussed by Madeleine Davies at the Church Times.

While a “growing number of Liberal Protestant denominations” are changing their policies, the advocacy of transgender groups and the reassessment of medical evidence may also produce a shift in conservative circles.

--Rev'd Dormor

The Dean concludes that

Over the past 20 years, there has been a very significant increase in the number of liberal and mainstream Protestant denominations which welcome transsexual and transgender Christians as congregational members and affirm their ministry as leaders and teachers.

But...

There is always an important but...