Don't let your schooling interfere with your education.
~ Pete Seeger

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Christians are Cool

I’ve been a little hard on Christians recently in this blog, so I want to take a moment to acknowledge the many Christians, some of them conservative and devout, who have embraced me along with my transition; who have been, not only accepting, but supporting; who welcome their children playing with mine.

It is one of the great confusions in my life, that I get such different reactions from people professing the same ideology, and often pegging their actions and reactions, disparate as they may be, to that same ideology. I have trouble integrating it. So I plead patience and forgiveness from all Christians, but especially those who have not cut me off. I also ask for your understanding. If I’m hard on Christians sometimes, I’m not speaking of you. I’m speaking to those who would boycott my employer for giving me health insurance; those who would vote to prevent my right to marry who I please; those who call me ‘worse than terrorists’ and do all they can to make my life miserable. Please understand – if I’m hard on Christians, it’s because a few of them have done or said things that hurt me very badly, and they’ve done it in the name of their God.

I’m very grateful for all of the Christians who have embraced me in my transition. You know who you are, and you have made my life rich. You truly know the meaning that Jesus put into such words as, “Judge not, lest ye be judged.” And it shows.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Too many of us Christians have forgotten: Do unto others what you would have them do unto you. -words straight from Christ.

Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing. To keep our faces toward change and behave like free spirits in the presence of fate is strength undefeatable.
~Helen Keller

Reading List for Information about Transpeople

  • Becoming a Visible Man, by Jamison Green
  • Conundrum, by Jan Morris
  • Gender Outlaw, by Kate Bornstein
  • My Husband Betty, by Helen Boyd
  • Right Side Out, by Annah Moore
  • She's Not There, by Jennifer Boylan
  • The Riddle of Gender, by Deborah Rudacille
  • Trans Liberation, by Leslie Feinberg
  • Transgender Emergence, by Arlene Istar Lev
  • Transgender Warriors, by Leslie Feinberg
  • Transition and Beyond, by Reid Vanderburgh
  • True Selves, by Mildred Brown
  • What Becomes You, by Aaron Link Raz and Hilda Raz
  • Whipping Girl, by Julia Serano

I have come into this world to see this:
the sword drop from men's hands even at the height
of their arc of anger
because we have finally realized there is just one flesh to wound
and it is His - the Christ's, our
Beloved's.
~Hafiz