Monday, April 7, 2008

2008 Transforming Faith Conference -- Divining Gender

HEY, YOU GUYS!!!

“Hey, you guys!” This phrase was in use generally by all my peers in California where I grew up and attended private schools. It was the lead in to the Electric Company, a PBS vocabulary-building program for elementary school children. However, when I graduated from the University of Oklahoma and entered the governmental work force, it quickly became plain that the phrase was not to be used to refer to adult “men” in Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas or Missouri. I was told that “guy” was a “swishy” California term only used among gays and lesbians (I did not beg to differ under the circumstances). This was at a time before B
[i] or T[ii] was even an afterthought in wider society. A GLBTQQIPPAA[iii] community was unimaginable except in behavioral scholastics and medicine. Opening up the Internet did more to build the gender-fluid and sexual preference communities than all the books and studies that have been sitting in the stacks at medical schools and facilities ever could. From this “alphabet soup” ideal community there is also a pervasive and other community—the community of faith. The examination of this many faceted faith community was the theme for the Community of Welcoming Congregations, the Center for Lesbian & Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry and the Religion and Faith Program of the Human Rights sponsored conference “Transforming Faith: Divining Gender,” the second such gathering since November of 2006.

Taking place at the Portland Unitarian Church, Portland, Oregon, USA, April 3-6, 2008, the attendees were devout, faithful, well served, well spoken and well fed. The 2006 Conference had an attendance in the hundreds, where, from my head count, the number this year was more in the forties. It made the worship and workshops more intimate and focused than the crowded ones of the previous Conference. In addition, the date was a toss up because many of the supporting faith groups had annual gatherings of their own on the same weekend. From my own tradition, the Northwest Quaker Women’s Conference was on the same weekend. The Energizing Small Churches Institute had a workshop all day on the fifth in Turner at the Oregon Christian Convention Conference Center and the Adventists had several gatherings elsewhere this weekend.

The conference was attended largely by transgender persons of various descriptions, all of whom were rather subdued in their rhetorical responses; most of these, like myself, were older adults. The youngest was a trans-boy of six. There were also many allies of these individuals who may have been struggling with faith issues in regard to their friend or loved one.

When one of the workshop facilitators at the workshop I had gone to attend had an emergency and was called away, I went and checked out the documentaries being screened. They all were recent and dealt with the positive experiences of religious transgender people. One, Red Without Blue managed to keep me in stitches as well as impart information of a more serious nature. The most impressive of the films I viewed was For the Bible Tells Me So. It asked the question, “Is the Bible an excuse to hate?” The commentators on the discussion of gay and lesbian issues that stem from a small minority of verses in the Bible were significant individuals: Richard Gephart, and Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson, Anglican Bishop Desmond Tutu, Peter Gomes, Orthodox Rabbi Steve Greenberg and Reverend Jimmy Creech. Although I did not see them, two highly recommended documentaries are I Exist and The Believers; both award winning films.

I attended three workshops: “How to be an Ally to Sexual and Gender Minority Youth,” facilitated by Raina Daniels and Rej Joo of the Sexual Minority Youth Resource Center; “Divided We Fall: Understanding How Multiple Oppressions Impact Our Lives & Work,” presented by Alisa Simmons; and “Unearthing Transgressive Taboos and Transformative Texts in Scripture,” presented by Rev. Allyson Robinson and dramatist Peterson Toscano. It was interesting how these three workshops wove a tapestry of understanding through words. Words that hurt and words that help. Some words give scriptural evidence of gender minorities in a positive context. Also, we discussed how words that may attack one cast a shadow on us all. Having an operational vocabulary of words that frankly spell out the various facets of the gender diamond (either, or, both, some, all and none) and how they do or do not relate to the sexual preference garnet (either, or, both, some, all and none) is important for religious leaders to know. When we factor in individuality, we have a majority that think a diamond is an impenetrable film that stretches to infinity and is infinitely thin, two dimensional and without value. Some are cut in pyramids, cubes, dodecahedrons, are classic, or marquis, or are so impossibly multifaceted that they are round like marbles and never bond except to diamond lenses. Some are totally uncut.

The Plenary speakers were Dr. Virginia Ramey Mollenkott, a retired ivy-league professor who has written quite extensively on gender identity and sexual preference in a practical and theological context; Faisal Alam, founder and director of Al-Fatiha, a US based organization dedicated to supporting and empowering GLBTIQ
[iv] Muslims; and, Jenn Burleton, a founder of Trans Youth Family Advocates. Their topics (in the same order) were: “Seven Major Reasons Why Religious Congregations Should Embrace Their Transgender Members,” “Hidden Voices: The Lives of LGBT Muslims,” and “Faith In Our Trans Children & Youth.”

Dr. Mollenkott’s seven major reasons are pending publication; however brief, the following queries reflect these reasons. Why would any faith tradition that embraces the love and mercy of God not likewise embrace the gender variant, especially since the New Testament has many examples of persons that broke gender norms and yet were integral to Jesus ministry? How can we learn to transcend gender stereotypes when we refuse to recognize or affirm those who are variant in their gender expression? Since we are told that there are neither male nor female in heaven (Mat 22:30) do not transgender persons remind us of the divine? Throughout time many cultures have recognized transgender people as sensitive and able to make connections between the seen and unseen worlds; what has changed? Similarly, can we accept the connections transgender persons make between people and groups of people (As did Hegai in Esther, Chapter 2)? Are too many Christians addicted to certainty? Because of the existence of transgender people, can we conclude that there is a gender continuum?

Faisel also provided poignant and insightful information and anecdotal narratives that put to rest many “urban legends” about Islam and the phenomena of transgender. I was surprised that the Ayatolla Khomeni was the first Shiite Muslim leader to issue a religious proclamation that protected people transitioning from one gender to another. If you think you are in the wrong body, we will get you the right one and you can continue from there, seemed to be the sentiment. Of course, for millenniums gender free persons held respectable positions in middle eastern cultures—enunchs, intergender, castrata, and people that chose celibacy as a life style. Many were without the ability to produce testosterone and their effeminate appearance often lent itself to feminine expression. Imams never gave them a second thought; they were, so what? In Islam, every person represents one of the names of Allah (Arabic for God).

Perhaps, the most extraordinary moment came during the address of Jenn Burleton when we were introduced to a vivacious six year old trans boy (nee female). His mother shared her story of grief leading to acceptance of her child who insisted upon being a boy nearly as soon as he learned to talk. Although it will be many years before more permanent changes can take place, the little fellow will enjoy the life of boyhood. His brother and sisters, one older, demonstrated their adjustment to the idea of Bubba’s (pseudonym) gender identity. Jenn spoke on the enemy of faith, not doubt, certainty. If we could be certain of God’s will there would be little need for faith. She also spoke animatedly about pelvic orthodoxy and the human karyotype
[v] which obviously has not interpreted scripture literally. Does it not matter that the Bible uses transgender insights? If not, why not?

Each night ended with insightful programming that helped break any tensions that might have built up. UnCcommon Women gave us an “exciting and diverse musical experience” as described in the program on Thursday evening. Friday, we were entertained and taken on a faith journey visiting transgender expressions found in the Bible: Hegai, Joseph and Jacob, the man carrying a pitcher, Jael and the Judge Deborah to mention a few, with Peterson Toscano – a highly talented one man production company. Saturday was movie night where two of the films I spoke of earlier were screened.

Our Worship ranged from the Christian/Pagan, the Muslim, the Jewish and the Catholic traditions. Our prayers before meals were amply answered by our ultimate other, because the food was eclectic, tasty, nutritious, well prepared, with a fine bouquet and appearance. The fellowship and representation of various transgender expressions gave much weight to the ideals discussed and ideas proposed. The Conference was set against a backdrop of photo essays on transgender heroes in the Pioneering Voices Photo Exhibit and the colorful and poignant Shower of Stoles Project Exhibit featuring a plethora of textile art. I hope Transforming Faith becomes a more regular part of conference offerings in the Willamette Valley in the future. Seventeen months is too long to wait for the next one – “Hats off” to the sponsors and the leadership of Rev. Tara Wilkins, UCC.

____________________
[i] Bi-sexual
[ii] Trans: an amalgamation of “Transsexual” and “Transgender” the former seen as a subset of the latter.
[iii] Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Trans (includes T-gender and T-sexual), Queers, Queens, Intersex, Pansexual, Polyamorous, Asexual, and Allies
[iv] In LGBTIQ the “Q” stands for questioning.
[v] A characteristic chromosome complement, as in pairs, of a species of organism whose cells are organized into complex structures covered with membranes. In humans the most common gender karyotypes are XX or XY; the Y being short of a lot of genetic material found in the X chromosome. Less common are XXX, XXY, or XYY. Even less common are haploid individuals who only have 23 chromosomes instead of 23 pairs. There are other karyotypes in evidence although they are extremely rare. Likewise, the Human Genome Project found not all gender determinant genes reside in the X or Y chromosome..

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