Thursday, April 20, 2017

Transgender Justice, John 9:1-41 March 26 2017


In today’s Gospel, we see a man go through a life changing experience.  A physical miracle as he goes form blind to sighted.  As I mentioned at the opening today, we are honoring the National weekend of Prayer for Transgender Justice.  Being Transgender has been viewed as a gift, an awesome blessing of one who can transcend the physical boundaries of gender. Because of that they were, in some cultures, believe to be able to transcend the physical and spiritual worlds.  I think that is truly a beautiful way of looking at what it means to be transgender.
I look at being transgender as a calling.  People are being called to be who they truly are and that requires a special process, a special way of being in the world that is different than most people understand. Many People choose not to even try to understand.
This sermon is not going to be easy.  Some of the facts are hard.  Much of the truth is painful.  If it wasn’t we would have no need for a weekend of prayer for Transgender Justice. Unfortunately, we do…
This article came from the southern Poverty law center march 1st

In the past week, four transgender black women have been murdered in the United States — a trend that’s alarming civil rights and anti-violence advocates.
The New York City Anti-Violence Project, which tracks transgender crimes, says there have been seven murders of transgender people so far, this year, well above the corresponding number last year.
The Anti-Violence Project documented the homicides of 23 transgender and gender nonconforming people in 2016, the highest ever recorded by the coalition.
“As we face an administration which devalues the safety and rights of transgender people and people of color, we must work tirelessly to support transgender friends, family, and community members,” NCAVP manager Emily Waters said in a statement.
Three of the most-recent homicides occurred in Louisiana, two in New Orleans.
Ciara McElveen, was found stabbed to death on Monday in New Orleans 7th Ward. That homicide came only two days after another black transgender woman, Chyna Gibson, was shot and killed in New Orleans on Feb. 25, the Anti-Violence Project reports.
In Monroe, Louisiana Jaquarrius Holland was found murdered on Feb. 19, the Anti-Violence Project reports.
In Chicago, Keke Collier, also known to friends as Tiara Richmond, was shot to death on Feb. 22 while walking near her home in Chicago.
Earlier homicides involving transgender victims occurred Jan. 4, with the death of Mesha Caldwell, in Canton, Mississippi; the Jan. 6 death of Jamie Lee Wounded Arrow, in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and the Feb. 8 death of Jojo Striker, in Toledo, Ohio, according to data provided to Hatewatch by the Anti-Violence Project.
McElveen’s murder brings transgender killings up to the numbers reported at the same time last year, with transgender women targeted at a slightly higher rate than in previous years.
Because Ciara McElveen and Chyna Doll Dupree were killed in Louisiana, a state with hate crime laws that do not offer protections for gender identity, it is unlikely the charge will be pursued without federal support for the investigation. Keke Collier’s murder is the only one of the six carried out in a state with hate crime laws that protect transgender people.
In previous years, those not covered by state hate crimes laws could have placed some hope in the federal government under the Matthew Shephard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. Developed in the wake of the brutal 1998 murders of Matthew Shepard, a 21-year-old gay man from Wyoming, and James Byrd Jr., a 49-year-old African-African man, the act was used to prosecute an anti-transgender hate crime for the first time in 2016.
However, given the Trump administration’s most recent rescinding of President Barack Obama’s guidance on protections for transgender school children, along with the withdrawal from a court challenge related to this guidance by Jeff Sessions and the Department of Justice, there is concern that these murders will go overlooked by the Trump administration.
Lisa Gilmore, of the Illinois Accountability Initiative, said the Chicago murder is “yet another violent attack leading to the death of a young transgender woman of color in our beloved community.”
“The humanity and personhood of transgender women need to be recognized,” Gilmore said. “As trans-women of color are among the most vulnerable in our communities and our nation, we all must be accountable for their safety and access to opportunities.”
In New Orleans, local transgender activist Syria Sinclaire expressed sadness about the trend. “We should have the right to live our lives open and free and not be taunted and traumatized by the general public if they don't approve,” Sinclaire said in a statement released by the Anti-Violence Project.
Shelby Chestnut, director of community organizing and public advocacy for the organization, said the record-pace number of transgender homicides comes at a time when “the Trump administration is rolling back protections for transgender youth. This is totally unacceptable.”
“We need to protect transgender lives at all stages, but especially in youth where they experience bullying, family rejection and violence that affects them throughout their lives,” Chestnut said.[1]

Per a recent report “In America, up to 1.6 million youth experience homelessness each year. The statistics for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) homeless youth are even more shocking, as this group represents up to 40% all young people experiencing homelessness. Considering that LGBT youth represent an estimated 7% of the total youth population, these numbers are disproportionately high. While even a single young person without a home is one too many, the disparity of LGBT youth experiencing homelessness is unfathomable.”[2]

In the transgender population 1 in 5 have reported experiencing homelessness.  The issue for homeless transgender youth is that they need to eat, they need to have safe space to sleep and they need money for their medications.  This often leads them seeking ways to make money that is unsafe and dangerous.  Often when I worked with the transgender youth group at Children’s hospital Los Angeles I would hear stories of young people seeking hormones on the street because they could net get medical services. To pay for these meds they did whatever they needed to do to survive.

In the book, Queering Christianity, I wrote on the topic of transgender youth. 

“Many times, in our daily lives as we try to discover who we are and wat we need to be, we struggle we struggle with the concept of God who calls us to be ourselves.”[3]Virginia Mollenkott reminds us “We often find that we are more concerned with being ‘right’ and appearing to have it all together than being faithful to God’s holy calling to live our lives with as much integrity we can muster.”[4] ”Unfortunately with the constraints’ of society, culture, faith, and family we tend to shy away from these callings”[5]

Again Virginia Mollenkott point out that “As gender variant people we have also been and continue to be the unwilling , undeserving targets of a pervasive lack of social and spiritual integrity.  That is why we must do all we can to move the gender-variant persons out of the category of “victim” into that of “survivor” and even “thriver”.”[6]

“Society must cease its targeting and seeking out, or in some cases, ignoring the transgender person. The transgender person has an inevitable right to live life as a recognized and valued member of society.”[7]  We as Christians are called walk beside the transgender person through their journey, we are called to defend and protect each and every person as a child of God but more so the least of these, those who stand at the margins of society.

The first transgender person I met was a man named Dwayne he lived in the men’s dorm at the catholic college.  But on the weekends, he would do his hair and makeup and go out to perform and live as his true self miss Natalie.  He lived a dual life and though I do not know what has happened to him since he often spoke of how he hated being one person during the week and another on the weekend.  I hope he found his happiness.

I must not I used the pronoun he because at the time Dwayne referred to himself in the male pronoun. Of course that was 1981-82.

There is a wonderful story going around.  You know when someone has a baby the first question is “is it a boy or a girl”  the correct answer is we don’t know it hasn’t told us yet!”  If only we lived in such a world where everyone was truly free to express who they are and going to be in their own terms.

Today the Transgender person is becoming more visible and role models can be seen throughout our modern American society. For example Judge Vicki Kowolkowski is a superior court Judge since 2011 and  a transgender woman.  She also happens to be a colleague and friend as she is an ordained minister in the Metropolitan community church.

People can see show like transparent thought the star is straight himself Jeffery Tambor plays a true to the experience role. Of course, there is Laverne Cox Hollywood star, actress and model who has two shows on T.V. right now. Here is a brief bio of her from Wikipedia

“Laverne Cox is an American actress, reality television star, television producer, and LGBT advocate. [She became known for her portrayal of Sophia Burset on the Netflix television series Orange Is the New Black, for which she became the first openly transgender person to be nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in the acting category, and the first to be nominated for an Emmy Award since composer/musician Angela Morley in 1990. In 2015, she became the first openly transgender person to have a wax figure of herself at Madame Tussauds. In 2017, she became the first transgender person to play a transgender series regular on broadcast TV as Cameron Wirth on Doubt on CBS.”[8]

I can honestly say there has not been a time in my life since I was 19 that there has not been a transgender person in my circle.  I lost one friend to violence in san Francisco back 1989.  I mourn her every time I need to talk about this.  And WE need to talk about this.

People call transgender people all sort of awful things.  They condemn them to death without a judge or a jury not that one is needed for no crime has been committed..  In today’s Gospel when asked why the man was blind what did Jesus say? 

The disciples ask Jesus what is this individual’s sin that caused this is it his own or his parents?
Jesus replies;

“It wasn’t because of anyone’s sin---
Not this person’s, nor the parents’.
Rather, it was to let God’s works shine forth
In this person” (John 9:3)

I am sure I am going to hear it from someone how dare I use Christ’s word to justify a transgender or gender queer person. Well just in case I didn’t get it right the first time, I can do it again Jeremiah 1:5 says; “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you;” Each Human being has Value.  Each one of us form the most marginalized to the hardest to understand or comprehend has value.

We as Christians are called to stand up and fight.  Has an open and affirming congregation we are called over and over again to voice our convictions, marginalization of people will not be tolerated. It is easy to stand here in the pulpit and to sit in the pew and maybe even in coffee hour where we are comfortable with similar minded people to talk about it.

 But do we do when out in a crowd and we hear something or someone says something?  Do we stand up?  Do we attempt to educate?  Or do we sit back quietly in fear or anger and maybe just grumble to ourselves?
The man who was blind but now could see was taken before the Pharisees. They asked him since your eyes were opened what do you say about Jesus. He is a prophet the man replied knowing this could get him kicked out of the synagogue.

So they brought in his parents who knew if they affirmed the miracle they could be kicked out so they said he is old enough ask him.  Again they did and he replied “I do not know if he is a sinner or not all I know is I can see.”

Finally they asked him again how this happened and he replied I already told you why do you need me to tell you again Unless you too wish to be his disciple.  Of course they get in an argument and finally he proclaims “if this one was not from God he could never had done such a thing!”

This man Never saw Jesus but knew his work without seeing him as a matter of fact he acknowledges Christ 3 times knowing what the consequence would be. He makes Peter look really bad.

What I am saying here is over and over again a person proclaims who they are meant to be  and our society tries to suppress, deny them,  or fix them and if that doesn’t work they well evidently they will beat them and worse kill them!

Let me tell you about my friend Bamby Salcedo.
“Very early in life, she experienced numerous challenges. Growing up in a poor home with a single working mother in Guadalajara, Mexico, she was drawn to the companionship and lessons of several hardships in life like childhood sexual abuse by an abusive step father, the use of drugs and surviving in the hard streets of Guadalajara Mexico as a child. Maneuvering her uneasy way through separate worlds of family, school, gangs, and LGBTQ friends, she fell into a deep cycle of drugs, crime, juvenile institutions and later, after immigrating to the US, prisons and constant street violence. Repeatedly facing her mortality, and amid many reversals, she committed herself to treatment for her addiction to work on herself and learn the root cause of what was leading the life she was living.

She then slowly began to experience, build and imagine a different and better life for herself. But Bamby’s improbable survival also inspired within her a sense of duty to help others as she recovered her life. One by one, she began to transform each challenge and each issue of her early life into the substance, basis and gravitas for her current extraordinary work, activism and life. Even now, she is always ready to credit others who assisted her transcendent rise. Bamby often speaks of herself as a “Community Investment”.[9]

I first met Bamby when she was working at Children’s hospital as the social advocate for the transgender youth program.  It was because of Bamby’s openness and willingness to listen, that we could establish an ongoing spiritual outreach to the program that continues to this day.

One of the programs she initiated at children’s hospital was angels of change;

Arriving at Children’s Hospital, Bamby saw a lack of visibility and funding for the trans youth programs. Angels of Change, a remarkable ‘rite-of-passage’ experience for trans and gender nonconforming youth. Angels of Change is a calendar and runway show that Bamby has produced each year for the past seven years. Angels of Change also raises funds for The Center for Trans Youth Health and Development with Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine.

Participating in “Angels of Change” is an opportunity for trans and gender non-conforming youth to develop self-presentation skills in a safe, fun environment by participating in the production of a yearly calendar – the world’s first calendar featuring trans youth. A celebratory, non-competitive runway show by the participants caps off a program that challenges and builds self-esteem, confidence, cooperation, belonging and an opportunity to project into the future for its participants. Bamby’s creation of “Angels of Change” recognizes and significantly addresses a previously missing cultural positive representation of trans and gender nonconforming youth.

My Life is richer because of the many, many transgender youth I have worked with and the transgender adults who helped shape my life.  We as an open and affirming church and even as a denomination are called to do more than proclaim it when in the face of such violence in our community.  We must stand up and act.  So, on this weekend of National prayer for Transgender Justice – Freedom we pray;

Let the rain come and wash away the ancient grudges, the bitter hatreds held and nurtured over generations. Let the rain wash away the memory of the heart, and neglect. Then Oh God, let the sun come out and fill the sky with beautiful rainbows.

Let the warmth of the Sun heal us wherever we are broken. Let It burn away the fog so that each of us sees each other clearly. So that we can move beyond labels, beyond accents, gender, sexual orientation, or skin color. Let the warmth and brightness of the sun melt our selfishness. So that we can share the joy and sorrow of our neighbors. And let the light of the sun be so strong that we will see all people as our neighbors.

Let the Earth, nourished by rain, bring forth flowers to surround us with your beauty, and let the mountains teach our hearts to reach upward to heaven. Then, Dear God, grant us comfort, give us peace, and allow us strength to enable us to Stand up, Fight for, and be a Voice for Equality. In Jesus' name, Amen!

Offered by Rev. Debra J. Hopkins, Black trans woman, minister at
Sacred Souls Community Church in Charlotte, NC.



[1] Bill Morlin, Four Transgender Murders in a Week "Alarming Trend,” March 1, 2017, accessed March 21, 2017, https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2017/03/01/four-transgender-murders-week-alarming-trend.
[2] true colors fund, our issue, 2017, accessed March 21, 2017, https://truecolorsfund.org/our-issue/.
[3] Robert E. Shore-Goss et al., eds., Queering Christianity: Finding a Place at the Table for LGBTQI Christians (Santa Barbara, California: Praeger, 2013), 300.
[4] Virginia Ramey Mollenkott, and Vanessa Sheridan, Transgender Journeys (Cleveland: Pilgrim Press, 2003), 30.
[5] Shore-Goss et al., Queering Christianity: Finding a Place at the Table for LGBTQI Christians, 300. 
[6] Virginia Ramey Mollenkott , and Vanessa Sheridan, Transgender Journeys, 30.
[7] Shore-Goss et al., Queering Christianity: Finding a Place at the Table for LGBTQI Christians, 300
[8] Wikipedia, Laverne Cox, accessed March 22, 2017, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laverne_Cox.
[9] Bamby Salcedo, Bamby Salcedo Bio, 2017, accessed March 22, 2017, http://bambysalcedo.com/bio.php.

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