Blessed Are the Binary Breakers

Andy Thornton (they / he, age 23, England) is an autistic artist and scholar, excitingly gendered, and passionate about expanding our inclusion within faith spaces and queer spaces ever wider. They became a Christian at 16 before realizing they were bi and trans, and despite queerphobic messages from church leaders, Andy received only messages of affirmation from God. Thus their love for a sassy, queer Jesus grew, and they eventually found a home in Quakerism, with its radical equality of all ages and genders and emphasis on activism.

Click here for an episode transcript.

Find Andy and his art and writing online:

@humansatsuma & @lesgetbetter on Instagram
medium.com/@andykt3 - blog
andythornton.work/ and behance.net/humansatsuma - art portfolios

Timestamps:

00:00 - 06:07 Avery rambles & introduces Andy

Avery brings the story of Rebekah and her mother's household told in Genesis 24 into conversation with social anthropologists' understandings of the communal, cooperative societies that preceded the birth of patriarchal, patrilineal societies across the globe. Ze draws from Leslie Feinberg's text Transgender Warriors to explore how the rise of patriarchy and class impacted ancient persons whom we might identify as trans or otherwise gender diverse -- including the biblical character Rebekah, whom the original Hebrew text identifies as a na'ar, a "young man."

Other texts from which this episode draws are Mx. Chris Paige's OtherWise Christian and Joy Ladin's The Soul of the Stranger: Reading God and Torah from a Transgender Perspective, as well as An Introduction to the Hebrew Bible by Gravett, Bohmbach, Greifenhagen, and Polaski.

Click here for an episode transcript.

Avery brings the story of Hagar - a figure shared by the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim traditions - into conversation with the story of Charlotte and other trans women who were part of a caravan leading up through Latin America into the United States. 

This episode continues the theme of solidarity from June's earlier bonus episode. It highlights the urgency of recognizing how intersections of gender and race impact trans persons of color. It’s a reminder for all who experience some form of marginalization that we must not allow our shared enemies to divide and conquer us -- that we must stop oppressing one another in the hopes of advancing a little bit ourselves. It explores the stories we share, the struggles we share, the goals we share.

Click here for the episode transcript.

News articles drawn from: 

- sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Two-transgender-women-joined-migrant-caravan-13605687.php

This special episode centers around the current protests against police murders of Black persons in the United States. In the fight against antiblackness, I see an urgent need to break down the binary constructed between US and THEM that allows our common enemy to divide and conquer our communities one by one. As trans activist Leslie Feinberg notes, each of us must become "fighters against each other’s oppression...and in doing so...forge an invincible movement against all forms of injustice and inequality." 

Frederick Douglass once said, "When I ran away from slavery, it was for myself; when I advocated emancipation, it was for my people; but when I stood up for the rights of women, self was out of the question, and I found a little nobility in the act." May each of us strive towards that "little nobility" of joining other's battles for liberation as if they were our own. During this Pride month, I call on my fellow white LGBT/queer people in particular to fight against antiblackness, honoring that the first Pride was a riot led by trans women of color. 

Click here for an episode transcript.

Timestamps:

(0:00 - 3:00) The US is on fire - is your heart?

Chris Paige has been compiling resources for trans persons of faith since the late 1990s, when the word "OtherWise" came to them on a mountaintop to describe those who do not fit into Western binaries constructed around sex and gender. 

As they've cultivated community, maintained TransFaith.info, and blogged at OtherWiseChristian.com across the decades, Chris has been on a journey of their own. Their Christian faith has mingled and expanded into Animism and Humanism. They've taken on terms like "misfit" and their friend Louis Mitchell's phrase "holy hybrid" to better describe their identity. They've decided to attend seminary after resisting the academic "ivory tower" for so long. And most excitingly, they've founded OtherWise Engaged Publishing to get their OtherWise Christian series into the world, along with other books by fellow trans, intersex, or OtherWise authors. 

Click here for an episode transcript.

Find Chris at otherwisechristian.com/.

Talking points:

(0:00 - 5:13) - housekeeping, introducing Chris

Instead of an interview, this episode dives into faith history to present three stories that may resonate with trans and nonbinary people today. I draw from others' research to share accounts of: the divine manifestation Shiva from Hindu scriptures (as well as some of his devotees across time); Judaism's Joseph of Genesis; and the Catholic Saint Joan of Arc.

Talking Points:

- (0:00 - 3:33) Housekeeping, introducing the episode themes

Resources Used:

- The Man Who Was a Woman: And Other Queer Tales from Hindu Lore by Devdutt Pattanaik

The spiritual lives of trans persons are as rich and varied as anyone's - and indeed, are often enriched by their transness. In this episode, 14 trans and nonbinary persons from a variety of faiths - heathenism, Judaism, Christianity, Shinto, and more - and from around the world - the USA, Argentina, Australia, England, and more - share what sacredness means to them.

Click here for an episode transcript.

Warning: discussion of anti-trans religious hurt. Also, 1 use of the f-word in Deacon Phoebe's story.

- (3:43-7:07) "Anon" (they): a heathen in their 30s challenges the sacred/mundane binary & explains how shape-shifting gods helped them accept their body as "natural, nothing more, nothing less"

- (7:08-10:59) Nano (they): a pagan in Argentina whose world is saturated with magic, especially the outdoors & any space that others find sacred. Contact Avery for Nano's email

- (11:00-11:59) "Agnostic-Angel" (they): an Anglican Londoner in their 40s for whom the sacred is captured in a hymn. Tumblr: @agnostic-angel

- (12:00-14:52) Jane De Odessa (e/em): a Jewish, genderqueer, femme lesbian for whom synagogues are full of good energy, & who finds that praying to a feminine G-d helps em come to terms with e's own gender.

- (14:53-21:14) Jalyn (they or xi/xir): a 23-year-old Midwesterner who left Christian Fundamentalism for Shinto, where kami accept their worship without care for what gender they are. Tumblr: @practicalsolarpunk. jalynreads.wordpress.com

- (21:15-25:18) "Deacon Phoebe" (they / she): despite church hurt, Deacon Phoebe practices Catholicism alongside Wicca, drawing sustenance from Mother Mary, Way of the Rose feminist rosary circle, Red Tent, & their local witches' circle.

- (25:19-30:24) Enrique Cintrón (they): Enrique's altars connect them to their ancestors - from St. Sebastian, to deceased family members, to Sylvia Rivera and Sandra Bland. enriquecintron.com. Instagram & Twitter: @enriquecint. Check out their podcast, Fruits of the Spirit.

- (30:25-31:59) Jude (they): a queer neurodivergent kind of pagan/kind of Christian kid in the US's Bible Belt for whom to be queer is to be holy. Tumblr: @bratwizard

- (32:00-41:29) Ezra Saville (he / they): a 20-year-old, trans-masc, intersex Jew in the US's Pacific Northwest. They describe their personal prayer space & discuss how their gender gives them unique insight into Hashem. Tumblr: @queermachmir. Check out their project "Shacharit: For the Twilight People" at queermachmir.itch.io/shacharittwilight

- (41:30-46:34) Jasper (they / he): a 16-year-old violinist whose Evangelical church surrounds him with anti-trans beliefs, yet who finds serenity & connection to the God who loves him in worship.

- (46:35-52:37) Adrian (they): a 22-year-old in Oklahoma who connects to God through playing guitar & bass & singing in worship in ways that provide sensory input. Their transition is also an act of worship. Twitter: @adapted_battery

- (52:38-55:09) Pina Colada (any pronouns): a 22-year-old pantheist in Toronto for whom every part of the universe is a part of God & whose practices include listening to Italian folk drumming & caring for nature. Tumblr: @pinabutterjam

- (55:10-60:59) Katelyn (she / they): a 20-year-old in Australia who find sacredness in nature & whose vision of God has expanded bc of their nonbinaryness. Tumblr: @curkiewoods. katelynsthoughtsonfaith.wordpress.com

- (61:00-72:32) Taylor (they): a Christian witch who shares the sacredness they find in Tarot & oracle decks by conducting readings for others; in this clip, they conduct a Tarot reading for Avery. Twitter: @Gender_Splendor. Reach out to them if you're interested in a reading!

Dr. S.J. Crasnow is a 35-year-old Jewish Californian who has made a home with their spouse in Kansas City, Missouri, where SJ teaches and researches in the religious studies department of a small university. Join us as SJ talks about growing up in a liberal, Jewish family but becoming wary of religious institutions over time; about only gradually recognizing their own queerness and first coming out at 25; and about their journey into academia. 

Dr. Crasnow studies how queer and trans Jews engage with their faith in powerful and innovative ways that can and do shape Judaism as a whole. According to SJ, the LGBTQ community is already present and active within Judaism and other religions -- even when the institutions have yet to do the work to make room for them. It is time for faith communities to center the ones who have been pushed to the margins, for the enrichment of the entire religion.

Click here for the episode transcript.

Find SJ's work at https://rockhurst.academia.edu/SJCrasnow

Talking points: 

- 0:0 - 3:51 - Introducing SJ: religious studies professor, Californian, outdoorsy, moving to the Midwest

Taylor's faith is constantly evolving, from Presbyterian to atheist and back again, with their Christian faith expanding to include witchcraft. Learning from their family from a young age that politics and activism are part of following Jesus, Taylor has also discovered how queerness and tarot, symbolism, and astrology enrich their relationship with God. Taylor hopes to find a seminary where they can learn and grow even more, in the company of people who embrace all aspects of their identity as a fat, disabled, leftist, nonbinary, A+/B- asexual, Christian witch.

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Find Taylor at Gender_Splendor on Twitter!

prabhdeep singh kehal's identities as a Sikh and as an educator motivate them to share knowledge wherever they can -- in classrooms, online, through resources for LGBTQ Sikhs and their families, and by partaking in interviews like this one! 

Listen as prabhdeep talks with me about their doctoral studies around colonialism in higher education; about entering into interfaith and intercultural conversations with humility and openness; about growing up without feeling any clash between their Sikhi and their queerness until other people made it a problem; and more.

[Note: here is prabhdeep's explanation for keeping their name lowercase: "My name was not given to me in English. It was given to  me in a language that does not use upper/lower case letters."] 

Click here for an episode transcript.

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- Visit prabhdeep's website for information on their studies and links to other interviews with them: www.pskehal.com

For a transcript of this episode, visit transchristianity.com/podcast.

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Talking Points: