I was toying with the headline, “Anglican priests finding their inner hermaphrodite” but, no matter.
It appears that truly modern Anglian priests aspire to “transition” in order to illustrate the independence of bodily appendages and inner gender.
From here:
Last week, the Rev Dr Christina Beardsley, vice-chair of Changing Attitude, a network of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and heterosexual members of the Church of England, was one of the voices featured on 4Thought.tv’s week of short films featuring trans people and faith.
While the US Episcopal church developed a maverick reputation within the Anglican communion for blessing same sex marriages and ordaining gay and lesbian clergy, the House of Bishops of the General Synod of the Church of England’s report Some Issues in Human Sexuality, issued in 2003, contained a chapter titled “Transsexualism”. Currently, one can find about a half dozen trans clergy in the UK and US. These numbers are imprecise, as some clergy do not wish to go public beyond the scope of their individual parish or diocese – a concern that’s understandable given that the trans community seldom receives even the legal protections afforded gays and lesbians .
Beardsley, who was ordained for 23 years prior to her transition in 2001, observes that “some within the Church of England feel the issue of trans clergy has been settled” by citing such cases as the Rev Carol Stone and the Rev Sarah Jones. However, she says: “Not all trans clergy have been supported by their bishop, as these two priests were, and some have been excluded from full-time ministry because of Church of England opt-outs from UK equality legislation.”…..
The Rev Vicki Gray, a Vietnam vet before her transition, and currently a deacon with an emphasis on ministry to the homeless, noted that their goals at general convention were to assert that we exist as flesh-and-blood human beings, to demonstrate that we are here in the church as decent and devout followers of Jesus Christ, and to begin the process of education and dialogue that will lead to full inclusion in the life of the church, not only of the transgendered but of other sexual minorities such as the inter-sexed (known to some as hermaphrodites).
Here’s to the full inclusion of hermaphrodites: I suppose this means that the Anglican Church will be producing a liturgy to celebrate a person marrying himself. Or should that be herself?
Your flippant comments about intersex people are incredibly offensive. Why don’t you do some reading round the subject instead of making cheap jokes about something that can cause immense problems for the individuals concerned?
That’s a relief; for a moment I thought I was wasting my time.
I was clearly wasting mine.
A couple of weeks ago someone (I wish it was me) commented that having gay people and transgendered people work together in religious circles was a little odd. The gay person says God made me this way, I have no need at all to change or even want to. God doesn’t make mistakes. The “transgender” person says God made me this way, and I *have* to change…Because God DOES make mistakes. If one is right the other cannot possibly be. The one threatens the other right to the core. I’d buy a ticket to see that topic suggested to a meeting of “Integrity”.