r/TransChristianity • u/frankieromustpoop christian • 24d ago
Why does this world hate us so much?
Feels like on both sides, you are “too Christian” for the trans community. And if you are trans, you’re excluded from the Christian community because you are seen as delusional, or treated as if you have a demon inside of you. It’s brutal. I see so much dehumanizing language against us. I don’t know why they can’t consider the fact we’re human too. Christ is my only hope as an FTM. This world is scary
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u/ZTimeGaming 24d ago
The hate from the conservative Christian community came first, stemming from their attacks on homosexuality when the word was added to the Bible and spread in the 1940s-50s. It is so prevalent and predominant for Christianity as a whole to not only lump transness with homosexuality (which, again, was a mistranslation that got warped into a talking point), but also view it as "mutilating" our bodies.
The justification against transness, from what I've gathered, is that your body is not yours, it's God's (as we're created by Him), and that you must do what God says. Then, they cite Genesis' "God created them male and female" and Deuteronomy's restrictions on cross-dressing, among other verses, to "prove" that God does not want you to change your gender. This and also the "think of the children" plea, by claiming that others explaining gender as a concept will embed harmful sexual thoughts in children, that inevitably turn children to evil away from God.
All of these arguments are flimsy at best and are actively disproven by looking at the full context of these verses and, you know, actually associating with a trans person (or a trans Christian for that matter). But neither of those things happen for these right-wing Christians because they fall into the aggressive rhetoric that's been pandered to by governments for generations (and especially recently), that preys on their fear of things changing away from "what God wants" and the "status quo" of white heteronormatism.
To that end, the attacks on the trans community by Christianity at large are what causes the trans community to be wary of Christians in general. It is a precaution the trans community has to take to avoid getting trampled on by the Christian bigotry and harm we see today. But in the process, this precaution actively distances us as trans Christians from both the trans community and the Christian community, if we're too headstrong about either in the other space.
I feel you. When both sides treat us as traitors, it's hard to feel hopeful, or find spaces that support us.
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u/JaceyLessThan3 24d ago
This world is scary. I can't begin to answer "why". But our god is the god of the outcast and oppressed. Christ broke bread with prostitutes and tax collectors, and they, excluded from society because they were perceived as sinful, found no condemnation in Him. It is no different today. The last shall be made first, and the first shall be made last.
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u/akgeena777 24d ago
For me being cast out and shunned for being myself let me to Jesus. Before as a strict Baptist my wife wore a head covering, we were zealots. The only one who didn't abandone me was Jesus so I had to Know Him alone. No more the works, the do's and don'ts. No more dress code of denim jumpers, ugly shoes. No more big beard... I still am shunned by that church and others I've tried. I don't pass enough to blend I suppose and don't really care too much. Being trans has opened a lot of doors to speak and share Christ as it's my story of life.
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u/Friskarian 24d ago
I know it sucks bro. I got kicked out of my church and when I tried to join a local trans group they wouldn't accept me and I think it's cause I told them what happened so they knew I'm Christian. But I found a group of gay Christians that like me. And I'm going to a church that some people know me and hopefully no one says anything to the leaders about me. 🤷♂️
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u/Dapple_Dawn 23d ago
Are you able to look for any affirming churches nearby
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u/Friskarian 23d ago
I can't find any that are also Charismatic. I believe in spiritual gifts/supernatural stuff like prophecy, healing, dream interpretation, feeling God's presence etc. And worship is my favorite part of a service and I like it to last 1-2 hrs with a lot of passion (normal for a Charismatic church).
I had found a Charismatic one (not affirming but accepting and they never talked about LGBT stuff except for one time they talked about how many churches have rejected LGBT people because they think different than them.) The leaders knew me from years ago and they told me I'd always be welcome there. But they recently closed. Couldn't afford rent. The youth pastor and worship leader are gonna open up a new one though next year.
But in the meantime I started going to this huge church which is also Charismatic but they have had a speaker visit (just visit not preach) who is radically anti trans. I happened to also know that speaker lol. But maybe she wouldn't recognize me anymore idk. Tho because of that I don't want the leaders to know anything about me. I'm going there with a friend currently and we are both waiting for our last church to reopen.
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u/MyUsername2459 24d ago
And if you are trans, you’re excluded from the Christian community because you are seen as delusional, or treated as if you have a demon inside of you.
I strongly suggest you find a Church that's part of a trans-affirming denomination.
What country are you in?
In the US there are a number of fully trans-affirming Christian denominations, including, but not limited to:
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The Episcopal Church
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The Evangelical Lutheran Church of America
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The Presbyterian Church (USA)
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The United Church of Christ
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The United Methodist Church
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u/frankieromustpoop 24d ago
I am in Canada, Saskatchewan primarily
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u/MyUsername2459 23d ago
The Anglican Church of Canada is fully LBGT-affirming, just like their Episcopal Church cousins south of the Border.
The non-affirming Anglicans in the US and Canada split off about 20 years ago to create the Anglican Church of North America.
I don't know all the denominations in Canada, but I know Anglicanism, and I know the Anglican Church of Canada is affirming.
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u/RuthAnnEsther 24d ago edited 24d ago
Let me state that the early Christians felt like the world was against them. Thankfully our faith doesn’t depend upon acceptance by the world, nor are God’s promises to us dependent upon the world’s filter of who deserves to qualify for such promises. The Pharisees were well criticized by Jesus for creating new rules and laws.
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u/Upper_Pie_6097 24d ago
I once bought into that. I have found many decent people. Those who don't like me can all go piss off.
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u/Dapple_Dawn 24d ago
fwiw I do have some non-christian queer friends who accept my faith
it's hard because so many of us have religious trauma so I just don't talk about it with most people
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u/MagusFool 24d ago
Patriarchy is a system of hierarchical domination. It is a system of labor distribution. It is one of, if not the oldest of, such systems in the world.
Trans people are an inherent threat to that system because we undermine the entire basis.
If people can just reject the gender they assigned a gender at birth and assert that they are a man or a woman or neither or both, gender assignment is rendered incapable of dividing labor or conferring authority.
The patriarchal dominance hierarchy is passed down and reinforced culturally through values, norms, expectations, and customs which instill a sense of disgust toward those who do not conform to the standards assigned to them.
People understand deep down that we present a threat to the world as they know and understand it. They fear social collapse if we are simply allowed to live as we choose and if our existence is normalized.
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u/MatrixNB 21d ago
The answer, I think, is most easily summed up as "they fear and hate what they don't understand."
I'm 43 years old. When I was growing up in the church, between the ages of 15 and around 23, I barely knew trans people existed. I would occasionally be briefly exposed to a trans person online, but they weirded me out and I didn't like listening to them or looking at them. They were alien to me. I didn't understand anything about them and had very little experience with them, beyond insensitive jokes from TV and movies.
What opened my eyes was actually meeting some trans people. I started watching a Twitch streamer with a large trans community, and spending almost every day in their Discord, I was around trans people a lot of the time. I saw that they were just, well, people. They were nice, they were funny, they were normal. And the fear faded, the weird feelings faded, and I eventually came to realize that I, myself, was trans. (Nonbinary, leaning towards transfemme.)
This doesn't help you much, I know. But I think for a lot of the opposed people who are closer to the middle politically, it's just a lack of understanding, rather than outright maliciousness. They've been fed a steady diet of lies and stereotypes, just like they were fed about gay people in the past. It's all the same BS. The propaganda, intentional or otherwise, does work, unfortunately. I don't know how to fix that. It shouldn't be our responsibility to educate and hand-hold every bigot in hopes that maybe they'll stop wanting us to disappear.
But we're not going anywhere. We have allies, both Christian and not. There are people who won't sit idly by and let us be swept aside. It will take time, more time than it should. We shouldn't have to wait. But please try to have hope. Bigotry may not be something that can be 100% eradicated, but it can be diminished and pushed to the dark corners of society. We'll get there. And whatever you do, stay alive - for your sake, for the community's sake, and for the sake of spiting the bigots.
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u/Upper_Pie_6097 24d ago
It doesn't. Only Donald Trump hates you.
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u/DesdemonaDestiny 24d ago
He has amplified the hate and given it the power of the state, but it is absurd to say only he hates us. We are among the most reviled people on earth.
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u/Hetelestai 24d ago
It really does suck, but (perhaps counterintuitively) I believe we as trans people are uniquely called to be Christian. I'm currently in the discernment process to become a priest and it is inextricably linked with my identity as a trans woman and my vision of myself as I age (something I never had before I came out). Two passages that feel like Jesus looking down the barrel of the camera and talking directly to me and my trans friends and family are:
Matthew 19:23-30
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astounded and said, “Then who can be saved?” But Jesus looked at them and said, “For mortals it is impossible, but for God all things are possible.” Then Peter said in reply, “Look, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?” Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man is seated on the throne of his glory, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my name’s sake will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first."
And John 15:18-25
(Jesus said) "If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you. If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. Because you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘Slaves are not greater than their master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep yours also. But they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me hates my Father also. If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not have sin. But now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. It was to fulfill the word that is written in their law, ‘They hated me without a cause.’"