Transing Ecumenical Borderlands

Abstract

precis:

In our contemporary United States context, identities such as Christian and LGBTQ+ have been portrayed as incompatible, ignoring the lived realities of queer and trans Christians who exist within the church and minister to it. Although several denominations have adopted policies affirming transgender people, most transgender Christians still find themselves on the margins, striving to flourish in the liminal space of the borderlands. Exploring the ways in which transgender Christians have created sacred space in the wilderness of church margins, this essay looks at shared resources and community spaces such as Enfleshed and Transmission Ministry Collective as sites of trans Christian affirmation and ecumenical dialogue and asks what a trans theological reimagination of church borderlands might look like.