Spirituality, Transgender Identity, and Coming Out

Abstract

In a number of cultures (e.g., Native American and Asian communities), the transgender experience has held positive, spiritual meanings—a value often denied to transgender people in today's Western society. We posit that gender dualism (male versus female, man versus woman, masculine versus feminine) has contributed to the social stigmatization of transgenderism, and that dualism in terms of the separation between science and religion (body versus spirit) has contributed to the medicalization (and pathologization) of transgenderism. A paradigm shift has been gradually occurring over the past decade, in which transgender individuals are affirming their identity and sexuality as distinct from both male and female identity and sexuality. This process can be described as a spiritual discernment or awakening, not only for the individual involved but also for family and community, including their community of faith. Attention to this coming-out process by mental health practitioners and spiritual counselors can help transgender individuals to transform stigma into pride and to integrate body and spirit. Case vignettes taken from the first author's clinical practice illustrate the spiritual aspects of the transgender coming-out process facilitated in psychotherapy.