tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19785125.post574061809567790891..comments2024-01-03T07:56:32.311-05:00Comments on quaker oats live: GFU & transgenderAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07488876505679035140noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19785125.post-69524761262584989022014-09-20T10:35:47.557-04:002014-09-20T10:35:47.557-04:00Clark, thank you so much for sharing your story. I...Clark, thank you so much for sharing your story. I admire your courage, and the heart with which you share this piece of yourself with us.<br /><br />Other-Anon, I still am not certain of your meaning. I"m not sure if you're trying to write comments really quickly and so the meaning doesn't come through, but at any rate, your comments are ambiguous and could be taken multiple ways, so I'm not sure how to respond.<br /><br />Last Anonymous, I'm not sure, but it sounds like you're saying that someone isn't a child of God if that person isn't male or female. For one thing, this would immediately knock out people who are born androgynous or in other ways different from the "norm." Do you think God loves God's children any less if they're born a little different? Would you love your own children any less if they were born androgynous? The Bible also says that there is no longer any male or female, because we're all one in Christ Jesus. To me this indicates that our worth and value to God isn't based on our faithful living out of our gender roles, but it's based on our adherence to the Kingdom of God, and the love that is found and expressed therein. (Gender roles change in each culture and time period, too, so if you're saying that we are created differently in order to fulfill a certain set of gender roles, which set? The ones prescribed in the Law of Israel? The ones that were common in Jesus' time? The ones that were common in the US in the 1950s? The ones that are "normal" now?)Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07488876505679035140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19785125.post-46162986928800947862014-08-04T16:49:17.001-04:002014-08-04T16:49:17.001-04:00It's interesting that the Bible says "mal...It's interesting that the Bible says "male and female He created them" in Genesis 1:27 and other parts of the Bible, yet you claim in the body of Christ we're all children. God specifically CREATED us differently for a reason.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19785125.post-65129420823081924972014-07-23T07:11:37.775-04:002014-07-23T07:11:37.775-04:00Other-Anon was speaking specifically of the recurr...Other-Anon was speaking specifically of the recurrent-solution to contemporary "His and Her" nomenclature by crediting George Fox, the person. My answer to your "This or That" supposition regarding the University is "both-and", as individual Quakers(who make up the Univ.) are questionable now.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19785125.post-50368266000444793822014-07-21T11:47:53.571-04:002014-07-21T11:47:53.571-04:00Hi Cherice, Thank you for taking the time to write...Hi Cherice, Thank you for taking the time to write about this and present some of the struggles.<br /><br />We are all given intense social and cultural training about gender from the moment we are born. As we move through the world and try to grow into moral human beings, we listen to our training, messages from the media, friends, family, and religious leaders, in order to make sense of the world. Men are supposed to behave in certain ways and women in other ways, and that's what just makes sense - or so we are told and come to believe. When someone comes along and challenges that, it's disorienting and scary for most, at least on some level, and we resist.<br /><br />I am a Quaker, and I am transgender. When I realized I was transgender, it was a terrifying moment that I had been resisting. I did not want it to be true. It was not some kind of decision I had come to, no, it was a revelation about my Truth. The only decision for me to make was to live authentically according to this Truth, to live into my whole self as I am called to be, or to resist and attempt to live a lie about who I am. Resisting my transgender Truth would require self-deceit, denial, and outright lying, and I am not called to do those things. I am called to Integrity.<br /><br />Transition is an act of deep faith for me. I trust that my call to be whole is worth the risk of being socially ostracized, of being rejected and misunderstood. I took the Spirit's hand and I jumped off the cliff that is transition, and then I did it over and over again, because I am called to wholeness, and I cannot be a person of faith if I am not seeking transformation and wholeness. After all, did not Jesus embrace the ostracized, the rejected, the misunderstood? Are we not called to embrace those among us? If we are called to be among those, should we not accept that calling?<br /><br />For me, this is what it means to be transgender. At the core, it is not about how others perceive me, it is not about my physical body, it is not about my sexuality, it is not some kind of weird decision that I made, it is about living into my Truth as it has been given to me. Others' perceptions and my physical body and all of that are not irrelevant - they greatly impact how I move through this world and how my Truth is received, but as long as these needs are taken care of, they are secondary to who I am.<br /><br />To bring this back to the original cause of the post, by treating Jayce differently from other men on campus, the university is denying him part of his identity and his Truth. Imposing requirements about his genitals is disingenuous unless the university asks every single student about their genitals prior to making housing decisions. That they happen to know about his should be inconsequential if they believe him about his gender and are able to receive that piece of his Truth. Anything less is discrimination, even if all are well-intentioned and friendly. I hope that in time, the university and all Friends involved will come to see that.<br /><br />I understand that this level of acceptance takes time, and that there is progress being made on many fronts. I am grateful that this work is happening now. Thank you again for taking the space to write about this. I am holding us all in the Light.<br /><br />Peace,<br />ClarkClarknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19785125.post-29241533285432745402014-07-21T00:41:37.263-04:002014-07-21T00:41:37.263-04:00Thanks for sharing your comments, everyone!
To th...Thanks for sharing your comments, everyone!<br /><br />To the first "anonymous," thank you for sharing your story. I wonder if this person wasn't the same person on the inside more because of how s/he was being treated by others, rather than a personal, internal change? Also, might he have become an angry person if he hadn't attempted this change, too?<br /><br />To the second "anonymous," I'm not sure what you mean. Are you talking about George Fox the person or the university? Also, are you saying that the university is attempting to be holier-than-thou and to get rid of people who are posing as religious people but who only care about social norms, or are you saying the university is trying to hold onto something outdated?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07488876505679035140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19785125.post-26581972124181063252014-07-20T09:04:25.575-04:002014-07-20T09:04:25.575-04:00I think this is just George Fox(via educational no...I think this is just George Fox(via educational nomenclature) once again calling for "thee" and "thou" to humble socio-religious posers. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19785125.post-54347058113878672012014-07-19T21:28:38.896-04:002014-07-19T21:28:38.896-04:00For Christians who hold the mistaken notion that t...For Christians who hold the mistaken notion that this is all some modern nonsense, please read and think about Matthew 19:13. Do make sure you've got a good translation that says 'eunuchs' (not 'men who are unsuitable for marriage'). Becoming a eunuch for the sake of the Kingdom would have been what a male to female transgender could have done in those days to get right with the Spirit. In a society that doesn't have a role for eunuchs, it's hard to imagine how one can transition away from being male without going through surgery to become as close to female as possible.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05646829734501152387noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19785125.post-40523005005968301992014-07-19T19:36:12.036-04:002014-07-19T19:36:12.036-04:00The first biblical mention of male and female is i...The first biblical mention of male and female is in the first chapter of Genesis, in the same creation narrative as light and dark being separated. Morning and evening are times of neither dark nor light. The moon does not stay in its assigned realm. If we really read and accept the introductory Genesis narrative, why do we expect any lines of demarcation to be anything but a spectrum? Other than to say if God made it, it is good (but not fully comprehensible)? Which is why we ponder these things day and night.owlfeatherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11106765628225780429noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19785125.post-3402888090772968002014-07-19T10:11:13.211-04:002014-07-19T10:11:13.211-04:00Several years ago, I worked for the Yamhill Co. ...Several years ago, I worked for the Yamhill Co. Sheriff's Office. My Sgt. was a gentleman that I'd known for several years prior to joining the force myself. He'd make his rounds...stopping by our office on a regular basis. Then...when I didn't see him for a few weeks, thought nothing of it, figured it was just "shift change" & that he'd be back in another few weeks. When he did return to make his normal visit, he now had long hair, eye-brows that were tattooed, Same for lipstick, and he had breasts. ALL of these things had not been visible prior to his "vacation". He proceeded to tell us that he was no longer a "he"...but rather had undergone all the surgical procedures to become a woman...and that his name was no longer ____ but rather ____. My face must certainly have shown the total state of shock that I was in. His statements literally made me sick to my stomach. He was probably one of THE LAST persons that I would have suspected of such. After our little "briefing" was completed and others had gone back to their assigned jobs, he came over to my desk and said to me "I may look different on the outside, but I'm still the same person inside". To me, he has never returned to being the "same" person he was prior to all of this going on. And...I've seen him several times over the years. He's no longer with the Sheriff's Dept. and the last time I saw him -- a little over a year ago -- he was an extremely sad/angry person. NOT the same person that I'd known for so many years. So sad. <br /><br /><br /> Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19785125.post-50256850139625754152014-07-18T14:24:51.064-04:002014-07-18T14:24:51.064-04:00Thank you for this. I am certainly holding NWYM An...Thank you for this. I am certainly holding NWYM Annual Session in prayer.RantWomanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17611656459134372290noreply@blogger.com