Transgender Passé, Meet the Non-Binary Clergy
by Clare Hepler, Juicy Ecumenism:
An increasing number of individuals who identify as “gender non-binary” have emerged among the clerical ranks in mainline Protestant denominations.
Following the ordination of transgender clergy in the United States, non-binary clergy appear to be the next wave of sex and gender revisionism.
While clergy already ministering within Christian communities have come out to their churches as non-binary, a number of non-binary identifying individuals have made headlines as the first to be ordained openly within their denomination.
According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, non-binary is relating to or being a person who identifies with or expresses a gender identity that is neither entirely male nor entirely female.
In the United Methodist Church, The Rev. M. Barclay is the first non-binary transgender individual to be commissioned and to be ordained a deacon. Barclay first made news when commissioned as a deacon in 2017. Initially Barclay, then known as Mary Ann Kaiser, was denied a commission by the board of the Southwest Texas Conference in 2014 on account of being a “self-avowed, practicing” lesbian in a same-sex relationship. Later in June of 2017, Barclay was commissioned in the Northern Illinois Conference as a provisional deacon.
Related Posts
Tags
Share This
