Today the LGBT community celebrates Transgendered Remembrance Day. We remember those individuals who deal with the issues of gender expression and/or identity. Transgendered individuals are created in the image and likeness of the Most Holy Trinity just like everyone else. They were created by a loving God with a gift of recognizing that within them is a person of a different gender who wishes to be made free. Transgendered people face a climate that in many cases makes struggling with being gay less difficult. When a man or woman is born into the world, the world's expectations upon what that man or woman will grow up to be is imprinted within society. Religious zealots who interpret Scripture too literally make transgendered people targets of smear campaigns in order to shame transgendered people about their interior struggle to accept themselves.
Today we remember a part of the LGBT community that is all too often made to be the "lost tail" of LGBT issues. T is at the end, and sometimes if we do not pay attention to the last letter of our community, it seems as if the T could fall off and no one would notice that they disappeared. This is a big mistake, because transgendered people face the same discrimination as gay, lesbian or bisexual people do. The religious right looks at transgendered people just as they do gay, lesbian or bisexuals as "intrinsically disordered" and a threat to the status quo. As the inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act comes up in the news once again the right wing has been launching their attack of the bill based on the Transgendered people who are accused of just wanting bathroom privileges. Transgendered people have been scorned through this campaign saying that if they are allowed to use public restrooms, there is room for them to perpetrators of sexual assault. Such accusations are insensitive, unfounded and are just an excuse for prejudicial attitudes.
In today's Gospel we hear Jesus concerned about the sheep who are lost. As we read through Matthew 18: 10-20 Jesus talks about the pain God experiences over one lost sheep. The people God has created and called as God's own are very precious and important to God. And there is no person that God is not in love with, nor concerned about.
Over the decades religious evangelicals have used this story about Jesus being the Good Shepherd to encourage sinners to repent from their sins and accept Christ as their Lord and Savior. Not a bad concern. God is concerned that we experience God's love in and through the saving work of Jesus Christ in his death and resurrection. God is also concerned with those sheep who are turned or chased away from the flock because of spiritual violence and pastoral abuse. Because many evangelical pastors do not face their own fallen humanity, there are many LGBT individuals who experience spiritual and pastoral abuse by clergy and church goers alike. We need to be praying for clergy and church people who abuse people through the misuse of their spiritual and pastoral abilities. We also need to be praying for those who have experienced spiritual and pastoral abuse because it goes deep into the very heart of each individual. It creates hate, self hate, anger, depression and sometimes it can even cause someone to consider taking her or his own life. Jesus is just as concerned about LGBT individuals who leave the flock due to abusive behavior as he is with any of his sheep.
Today as we remember transgendered people and their issues, we are reminded of God's unconditional love for all people. It is not our place to pass judgment on another persons conscience. We are to respect other people's places and attitudes and regard them as individuals with dignity and integrity. Transgendered individuals have faced many hate crimes, many of them violently killed. Their crimes in many places go un-investigated by local law enforcement officials and judges often dismiss cases involving transgendered people due to their own biases. The lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered communities need to come together to speak out against all hate crimes and call for justice. Church groups need to make room for transgendered individuals. It is so wonderful that this past Summer in Anaheim California, the Episcopal Church in their General Convention took many important steps towards the inclusion of transgendered individuals in church leadership positions and took steps to avoid discrimination towards those who are transgendered. These are steps that are important and they must continue. When transgendered related legislation comes up, all citizens of good will need to take an interest and be involved. It is all too easy for lesbians, gays and bisexuals to say: "these issues do not affect us." Well, actually they do, because one groups civil rights do have the possibility of impacting us all. That's why we need to be concerned.
As we remember Transgendered people today, let us pray for those who have fallen through the cracks. Let us remember those who are facing those difficulties with their gender identity and/or expression and take interest in their issues. Let us be hopeful and vigilant about those who God considers precious to God.
"I will thank you, O Lord, for I am marvelously made; your works are wonderful and I know it well." Psalm 139: 13, Book of Common Prayer, Page 795.
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