On this Transgender Day of Visibility, we celebrate the joy and resilience of transgender and genderqueer people in our churches and our communities. This day, observed on March 31, is a time to affirm the presence, dignity, and contributions of trans and gender nonconforming people.
We affirm that gender nonconforming people are visible in Scripture as eunuchs. Using today’s terms, we might consider them genderqueer, not operating within conventional gender norms. This connects with the experiences of transgender, non-binary, and intersex people and also gender non-conforming butches, twinks, drag queens, kings, and monarchs. God calls eunuchs as prophets (Nehemiah), teachers (Hegai in Esther 2:3–15), and missionaries (the Ethiopian Eunuch in Acts 8:26–40).
Today, in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), trans, non-binary, intersex, and genderqueer people serve as pastors, elders, deacons, Sunday school teachers, ushers and in all kinds of leadership roles. God does not call genderqueer people in spite of our gender identity but promises to build monuments and give us names “better than sons and daughters” beyond the binary of male and female (Isaiah 56:4–6).
In our present political moment in this country, there are efforts to reduce the visibility of trans and genderqueer people in education, sports and through bodily changes in health care. These efforts are sometimes bipartisan, like legislation in West Virginia to statements from California’s governor. It is a scary time for trans people. These actions are part of a broader wave of anti-LGBTQ+ backlash that includes efforts to undermine gay marriage and other fundamental rights. In times such as these, visibility is not just an act of celebration; it is a witness against injustice.
Transgender Day of Visibility falls in the Lenten season, where Christians traditionally have fasted or given something up or taken something on as a spiritual discipline. We invite Christians to consider instead of giving up chocolate to give up on concepts that fail to feed us spiritually. Let us not fast from dinner but fast from oppressive ideologies.
Trans joy is nourished not by the fear and restriction of human institutions but by the abundant life that Christ offers. The psalmist proclaims, “Taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8), an invitation to trust in the God who feeds us with love and justice. And at the Last Supper, Jesus took bread, blessed it and broke it, saying, “This is my body, given for you” (Luke 22:19). Christ’s body, broken and transformed, reveals resurrection power. So too, trans bodies are joyful bodies and are part of God’s redemptive story.
And we remember now, like we do every celebration of the Lord’s Supper, that through breaking bread, Christ’s body was ripped into two. In the promise of new life that we are given, we too are promised transformation. It is through the changing of our bodies, sometimes even the tearing of it, through ripping new clothes and surgical cuts, that trans people experience joy and can see transformation become possible.
Hard times call for a time to cry, a time to lament (Lamentations 1:16). But Scripture also tells us just as it is important to feel the feelings of sadness, in the same verse that there is also a time to dance (Ecclesiastes 3:4–5). We should remember trans joy is resistance. Trans visibility is found in drag brunches, in reading groups, in gay bars, in laughing with chosen family, sitting anxiously at the clinic, and in worshiping together in affirming communities. It is found in every trans person who claims their name and their identity with boldness. It is witnessed by every cisgender ally who makes a stand against injustice.
On this Transgender Day of Visibility, we affirm that trans people are beloved, visible and full of joy. We celebrate trans and genderqueer people, and we commit to ensuring that trans visibility is not merely symbolic, but met with justice, affirmation and love. God desires life for all of us, not mere survival. Jesus came that we may have life abundantly (John 10:10).
May we all go on our way rejoicing.
Advocacy Committee for LGBTQIA+Equity
Let us join in prayer for:
PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff:
Olanda Carr, Senior Ministry Relations Officer, Development Office, The Presbyterian Foundation
Darla Carter, Communications Strategist, Denominational Identify & Formation, Presbyterian Life & Witness
Let us pray:
God of Abundance, on this Transgender Day of Visibility, we give thanks for the joy, resilience, and gifts of leadership that our transgender, non-binary, intersex and genderqueer siblings bring to your church. We celebrate that all people are created in your image and called beloved, and we lament the injustices that seek to diminish the visibility and flourishing of trans people. Empower us to seek justice and honor the joy that comes with the fullness of each person’s identity, and to work for a world where trans lives are lived with affirmation, safety and abundant life.
God of Justice, thank you for the sacred visibility of your trans and gender-expansive children. In a world that tries to erase, regulate, or reduce them, reminds us that you call us by name and promise life beyond every binary. Break apart every lie that says we are too much or not enough. Fast us from fear, from silence, from the comfort of neutrality. Root us instead in your truth and let justice and love roll like a river through our churches, our streets and our laws until every trans life can flourish. Amen.
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