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| June 29, 2007 | Staff Photo by Pailin Wedel | [/assets/story/image_buynow.comp] |
| The Rev. Erin Swenson, 60, a Presbyterian minister from the Presbytery of Greater Atlanta, conducts service at the Church of Reconciliation in Chapel Hill on a recent Sunday. Swenson, who went through a gender transition in 1996, is thought to be the first mainstream Protestant minister to transition from male to female while holding office. The church pondered the issue for a year and a half before voting to sustain her ordination. ‘I understand people who disagree with it and I do that with some compassion. … I spent 37 years of my own life denying who I was, living secretly and being ashamed of myself,’ Swenson says. ‘In terms of personhood and being a child of God I think the Scripture is clear — that each creation of God each human being is a precious gift of God and whoever we are however we are. We are to be honored and celebrated as God's children.’ Go to www.newsobserver.com to hear Swenson talk about her struggles as a transgender minister.
Rev . Erin Swenson a Presbytarian minister from Atlanta discusses her gender transition in 1996. She is the first known mainstream Protestant minister to transition from male to female while still being ordained. | ||
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