Gender variance in Christianity: Difference between revisions

Saint Abban is not gender-variant, but is said to have changed a girl into a boy, and so can be considered informally a patron saint for transgender people.<ref>Conner, Sparks, and Sparks. ''Cassell's Encyclopedia of queer myth, symbol, and spirit, covering gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender lore''. 1997. P. 39.</ref>  

One thing all Christian denominations have in common is their basis on the Christian Bible. However, denominations differ in what their Bibles include, and how they interpret the meaning of the Bible. They also place more weight on different parts of the Bible. The Christian Bible is made of two collections of books: the first is the Old Testament, which is derived from a partial selection of the books of the Hebrew Bible, which had been written over the course of the 8th century BCE to 1st century BCE. The second collection is the New Testament, originally in Greek, which focuses on the life of Jesus Christ, written before 120 CE.<ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bible</ref>  

Some of the following Bible passages can be seen as relevant to transgender and nonbinary people.  

The following passage refers to some genders/sexes with which humans were created:  

The above are several different interpretations of who the humans are in this passage about their Creation, and what it means for human genders/sexes today. Some Christians have taken Genesis 1:27 as affirming the [[gender binary]], but that is only one of many possible interpretations. Given that [[#the six genders in classical Judaism|classical Judaism recognized six genders/sexes]], it's very unlikely that the Hebrew text of Genesis 1:27 is meant to affirm that humans can only have two genders/sexes.  

There are seven Bible passages that have sometimes been thought of as condemning lesbian, gay, or bisexual people. However, out of the entire Bible, only ''one'' passage seems to specifically condemn cross-dressing. By extension, this is also the one and only passage in the entire Bible that seems to specifically condemn transgender people.<ref name="TransQueerTheology">Shannon Kearns, "Transgender and Christian?" ''Queer Theology.'' Retrieved April 30, 2019. https://www.queertheology.com/transgender-christian</ref> This is the passage, which is in one of the Hebrew books of law, Deuteronomy:  

Nonetheless, this Biblical law has long been used by Christians to condemn those who cross-dress, and as a foundation for writing various national laws against cross-dressing. In the most famous example of this, historical court records show that the Inquisitors of the Catholic Church cited Deuteronomy 22:5 in the only actual specific charge for which the Church burned 19-year-old [[#Gender nonconforming Christian saints|Saint Joan of Arc]] alive at the stake in 1431.<ref name="FeinbergWarriors31">Leslie Feinberg, ''Transgender Warriors: Making history from Joan of Arc to RuPaul.'' Beacon: Boston, Massachusetts. 1996. P. 31-37.</ref>  

   

A verse in the book of Galatians, from 50 CE, says that Christianity doesn't recognize the division of male and female, and seems to deny the gender binary system:  

   

Biblical passages about [[eunuch]]s are relevant to nonbinary people, because some nonbinary people have a physical transition that resembles that of a eunuch. In the Bible, "eunuch" can mean many different kinds of people, not just a man who was castrated. Some scholars believe that in many ancient cultures, "eunuch" was often an umbrella term for people who were [[intersex]], sterile, gay, a "[[third gender]]", or otherwise queer. Because of this, any ancient writings about eunuchs can be relevant to LGBT people.  

The Bible never condemns anyone for being a eunuch, nor says that becoming a eunuch is a sin, even though being a eunuch made a person subject to Jewish ritual purity laws distinct from those of other men and women (see in the [[#God blesses eunuchs|commentary about Isaiah 56:3-5 below]]).  

In the book of Matthew, Jesus Christ himself gives a list of definitions of different kinds of eunuchs:  

{{Clear}}

In the book of Isaiah, which was uttered by the prophet Isaiah (or his followers) around 681 BC, God specifically blesses eunuchs:  

In context, the above passage was part of God granting blessings for all nations. He goes on to say that foreigners are welcome and blessed, and grants a special blessing to eunuchs. Even though eunuchs were barred from entering the Hebrew congregation and priesthood for ritual purity reasons (Deuteronomy 23:1, Leviticus 21:20), which may give the impression that eunuchs are outcasts, God explains that He still values eunuchs, and they will have a spiritual legacy. There is no condemnation of the eunuch in this.  

[[File:Rembrandt, The Baptism of the Eunuch, 1626, Museum Catharijneconvent, Utrecht.jpg|thumb|''The Baptism of the Eunuch'', depicting Acts 38. Painting by Rembrandt van Rijn, 1626 CE.]]