Lisa Salazar's Posts

At a dramatic press conference, the new Secretary promises to defend civilization by making sure everyone knows exactly who they are allowed to be. Secretary Avery Strait addresses reporters at the inaugural press conference of the Department of Individual Purity.

…And Why It is Important to Use Your Voice I have noticed a rhetorical pattern that often appears in media coverage of controversial or sensitive issues. 

Image: Spatted Screenshot of National Post story My honest read of the recent  National Post  article by Sharon Kirkey on  Dr. Karine Khatchadourian  is that it presents a discussion within medicine about improving care, but the framing—beginning with the headline—makes it sound as though the entire field is collapsing.

Introduction “What one remarkably civilized online discussion revealed about gender dysphoria, language, and the slow growth of understanding.” I follow an intersex woman on Facebook named Jackie Green. She regularly posts short educational videos about sex, gender, and biology, usually in a calm and accessible way. In one recent video, she responded to a charge often aimed at both intersex and transgender people, that they are “mentally ill.” In less than two minutes, Jackie explained something that still seems to get lost in many public arguments. Being transgender is not classified as a mental illness. What medicine recognizes is gender dysphoria, the distress that can arise when a person’s body and gender identity are experienced as being at odds. The purpose of care is not to erase identity, but to alleviate distress. Her explanation brought to mind a public exchange I had nearly fifteen years ago with Michael Brown, when I tried to make a similar point in a very different cli...

  Public debates rarely end with one person convincing the other that they are wrong. Minds seldom change that way. Yet conversations like these can still matter deeply, often for reasons that are not obvious at first. They are rarely only between two people. They unfold in front of an audience. Nearly fifteen years ago I found myself in a lengthy public exchange with Dr. Michael Brown, a well-known evangelical author and speaker. The discussion took place online in the comment section of a Facebook page connected with his ministry. What began as a direct conversation between two individuals gradually became something larger.

  Beyond the Calendar: Living the Way of Jesus Every Day As the seasons of the Christian calendar unfold, many believers enter times of reflection marked by familiar rhythms. Advent invites people into anticipation and hope. Lent calls for reflection, repentance, and simplicity. Holy Week leads worshippers through the remembrance of the Last Supper, the crucifixion, and the celebration of resurrection on Easter morning. For many Christians, these seasons provide meaningful opportunities to pause, remember, and reconnect with the story of Jesus. Of course, modern culture has added its own layer to these sacred seasons. Store shelves fill with chocolate eggs, pastel bunnies, decorations, and cheerful marketing campaigns. What began as invitations to reflection and renewal now often arrive wrapped in foil and cellophane. It is a curious transformation. For countless people, however, the rituals themselves still carry deep meaning. The liturgical calendar offers a rhythm that gen...

Heather Cox Richardson recently said something that cuts straight through the noise. She noted that when Republicans lose ground on the issues that normally carry them, the economy, immigration, national security, they reach for something else. And right now, she said, they are “running hard against transgender Americans again.”  Her words are worth repeating: “This is a tool.” When the political ground begins to crumble under them, they reach for culture wars. When their policies are unpopular, they need someone to blame. And when they cannot explain their decisions, they distract. Trans people are the distraction. Richardson quoted Texas legislator James Talarico, who said the media keeps asking him to demonize his “brothers and sisters” instead of talking about housing, healthcare, or real public policy. That observation should trouble anyone paying attention. Because it reveals the mechanism. The issue is not with transgender people themselves. The issue is that transgende...

Seen through glass, we mistake perception for knowing. I recently read a conference paper by  Ross Neir  titled  “Procreative Nationalism as an LGBTQ+ Hermeneutical Strategy.”  If you want to read the full text, you can find it here:  Procreative Nationalism  

Based on a 2014 survey, this essay revisits what trans lives reveal about inner life and spiritual endurance at a time of renewed religious hostility. Image of light streaming in, finally. In the fall of 2014, I set out to ask a deceptively simple question: what does spirituality actually look like in the lives of transgender people? At the time, public conversations about transgender lives were only beginning to edge into mainstream awareness. The language we now use so easily, especially the word  non-binary , had not yet entered common circulation. Most people in my community described themselves as trans men, trans women, gender-queer, or gender-fluid, using the language that was available to them then. If this same survey were conducted today, many of those same participants might well describe themselves differently. The map of language has changed. The terrain of human experience beneath it has not. I was not trying to make a theological argument or defend any religious inst...

Photo: The glowing screen of my laptop displaying the Facebook post that inspired this essay. A reminder that existence is not an argument. It is lived. On how a quiet truth can unsettle those who haven’t yet faced their own. The post was about the Williams Institute’s recently updated data showing that approximately 2.8 million Americans identify as transgender. The post was gentle in its simplicity. It did not petition, persuade, or defend. It only acknowledged that trans people are here, and have always been here, woven into the ordinary life of the nation.