LISA SALAZAR — BLOG

Let us fall into the hands of the Lord, but not into the hands of mortals; for equal to his majesty is his mercy, and equal to his name are his works. (Sirach 2.18 – NRSV) In all the reading I’ve been doing in preparation for my Hebrew Bible class, I’ve come across several verses that have captured my imagination. The one above made me pause, and the more I reflected on what it describes, I couldn’t help but compare it to the admonition in the letter to the Hebrews, where the perspective of falling into the hands of God is described as a frightful experience. (Heb. 10.31) Because of my personal involvement a couple of years ago concerning the “Kill the Gay” Bill that eventually was passed in Uganda, I have kept an eye on the key players. These American fundamentalists are recognized as fully responsible for instigating the homophobia that resulted in the infamous legislation. In an OpEd in the Los Angeles Times on March 23, 2014, Kapya Kaoma (an Anglican priest and the senior re...

The kind of stuff I was thinking about  leading up to Easter 2014 Chapter Nine in Luke has got to be one of the most action-packed chapters you may ever encounter in the Bible. In only sixty-two verses, we see thirteen different dramatic scenes flash before us: Jesus sends out the twelve Apostles  Herod is perplexed by news about Jesus — Is he Elijah?  Jesus feeds the five thousand  Peter Confesses Jesus as the Christ  Jesus foretells his death  Jesus talks about taking up your cross daily to follow him  The Transfiguration!  Jesus heals a boy with an unclean spirit after disciples are unable  Jesus foretells his death again  Jesus talks about who is the Greatest  Jesus talks about how anyone not against us is for us  A Samaritan village rejects Jesus after Jesus sets his face on Jerusalem  Jesus spells out the cost of following him  Each of these scenes provides a lot to think about and talk about. I’ve been reflect...

It's my wallet that decides what I do these days! Jared Leto as Rayon in Dallas Buyers Club. Anne Marie Fox — Focus Features But in the meantime, I have been reading the ongoing negative commentary about the portrayal of the transgender character “Rayon” from the perspective of the trans community.  What needs to be considered is that there is today a generational divide in the trans* community that needs to be understood. For us over 55, our experience is vastly different from those in their thirties and forties. And a universe away from those who are in their youth and into their twenties. I suspect all the clamor comes from the younger sets, which had not lived through the painful years when we did not have the nomenclature to make sense of our lives.  In 1980 I was thirty. I had been married for six years and was terrified. I didn’t know what I was. That year I came out to my wife. All I could tell her was that I felt inadequate as a man, that I felt feminine, and I...

In my blogpost of a couple of days ago, I touched on some of the things that lift me and those that, well, shoot me down. However, I have not been able to get one thing out of my mind since I received the news on Sunday evening. Let me explain. At last week's Gay Christian Network (GCN) Conference in Chicago, I met Betsy, a fellow Canadian. She attended as an ally and we had a long chat about an old friend from her high school, who like me, transitioned from male to female in her fifties, Amanda. She shared how Amanda had friends who supported her but these relationships had slowly cooled and Betsy was concerned for her friend. She thanked me for my work and was looking forward to being a more informed friend of Amanda. The note I received from Betsy on Sunday night was short; Amanda had ended her life. This my friends, is a very low low. It is a sad commentary that life is made to be so impossible for some that they cannot envision living another day. That impossibility is ...

Sometimes I preach to the choir, sometimes to the genuinely curious and sensitive; at other times to hostile skeptics, but often to myself. I had the distinct honor and privilege to do a workshop at this year's Gay Christian Network Conference (GCN) last weekend. I cannot begin to describe what it is like to be among 700 attendees who have one thing in common, a hunger and a love for God, and for whom faith is not a legalistic dogma, but a the river of life. To say that gays, lesbians, bisexual, transgender, and gender-queer persons are excluded from the "banquet" of the King is to deny the essential message of the Gospel, and comes pretty close to that unforgivable sin, which is to ascribe the work of the Holy Spirit to the devil. One only needs to meet the large number of parents of LGBTQ persons who attended this year's conference, listen to their stories and see the love in their eyes to appreciate our Heavenly Father's heart more fully. No one can sit...

It was with a heavy heart that I chose not to renew the website I created three years ago on New Year's Eve, "UgandaUrgentAction.com." It's time for quiet diplomacy and prayer. Original Website, January 3, 2011 How it looked on Dec. 17, 2012 Earlier that December 31, 2010 I read a blog post by my friend Kathy Baldock titled: "Genocide brewing in Uganda." It dealt with the infamous "Kill the Gays Bill" that was being debated in Uganda's Parliament and its passage seemed eminent. It upset me deeply and I decided to write an open letter to all 287 members of parliament, the President, the Prime Minister, and both the Cabinet and the shadow cabinet. Then I got the idea to create the website to promote a letter writing campaign. I enlisted a friend who is a copy writer to come up with three letters people could choose from and while I waited for the domain to go live, I got busy creating the page. Once it was up and running and a...

Have you ever considered the irony in the Christmas story concerning family? Luke tells us, “A decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. All went to their own towns to be registered. Joseph went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David, called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child.” Whether this census really took place in exactly this way is debatable. It may have been a more localized census, affecting only the Province of Syria, which included Judea. Assuming there is some truth to Luke’s account, can you imagine a homecoming where you cannot connect with any of your family and are forced to find shelter in a stable? If Joseph was returning to his roots because of a decree, one would think his roots would also be aware of this decree and anticipate the arrival of many kinfolks, perhap...

…And the eunuch asked two pregnant questions. A passage that has become very significant to transgender Christians is Acts 8:26-39, the story of Philip’s encounter with the Ethiopian eunuch. The narrator of the story explains how Philip was instructed by an angel to intercept a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, a eunuch, on the dusty road from Jerusalem to Gaza. Why this detail of the person’s sexual otherness is in the account may not be readily apparent to us. It seems a bit odd, after all, how did Philip know this intimate detail? It’s not as if this person had the word “eunuch” tattooed on their forehead. Perhaps the possible lack of facial hair, high-pitched voice, or even attire my have been the clue. But why out this person in the narrative? This story, therefore, requires that we do a little queering in order to get at the significance and the importance of the story for us today.

Dedicated to my friend RuthAnn. Today was the second day of orientation for new students at Vancouver School of Theology (VST) — we had a spiritual retreat. The morning started with a short worship service as we gathered together. We were then led through a couple of community building exercises designed to get us to know each other better, giving us the chance to share little things about our stories and how we have ended up at VST.  Not surprising, all of our stories and the paths that have brought us here are uniquely different from the others, yet there is the sense of calling that resonates with each narrative.  Due to my curious nature, but equally suspicious and reluctant to embrace things too quickly, I tend to ruminate and over-analyze; and It's usually after the fact that I finally make some sense of things.  Which brings me to my next point. We ended the morning by meeting outside at VST's labyrinth. I won't attempt to explain what a labyrinth...

As featured in Medium.com Ever wonder what it might be like to change into a different person? I’ve lived in Vancouver for the last forty years of my life; that’s about two-thirds of the total trips I’ve taken around the sun. I’ve met hundreds of people during those years, if not thousands. Some were my business clients; a couple were my bosses; dozens were my employees; about three hundred were my students at Capilano College; a crazy number were customers I had the pleasure of serving at my family’s restaurant in Kitsilano, Las Margaritas; another five hundred or so were fellow worshippers in the seven different churches we attended as a family; and several dozen were neighbors, the parents of our children’s friends, and the many other people I knew only by first name—the grocery store clerks, pharmacists, postal delivery persons, etc. I haven’t added all these people up, and I don’t know how my list compares to yours—is it larger, smaller, or average in size? I have no way of...

Which Gospel do you profess? As Stephen, the author of the blog "Sacred Tension // A Story of Dissonance" powerfully expressed in his post today ( "The Cost of Words" ), "Most Christians believe they speak eloquently and wisely on this topic (homosexuality) , but as long as they fail to realize the cost of their words, they will be babbling uselessly to those who are practically dying to hear the gospel of love." As a transexual Christian woman, I can say that when it comes to reconciling our faith to our sexuality, all of us who are LGBTQI have experienced an internalized struggle and fierce debate that would make your dogma run for the hills.  Growing up in a time when the word “transgender” did not exist meant that I did not even have the ability to understand why I felt the way I did. As the fundamentalist Christian I grew up to be, there was only one explanation, I had a perverse bent that needed high spiritual maintenance. This w...

I want to thank Justin Lee for this. GCN Radio GCN's weekly podcast features music, issue discussion, and interviews with guests. Listen to any show by clicking below, or  subscribe in iTunes  or with our  XML feed . New Season 2012-2013   August 7, 2013 Transparently Transgender.  Trans Christian  Lisa Salazar , author of  Transparently: Behind the Scenes of a Good Life,  discusses her struggles to accept herself as transgender and the Bible passages that gave her hope. [ listen to this show ] (right-click to download)

I am moved to tears by the fact that my blog's third largest group of readers are in Russia. As I ponder the impossible situation you face with respect to the criminalization of LGBT persons, where you are not even allowed to gather for mutual support, it fills me with rage. It is true that many people were outraged when Russian officials announced that all forms of public display in support of gay rights, whether it be something as simple as wearing a rainbow lapel pin or even same sex public displays of affection, would be enough to incriminate you and get you arrested. Mr. Putin's denial of basic human rights for LGBT people and your law maker's willingness to pass laws that target sexual minorities is a travesty. What can I possibly do to make a difference, I ask myself. It isn't enough to sit comfortably in the safety of my home and simply shake my head in disgust. I have signed several petitions in these last few days that have gone to places like th...

I  removed the blog post I wrote yesterday. Upon reflection, I confess that I was too harsh and judgmental towards the subject of a story that appeared in the New York Post.  The story was about Don Ennis, a former ABC News assignment editor who came out as transgender and changed his name to Dawn, then later experienced memory loss and began presenting as male again.  My criticism and skepticism were justified, and the story seemed too fantastic. But as others have pointed out, we don’t know all the details, and more importantly, we don’t know the person and what they are going through. I have often said that each person’s story is their own and have advocated for understanding because, unless we have walked in someone’s shoes, we cannot possibly claim to know what motivates them and their life. This is my apology for having jumped to conclusions. I forgot the pain I’ve seen in the three persons I know who have “detranstitioned” and returned to their previous gender exp...

A little over a year after my gender confirmation surgery, I received a letter from a friend, a retired mechanic with whom I had been part of a men’s Bible Study for close to twenty years. After reading it, I stuck it inside my Bible and forgot all about it—until a couple of days ago. I discovered it while unpacking after my recent move. Note: This old friend didn’t use my name in the letter and instead used the initial for my former male name in brackets (J), nor did he begin with a salutation. He also didn’t sign the letter or include a return address. I’m sure his heart was in the right place and was thinking of what’s best for me, once you strip the paint off, his letter was deeply hurtful and transphobic. While I understand the importance of confronting one another when neces-sary, it is not an excuse to attack someone's identity and use religion as a weapon. This behavior drives people away from faith and causes deep wounds in the LGBTQ+ community. It's crucial to rem...

Long before I could admit I was transgender, I spent twenty-one weeks trying to apply the teachings of Exodus to myself. In 1991 I became aware of a ministry at my brother’s church that was trying to help gays and lesbians change their sexual orientation. The program’s director was Marjorie Hopper, a very masculine-looking woman with a harrowing, complicated, and difficult story. For years she lived as a man and worked as a custodian until she was outed at work, and her world came crumbling down. She had a religious experience and became a zealous anti-gay advocate and eventually the director of the Living Waters program at Burnaby Christian Fellowship (BCF). Living Waters was one of the many ministries associated with Exodus International. In those days, as I struggled with my gender identity, I desperately hoped God would heal me and remove all my feelings of inadequacy as a man. The word transgender entered our vocabulary, and there were new ways of thinking that, honestly, scared ...