LISA SALAZAR — BLOG

This post was inspired by my friend Candace Chellew-Hodge’s opEd. The headline read:  PEW CONFIRMS LGBT REJECTION OF RELIGION: WHY THAT’S A GOOD THING Her piece was in response to the latest Pew Survey from the Pew Research Center, which found LGBT persons have abandoned religion big-time. This was also the finding of an earlier Pew Survey of LGBT Americans (2013). The problem with these two studies is the relatively low number of trans respondents, the latter only had 5% trans participants. By comparison, the study I just completed for my Master's degree polled only trans persons; it found very few trans individuals interested in any kind of church participation, much lower than the Pew Research findings for LGBT. Only 15% include church involvement as one of their intentional spiritual practices. What this means for pastors is they don't have to worry about trans persons breaking down their doors if their church should ever become affirming. Significantly, the st...

Some thoughts in the aftermath of a young trans girl’s tragic suicide on Dec. 28, 2014. Lelaah, you left too soon. A recent survey indicated close to 70% of transgender persons wanted nothing to do with organized religion. You don't need to be a rocket scientist to imagine why this may be so. I would not be surprised, given the viral reaction in the trans community to Lelaah Alcorn’s death, if that number isn’t 90% by now. If you haven’t read the story, here’s the Google search link.     Or see this on MSNBC Interestingly, one reality that is emerging in my research is that the church is not seen as a place of refuge by trans persons. As a matter of fact, most trans people would rather stay away—forever. Who walks bleeding into a lion’s den? Despite the fact that there are conversations happening, they are likely to be akin to “preaching to the choir.” Churches that genuinely want to be or are already inclusive will continue to be few and far between. It’s won...

Story: Excerpt from Chapter 27 “The Day the Music Stopped” Transparently: Behind the Scenes of a Good Life.  This was the 7th Anniversary of our shopping trip to Costco on Christmas Eve, which we now celebrate by going shopping at Costco on the 24th, followed by brunch! Photo: Selfie with Duncan at the Richmond, BC Costco, Dec. 24, 2014. Here’s the back story. How and when I would begin transition—that was the $64,000 question. I still did not have the confidence to present as a female when I started to disclose to people. My friend Duncan convinced me one day to come visit them as Lisa. His argument was that I needed to start presenting, and what better place than in the safety of close friends. He wouldn’t take no for an answer, insisting this was something I had to do.  There was a lot of truth to what he was saying and I concluded he was right about my feeling safe with them. I finally did this one Friday afternoon in early November, 2007. I wore ...

Such a simple invitation, but when acted on, it has the power to change. One might think it’s getting better. After all, how many millions saw Laverne Cox, the transgender actor of the popular “Orange is the New Black” Netflix series, on the cover of  Time Magazine ? And what about all the buzz regarding the Amazon TV series “ Transparent ”? I’m talking about transgender inclusion. But I have my doubts that even such high-profile public relations coups have made that much impact on most of the population. I hate to sound so pessimistic, but when school boards, city councils, and other elected members continue to debate whether or not to give gender non-conforming persons some basic level of human rights protection, what else can I think? Even in Canada, with its fair share of progressive people, there is little to no discussion about the Canadian Senate’s  stonewalling  of a proposed bill to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code. The bil...

I won’t malign this said professor, but I did take issue with the WSJ Op-Ed he promoted, which weighs in on the transgender debate. All the discussion concerned the recent debate at the Vancouver School Board regarding their policy on how transgender and gender-variant students should be treated. This became a circus when parents self-identifying as conservative Asian evangelical Christians lobbied against it. Much has been said for and against this policy, including the professor’s Facebook wall comment thread. One perspective missing in this banter is that we are talking about only one trans person out of 166 (.6%).  Additionally, at most, only one out of two experience gender dysphoria that is severe enough to warrant social and, eventually, medical transition. In other words, all the pedagogical anxiety expressed is, for the most part, unfounded. Not every teacher, class, or school risks being blessed by a gender non-conforming student. A school with a student body of 500 w...

It seems innocent enough to have a day to celebrate fatherhood, paternal bonds, and the influence of fathers in society. The Salazar family, summer 2002. If one’s relationship with their father was good, this day of honor will seem completely appropriate and welcomed. This yearly reminder could be extremely painful if your dad did not deserve this kind of respect. Equally, if you’re a trans woman who fathered children, this day can either be good or a bad—if not surreal—experience. It all depends on the kind of relationship you now have with your children. Father’s Day is extremely painful when your children have rejected you and want nothing to do with you. As far as they are concerned, you might as well be dead. It hurts. However, If your relationship has survived, you can count yourself lucky. I was fortunate on two counts. On the one hand, I had a loving dad, and, best of all, despite his relatively old age, when I came out to him (he was 89), he accepted me. O...

It’s a dizzying time for trans people. Vancouver parents opposed to the trans-inclusive policy, June 11, 2014 Last night, I attended a meeting at the Vancouver School Board (VSB) as I listened to the final presentation from medical experts. The issue being considered is revising a 2004 VSB policy that spells out the district’s guidelines for providing a safe, positive environment for trans and gender-variant students in all grades, from kindergarten to grade 12. The associate superintendent said, “The biggest change was about getting some clarity of language.” This simple administrative procedure became the entrée for a well-organized and vocal group of conservative parents who self-described as Chinese Evangelical Christians. They used this as an opportunity to lobby against the adoption of the proposed updated policy, arguing that this policy took away their rights as parents and guardians to decide what was best for their children. Unfortunately, these parents are using both r...

Another friend,  Susan Cottrel,  also invited me to write some thoughts.  This is the link to her blog,  FreedHearts :  http://freedhearts.wordpress.com/2014/05/23/can-i-trust-you-with-a-secret/   I invite you to visit her blog. Do you have a secret? How big is it? How do you think people will respond if they find out? Disclosure, revelation, exposure, or whatever word you may have for it is a visceral, frightening process. Especially if the information is so sensitive, some would prefer death by flaying. But in fact, that is what disclosure is all about, peeling away the layers that hide the “body” of truth. Perhaps that is why it can be so traumatic. On October 2007, I began disclosing to family and friends that I had been diagnosed with acute gender dysphoria—that I was “transgender.” I had already lived eight years with this verdict; it took me that long to reconcile myself and my faith to my diagnosis. The news shocked everyone; only ...

A friend,  Matthias Roberts,  recently invited me to write some thoughts on belonging. He said this: "Specifically, if you could share a story on a time where you felt that you truly belonged — even if it was just for a moment." He published my response today (May 17, 2014), so I'm sharing it here too. This is the link to his blog,  Not Boring Yet :  http://notboringyet.com/saturday-stories/belonging-saturday-stories/   I invite you to visit his blog and read some of the other stories from other contributors. I felt like I did not know how to pray for nearly two decades. Oh, I prayed, but my sense was that my prayers were ineffective—like lead balloons—my prayers didn’t even reach the ceiling, let alone G_d, or so I thought. The very public process of transitioning seemed so drastic and unfair. After all, the struggle with my gender identity was a very private matter. Why was the solution—if, in fact, to tra...

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...