LISA SALAZAR — BLOG

Added a Postscript at 8:00 p.m. PDT on April 25, 2018 Five years ago, I spent a week in Fort Lauderdale to attend a trans-related medical symposium. One of the event’s highlights was meeting Jazz Jenning and her mother in person. Jazz is a well-known trans girl who became famous when Barbara Walters interviewed her in 2008 at five. In her late teens, she starred in her reality TV series, “I am Jazz.” The other highlight was staying with my first cousin, Carlos, and his wife, who live in Ft. Lauderdale. Carlos drove me to the airport on Tuesday for my return trip to Vancouver via Chicago. As he pulled away, my phone vibrated. A text message from United Airlines told me my 4:15 flight to Chicago was delayed until after 7:00 p.m. I panicked.  I rushed into the airport and went to the United Airlines ticket counter. I told them I had a problem. I was scheduled to catch a connecting flight from Chicago to Vancouver at about the same time I would be boarding the plane in Ft. Lauderd...

On Tuesday, Sept. 26, a group of about 100 people stood outside the Langley Schools District 35 office in support of the Trustees who had recently approved the SOGI 123 curriculum. (I won’t go into the SOGI specifics, anyone can review it for themselves at www.sogieducation.com .) Photo by Brad Dirks (no relation to Paul Dirks). Among those holding up signs and standing in solidarity with the trustees, were students, family members, friends and allies of LGBTQ students. I wasn’t able to attend, since my current occupation had me stuck in downtown Vancouver. During the two weeks leading up to this peaceful rally, I was in communication with a few individuals who were responding to another group of parents. This first group had voiced strong opposition to SOGI, with a well-organized initiative that included a Facebook page and a website to raise money.  The Langley parents who are afraid of SOGI gathered a few weeks earlier to listen to their organizers, who incl...

Nine years ago I began my social and medical transition after decades of struggle to reconcile my Evangelical faith to who I was discovering myself to be. You need to understand that I was almost 40 years old by the time I first came across the term "transgender," in about 1988. It was in the early 70's, during the Jesus People movement that I "came to faith." Secretly, though, my hope and motive for embracing the Christian faith was my sincere belief that this confusion I lived with would one day disappear. I just needed to be faithful and, you know, do all the things we are taught to do; like pray without ceasing, memorize scripture to retrain my mind, die to myself daily, put to death the works of the flesh, renounce Satan, and the list goes on. From the academic research I have done as part of my MA in public and pastoral leadership, two central truths emerged for me. 1) Transition is a spiritual experience that transforms a person — much like a near-death...

A personal Meaning for the word transgender Published by ConversationsThatMatter.tv and VancouverSun.com  Saturday, July 21, 2017 (CLICK IMAGE TO WATCH INTERVIEW) “This week’s Conversation That Matters features Lisa Salazar, who helps us to understand the transgender spectrum. “What does it mean to be transgender? “The term is relatively new. It is also widely misunderstood. Many people believe trans or transgender is about sexual orientation rather than gender identity. “After decades of fighting the voices in her head, Lisa took on the long and challenging transition from her life as a man to the one she knew was her true self. “Lisa takes us on her journey and at the same time provides insight into the lives of transgender people. “Her life story and the recent enactment of Bill C-16, which ensures that transgender people are guaranteed the same human rights as those who identify with the gender they were assigned at birth, lead to this week’s conversation. “Co...

A reflection on the story of the Apostle Philip’s encounter with the Samaritans (Acts 8:4-8) and the Ethiopian Eunuch (Acts 8:26-40) and its connection to Isaiah’s description of the Suffering Servant (Isaiah 53:7-8), and the future fate of the foreigner and the eunuch (Isaiah 56:3-5).  — Lisa Salazar, MAPPL  Presented on November 19, 2017, at NorthwoodUnited Church, Surrey, BC . This church is starting the process of becoming certified as an Affirming Ministry. In order to become an Affirming Ministry, a congregation (or presbytery, conference, educational institution, outreach ministry, chaplaincy, retreat centre, camp) must go through an educational/discernment process that reflects on what it means to be inclusive and evaluates your ministry’s openness to the ongoing work of being intentional about how it includes others within the life and work of your ministry. (A previous version of this message was presented on September 25, 2016, at Crescent United Chur...

Hundreds gathered at the Peace Arch Border Crossing Sunday afternoon, February 12, 2017, to express concern and opposition to recent American immigration policies and attitudes impacting immigrants and refugees. This peaceful demonstration was originally planned for February 5th but had to be postponed due to poor weather conditions. I was invited to say a few words; this was my text: I am an immigrant, first to the United States and later to Canada. I am Hispanic, I am Latina… I am white-skinned. I am a citizen of Colombia by birth—and a citizen of Canada by choice. I am a trans woman. I am a lesbian Like everyone who has ever lived, I had no choice in which country I'd be born in; Nor into which religious tradition. I did not get to choose my parents; I had no choice over my mother tongue. I had no choice when it came to the color of my skin. I did not choose my sexual orientation, and I did not choose to be transgender. Of all these things I have listed, only one I choose ...

Image: http://www.danasrhj.top The Apparent Hypocrisy of British Columbia’s Elected Liberal Government The same week that Transgender advocates and allies stood in front of the BC Legislature in support of the introduction of a private member’s bill aimed at protecting the rights of transgender people, the BC Liberal Government announced an order-in-council that adopts the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association’s Codes of Practice for both kennel and cat breeding. Indeed, this is very good news for dogs and cats in British Columbia. Yet, this same Government has sat intentionally on it’s laurels, refusing to pass an exact version of the “trans rights bill” on three previous occasions. This is the fourth time the Honourable Spencer Chandra Herbert, MLA for Vancouver-West End, introduces this bill. The bill would amend the BC Human Rights Code (BCHRC) to include “gender identity and gender expression.” Having “gender identity and gender expression” included in the B...

My letter to the editor was published in today’s the Province newspaper ; it’s reposted below. I wrote it in response to a full-page feature story that appeared in Sunday’s (Nov. 29th) edition, titled ‘There’s a revolution going on.’ Lisa Salazar: Despite Caitlyn Jenner, many people still struggle with ‘men in women’s clothing While I am always grateful for positive press regarding trans issues, especially when I happen to know some of the players in the stories, my hopes for greater understanding and acceptance continue to be tempered by the lived realities of most of the trans persons I have come to know. The revolution University of B.C. student Cormac O’Dwyer alludes to in Province reporter Glen Schaefer’s article on Sunday is, unfortunately, nothing more than a tempest in a teacup. While it is true that Caitlyn Jenner’s coming out caused a 100 percent increase in the number of people who claim to know a transgender person (to 16 percent from eight percent), being aware that ...

I’ve got a profile on Linkedin and half-a-dozen other job banks, and after months of sending out resumes and cover letters, I feel my self-worth declining.  My morning routine is to pour myself a cup of coffee and sit at my computer for a couple of hours to see what new job postings appear in the above-mentioned job banks and send out cover letters, resumes, and the link to my website. My Google search is simple: “graphic design jobs in Vancouver, BC.” These days, graphic design job descriptions include many technology qualifiers. They are advertising for computer programmers and engineers who like to use other fonts besides Arial Times Roman and Comic Sans and can take photos with a real camera. However, what really gets to me is how f**k**g impersonal this online job application process has become. The adage “It’s not what you know. It’s who you know” must be true. Even Psychology Today has talked about it. One gets the feeling it doesn’t matter what you can do and has done; i...

I must confess that it was not until January of this year that I invested any think time on the situation in Uganda. Yes, I had heard of the crazy "Kill the Gays Bill," but I was focusing on personal stuff and I simply shrugged my shoulders and said, "I'm glad I don't live in Uganda." To say that I did a 180 degree turn out of my own convictions and outstanding character is not what happened. The truth is I was surfing the web on Dec. 30th and went to a friend's blog post titled, "Genocide Brewing in Uganda," in which she summarized what was taking place and how imminent was the passing of this insane piece of legislation. She provided links to CNN, Amnesty International, BBC, Time and a few other news organizations. I spent the next two hours going from one link to another and I was horrified. I emailed my friend and asked if she had any links to where I could send an email to; I needed to scream at someone. She replied that it may be a ...

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...