28 June 2024
Introduction by Dr Michael Hahn
Our final Pride Month blog comes from Dr Alex Clare-Young (they/them/Alex), a minister in the United Reformed Church and a theologian specialising in the areas of gender identity, disability, and trauma, Alex currently ministers in a pioneering role in Cambridge city centre and is an associate tutor at Westminster College Cambridge. Alex’s monograph, trans formations, was published last month with SCM Press.
By Alex Clare Young
Conversations across similarity and difference matter. I’ve recently been reflecting on the process of completing theological research with a group of peers — with other trans and non-binary Christians. The reality is that peer support is vital for trans people in today’s toxic climate of culture wars, dog whistles, and wedge topics. We so often seem to be scapegoated, humiliated and politicised. We need each other to find peace, solidarity, and reason. This support is not guaranteed for trans people in pride month, where clothing, placards, speeches and articles are just as likely to include so-called ‘gender-critical’ slurs as trans-positive slogans.
Let’s redress that balance before I say any more. To be clear, I believe passionately that:
Trans is beautiful.
Trans rights are human rights.
Trans lives matter.
Trans men are men, trans women are women and non-binary people exist.
As a trans theology student, I entirely lacked access to trans voices in theology. During my Bachelor of Theology for Ministry, I did not encounter a single book or article by a trans person on any reading list. In a particularly memorable ethics class, both the ‘liberal’ and the ‘conservative’ lecturer (yes, they really did set up ethics classes in stereotyping binary opposition) patiently explained to me why it was wrong to be trans. When I complained to my tutor, they dug out a list of trans-apologetic texts — books that explained why it was ok to be trans, answering the questions that our detractors set us, but rarely actually venturing into theology more widely or setting our own agendas. During my MPhil, completing my thesis necessitated drawing widely on cis (non-trans) voices to write trans theology, which felt isolating and restrictive.
When I began my doctoral research, then, my number one priority was hearing trans voices. I knew, from conversations with and work by amazing peers like Rachel Mann and Jo Clifford, that we had theological insights, and I wanted to create a platform for some of those diverse and precious insights to be shared. So I spoke with wonderful trans and non-binary Christians with a diverse galaxy of gender identities, ethnicities, abilities, and lived experiences about what it means to be human and about our understandings of God.
They taught me that God is entirely genderless and entirely genderful. They taught me that bodies matter. They taught me how to play theologically; rolling the theological dice and playing dress up with biblical characters. They taught me how to critique – and reclaim – theologies of the cross and how to dance with God. They taught me how to wonder about Jesus’s chromosomes and what it means to be a trans member of the body of Christ.
Perhaps most importantly they taught me that:
1. Managing complexity is an underrated theological gift.
2. It is ok to confidently state supposedly heretical theories if they are what you believe.
3. Trans life can be about following the breadcrumbs of delight scattered along our paths.
If you would like to read more about our stories and theories, trans formations is available now from SCM Press
Read previous Pride Month blogs:
3 June Time for the Church To Listen and Learn by Charlie Bell
10 June Queering the Church by Penelope Cowell Doe
17 June The Queer Art of Failure by Penelope Cowell Doe
(24 June) Holy Saturday and the Power of Failure by Penelope Cowell Doe
Leave a Reply