Blessed Are the Binary Breakers

Solaris Baldwin is a 21-year-old Black, genderfluid Methodist who first learned about Jesus as a watchful judge ready to throw people into hell. However, as they explored their identity and sought out community, they uncovered the God who does not will suffering but who suffers alongside us; who does not demand unquestioning obedience but desires our joyful efforts to emulate God's own love. J...

Trans persons experience drastically higher rates of mental illness and suicide attempts - when they are denied support and safety. In this episode, five trans and/or nonbinary persons of faith share their own mental health journeys, that move them from harmful theology to discovering God's deep love for them; and from isolation or hostility into relationships where they are embraced for all t...

Click here for an episode transcript. Rudra Maharaj navigates feeling disconnected from many of the communities around them due to racism, ableism, homophobia, and cultural differences, even while embracing the gods whose stories show them that queerness is compatible with Hinduism.  In this episode, Rudra discusses their family's unique ways of practicing Hinduism as descendants of the indent...

Click here for an episode transcript. Avery shares their plans for this podcast for 2021! But first, they discuss the hard work that won white Jewish man Jon Ossoff & Black Christian Rev. Raphael Warnock the seats that flipped the US Senate blue, using an interfaith and interracial lens to do so. Talking points: (0:00 - 4:21) Episode intro, summary of presidential election & GA's runof...

Click here for an episode transcript. Find more of Avery's poetry at binarybreakingworship.com. Avery reflects on the queerness of Advent + Christmas, including 3 original poems. They show how the Nativity story (as presented in Luke & Matthew) is bursting with binaries broken, assumptions flipped on their head, and God's uplifting of persons the world calls unworthy. They explore Divi...

Click here for an episode transcript. This is the second of two episodes featuring excerpts from authors who speak on religious pluralism and interfaith relationships. In this episode, Avery reiterates how opening oneself to beliefs beyond one's own can enrich one's connection to divinity and to humanity - rather than posing a threat to one's own faith life. The passages Avery shares i...

Click here for an episode transcript. This is the first of two episodes featuring excerpts from authors who speak on religious pluralism, interfaith relationships, and how diverse identities and cultures enrich religion. In this first episode, Avery focuses in on the extra complexities faced by Christians in approaching interfaith relationships respectfully, as members of a religion with a history...

Avery draws from multiple sources to discuss Halloween as a holiday that has elevated gender diversity since its origins deep in the ancient Celt observance of Samhain. As a holiday that has undergone various transitions, traveling across time and space and religious experiences while maintaining its binary-breaking core, Halloween is the perfect time for those of us who don't fit into gender...

Andy Thornton shares their research into the exclusion experienced by bi and trans persons not only in Christian spaces, but also in LGBT/queer spaces. They found that many persons are made to feel like they are "not enough" - not Christian enough, not queer enough, not trans enough - and feel compelled to alter or suppress aspects of themselves to fit in better. How do we learn to stop...

In this special episode, 8 trans and/or nonbinary persons share their insights on solidarity and allyship, intersectionality and wholeness. How do we resist assimilation and recognize our interdependence? How does religion uplift or fail trans persons? What can all of us, cis and trans alike, do to recognize our privilege and show up for other marginalized communities? Let's keep the conversat...

Andy Thornton (they / he, age 23, England) is an autistic artist and scholar, excitingly gendered, and passionate about expanding our inclusion within faith spaces and queer spaces ever wider. They became a Christian at 16 before realizing they were bi and trans, and despite queerphobic messages from church leaders, Andy received only messages of affirmation from God. Thus their love for a sassy,...

Avery brings the story of Rebekah and her mother's household told in Genesis 24 into conversation with social anthropologists' understandings of the communal, cooperative societies that preceded the birth of patriarchal, patrilineal societies across the globe. Ze draws from Leslie Feinberg's text Transgender Warriors to explore how the rise of patriarchy and class impacted ancient pers...

Avery brings the story of Hagar - a figure shared by the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim traditions - into conversation with the story of Charlotte and other trans women who were part of a caravan leading up through Latin America into the United States.  This episode continues the theme of solidarity from June's earlier bonus episode. It highlights the urgency of recognizing how intersections of...

This special episode centers around the current protests against police murders of Black persons in the United States. In the fight against antiblackness, I see an urgent need to break down the binary constructed between US and THEM that allows our common enemy to divide and conquer our communities one by one. As trans activist Leslie Feinberg notes, each of us must become "fighters against e...

Chris Paige has been compiling resources for trans persons of faith since the late 1990s, when the word "OtherWise" came to them on a mountaintop to describe those who do not fit into Western binaries constructed around sex and gender.  As they've cultivated community, maintained TransFaith.info, and blogged at OtherWiseChristian.com across the decades, Chris has been on a journey of...

Instead of an interview, this episode dives into faith history to present three stories that may resonate with trans and nonbinary people today. I draw from others' research to share accounts of: the divine manifestation Shiva from Hindu scriptures (as well as some of his devotees across time); Judaism's Joseph of Genesis; and the Catholic Saint Joan of Arc. Each of these figures (or their...

The spiritual lives of trans persons are as rich and varied as anyone's - and indeed, are often enriched by their transness. In this episode, 14 trans and nonbinary persons from a variety of faiths - heathenism, Judaism, Christianity, Shinto, and more - and from around the world - the USA, Argentina, Australia, England, and more - share what sacredness means to them. Click here for an episode...

Dr. S.J. Crasnow is a 35-year-old Jewish Californian who has made a home with their spouse in Kansas City, Missouri, where SJ teaches and researches in the religious studies department of a small university. Join us as SJ talks about growing up in a liberal, Jewish family but becoming wary of religious institutions over time; about only gradually recognizing their own queerness and first coming ou...

Taylor's faith is constantly evolving, from Presbyterian to atheist and back again, with their Christian faith expanding to include witchcraft. Learning from their family from a young age that politics and activism are part of following Jesus, Taylor has also discovered how queerness and tarot, symbolism, and astrology enrich their relationship with God. Taylor hopes to find a seminary where t...

prabhdeep singh kehal's identities as a Sikh and as an educator motivate them to share knowledge wherever they can -- in classrooms, online, through resources for LGBTQ Sikhs and their families, and by partaking in interviews like this one!  Listen as prabhdeep talks with me about their doctoral studies around colonialism in higher education; about entering into interfaith and intercultural co...

After realizing that they did not have to try to be the cishet man their Catholic church and family expected them to be, and that God is bigger than any one institution, Enrique Cintrón explored a variety of religions before finding a home in the Episcopal Church. Enrique cultivates community in their hometown of Philadelphia as well as online, particularly in the form of their podcast, Fruits of...

Dee Garnica shares their experience as a 19-year-old nonbinary Chilean, discussing issues of disability, race, and transgender rights in Chile.  While the country does offer universal healthcare, as well as certain legal rights for trans persons, Dee has found that talk of trans issues is regarded as taboo and that the healthcare system fails many disabled persons. Moreover, despite the racial div...

Click here for an episode transcript . This is the last episode of season 1 of this podcast. The next episode will come up at the end of October. In the meantime, I invite trans and/or nonbinary people from any faith background to send me their stories of how they have been a gift to their faith communities for a special episode of this show. Send those stories in audio or text format to queerlych...

Click here for an episode transcript . After coming out several years ago, Josephine Inkpin became the first openly transgender priest in the Anglican Church of Australia. Born in England, where she and her wife were part of the fight for women's ordination, Jo moved to Australia in 2000 and now helps fight not just for the inclusion of LGBTQA+ persons, but for their affirmation and celebratio...

Luca Alexander is passionate about raising the voices of marginalized women and LGBTQ+ individuals, doing so through their job at the Boston-based consulting team VISIONS, through their scholarship at Boston University, and through participation in queer and Muslim spaces in Boston. In this episode, Luca discusses becoming a Muslim; navigating hijab, islamophobia, and gender dysphoria; researching...