I'd like to introduce you to someone, who for now, will be named MK. Those readers who may already know who I'm referring to likely know him personally. But in the interest of maintaining privacy over sensitive personal information, we will leave it at that unless he decides at a later time to fully disclose his identity. What is about to follow is the beginning of a series of interviews with MK and his perspective on the controversies of LGBT. MK is someone I've known for a few years now. I am very grateful for his willingness to take time to participate in these interviews, especially given the sensitive nature of the content. As such, I ask that you give him the respect he deserves for doing so. He is my friend. Although I've learned much from him already, and have much more to learn, we maintain different perspectives on these issues. This is not an endorsement. The aim is to have a respectful, comfortable platform with which to dialogue so that, ultimately, we can all benefit in one way or another. At the very least it will help us examine our own beliefs so that we will better know what we believe, and why we believe it.
*Note* This is MK's first submission. It has been reformatted from an original document in order to fit the desired format. The original letter will be posted later.
Ben: First of all, for those who don't know, what does LGBT stand for, and who are these people?
MK: For those that are not as familiar with that acronym as I am, LGBT stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender. It is used as a quick and easy way to summarize all of those who fall outside the norms of understanding and expressing their sexuality and gender identity. These are those who find that their sexual attraction does not fall neatly into the heterosexual norm, or those who find that their gender identity does not match the biological sex which they were born into. And this is a community of people who have been hurt and ostracized. By friends, family, and their church homes.
Ben: How would you describe yourself among those terms?
MK: I have experienced the pain and the hurt first hand, as I identify under the broad transgender terminology. I felt the pain of spending the first 20 years of my life hiding a part of my identity, but I have also felt the pain of losing friends who want nothing to do with me after they find out. I knew from a young age that the boy box did not seem to fit me properly, but did not find out that my feelings fit a broader concept of being transgender till about middle school. I tried to pray it away, I tried to hide it, I tried to be someone else, but I just could not escape that it was a part of my identity. I am a Christian, who happens to also be transgender
Ben: In your opinion, what do you find are some common misperceptions regarding the LGBT community and where do you stand as someone trying to change those misperceptions?
MK: One author whose dialogue on this issue that I particularly enjoyed, is Jenell Williams Paris, who is a professor at Messiah College, and wrote The End of Sexual Identity, which is a high caliber unbiased look at how we have taken this debate in a completely wrong direction. I would recommend it to everyone.
While primarily advocating for Transgender faith issues, which are a concept many denominations or individuals have not even begun to grasp with, I am involved in wider LGBT faith advocacy, particularly through GIFT, a group that exists to advocate and support LGBT Christians. And in my own organization, the Transgender Education Collaboration. In my experiences I have encountered a multitude of opinions on these topics, and I am sure that many of you readers may find yourself of differing opinions than myself.
But I hope that with this dialogue we can all come away with an understanding that these are deeply personal issues, and should perhaps not be the focus of such public debate and vitriol. I also hope that we as Christians can move away from using language, regardless of where we stand on the issues, which can lead some individuals to depression and self harm or suicide.
I look forward to the conversation to Ben, and hope you all find it to be a blessing.
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