When Religious People Claim Your Gender Identity is an Abomination .....Remind Them of Trans Saints!

Faith. The act of having complete trust or confidence in one noun or another. In regards to religion, it's a strong belief in God, a god, or pantheon of gods and/or the teachings of a religion without factual evidence. Religion is quite often a highly touchy subject with many people and some of those people are rooted so strongly in their convictions, they refuse to ever entertain an opposing viewpoint. Many of these same people tend to oppress or persecute others who don't share their beliefs or because they believe those they are persecuting are viewed by their chosen deity as aberrations to be abhorred. While now I have often taken the perspective that no human being can ever truly know the answers to life, the universe, and everything...In the past I was taught that God loves me no matter what and that I should strive to treat others the same. I'm not sure if God exists or not, but that concept which was repeated throughout my formative years resonates in my soul in a very hopeful way. So if God does exist, it's nice to think of him/her/they practicing that same tenet. Unfortunately not everybody shares that same hopefulness.

The biggest problem I have come across when discussing various subjects or issues with some closed-minded religious people is a snobbish sense of self-importance. They exude large quantities of pride, arrogance and condescension. Quite simply put, they're egotists. Rarely will they listen to an opposing viewpoint and when they do they're even more seldom moved. While this attitude is, of course, annoying it's mostly harmless. In fact the only harm that comes from this position of isolated zeal is when their ideas and beliefs are used to justify oppression, discrimination, or other hateful acts against another person or group of people. Open a history book anywhere in the world flip to a random page in it and there's a good chance you'll read about an example of this kind of persecution. Transgender people are one of the many kinds of people to receive this type of treatment, and now the symptoms seem to be converging into an epidemic of hate crimes against us. The most common cause of homelessness among trans youth is family rejection. Which is often, but not always, caused by the uprooting of a faith-based belief system which challenges parents and guardians realm of thought. To help remedy this, parents should seek to educate themselves in two areas. The first is of course facts about transgender people and the trans experience. The second is their own religion.

Religious protesters inciting intolerance of transgender people.

Every single faith has generic teachings on loving others unconditionally. Additionally each one also has transgender figures treated in a respectful way or shows the consequences of bringing harm to someone who is different in this manner. Many religions also teach about the oneness in the ruling deity, stating that the traits we use to divide ourselves serve no purpose in the presence of that deity. But, again,  the fact of these teachings falling upon deaf ears and hardened hearts often bears repeating. And further, the inclusion of transgender kind in such stories and teachings would be denied or ignored to spare their egos of humility and guilt from treatment of others made in evil spirit.


Trans figures do play roles in all religions. Some are quite direct in their representation, others of a more interpretive nature. Roles as eunuchs, servants, and messengers teem throughout the written works. Some holding key importance or significance in various events, without their work in such moments justice or righteousness would crumble. Even if one moves to remove their existence by way of their own interpretations, brave and tortured trans souls have made their marks on the pages of written history and into the honor of sainthood or annals of legend. These examples occur throughout history, but in most cases follow similar paths. People who are assigned female at birth and who later in life dress as men for a handful of reasons. They usually continue in their male roles until death, spending their lives in monasteries pledging their lives into service of their God. They often encounter suffering or mistreatment, some even performing miracles. But two of these people have quite remarkable stories, St. Wilgefortis and St. Marinos of Alexandria(also know as Marina the Monk).

Wilgefortis, who is known by many different names throughout various cultures, is a name of medieval legend. They are the patron saint of relief from suffering or tribulation and in the height of their popularity was often revered and prayed to by women who sought freedom from abusive husbands. They are depicted as an androgynous figure upon a cross, both clothed and unclothed. Depictions of their naked body give view of a feminine for disrupted by a long beard. Clothed versions behold a bearded person in a dress much alike the kind women wore at the time. The tale of Wilgefortis is as such.

A nobleman of Gailcia promises their daughter, Wilgefortis, to a Muslim king. Wilgefortis is disgusted in the idea and takes a vow of chastity, praying to God to make them repulsive to the king's eyes. Wilgefortis sprouts a beard and the marriage cancelled. This angers their father who has Wilgefortis crucified.
After some time, Wilgefortis was replaced and forgotten and many sculptures displaying their visage were re-purposed and refurbished to be androgynous forms of Jesus Christ himself. A decision that was made for theological reasons. (A post for another day.)

Marinos was a monk during the late 5th and early 6th centuries. Their tale quite tragic, however vindicated. Born to wealthy parents, their mother died when they were young. They were raised by their father to be devout to the Christian faith. When Marinos (as Marina) came of age, their father wished to retire to a monastery and find his child a husband. Marina protested asking their father "Why do you save your own soul only to destroy mine?". Renouncing their father's plan, they shaved their head and changed their clothes. Seeing his child so determined, they gave away all their possessions to the poor and lived as men together in a monastery. Marina taking the name Marinos

After some time Marinos's father died, which caused them to delve deeper into their faith and retaining their male identity. One day, the abbot of the monastery sent him with three other monks to attend to some business for the monastery. As the journey was long, they were forced to spend the night at an inn. Also lodging there was a soldier of the eastern Roman front. Upon seeing the beauty of the inn keeper's daughter the soldier seduced her and defiled her virginity, instructing her to say, "It was the monk, Father Marinos, who has done this to me" should she conceive a child.

When the Roman's seed took hold, the woman did blame Marinos for her pregnancy. Word was sent to the abbot who called on Marinos to confess his sin. Without specifically saying how they had sinned, Marinos confessed and was condemned to live among the streets as a beggar. When the child was born, the innkeepers daughter abandoned the child with Marinos. He cared for the child for many years and was eventually let back into the monastery by the abbot, who gave Marinos demanding duties day in and out. Toward the end of their life, Marinos became ill and died. The abbot ordered the body cleaned and prepared for burial. Upon discovery that Marinos had been born a woman, the abbot wept for the wrongs that Marinos had endured.  The abbot then called for the inn keeper and informed him that Marina was actually born a woman. The inn keeper went to where the body lay and also wept for the pain and suffering which he had unjustly brought upon Marina. During the funeral prayers, one of the monks, who was blind in one eye, received full sight again after he touched the body. God also allowed a devil to torment the inn keeper's daughter and the soldier. This caused them to travel to where the saint was buried. There they both confessed their iniquity in front of everyone and asked for forgiveness.

Today the body of this saint is preserved at Saint Mary Coptic Orthodox Church in Haret el-Roum a Coptic Orthodox church in el-Ghoureya, Cairo near the Saint Theodore. The body is displayed to the public on Marina Feast Day on Mesra 15(approximately August 22nd). 

So when someone else tries to use their religion to legitimize hate, disrespect, intolerance or discrimination against you, remind them that there have been multitudes of transgender people who have done more for their belief system than they could ever hope to achieve. Their experiences are much like many of our own; filled with struggle, often sorrow, abandonment, false accusations and discrimination. Look to these figures for hopein your times of need and may they give you solace.