Welcome to episode 13 of The Spectrum. This was recorded on March 5th 2025. In this episode we’re going to look at the arguments some Christians use to justify their bias against transgender people and whether those arguments make any sense or whether they are a smokescreen.

When I use actual quotes from the Bible, I will use the New International Version. This is considered one of the most accurate English translations. While many do prefer the King James Version, the language (which was considered somewhat archaic even at the time of its creation) can be a bit tough in some cases for modern readers.

It’s starts right away in Genesis 1:27: “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”

On the surface that seems pretty clear. The problem, as with any bible passage is in interpreting it. Context matters, both in the text and the historical context in which it was written. Then we have the reader’s context. We read this as 21st Century humans living in a modern society. Genesis was probably written down about 2500 years ago and is thought to have been an oral tradition as much as, 3500 years ago.

It’s safe to say that the Bronze Age Israelites that created the stories that ultimately become Genesis didn’t know a lot of biology. Nor can it be said for the people who formed the Kingdoms of Judah and Israel and who first committed Genesis to papyrus. And that can also be said for the early Christians of the Roman Empire who went through the process of deciding what was going to go into the Christian Bible during the first few centuries of Christianity.

So, the historical context is one of relative ignorance about biology compared to the modern reader. This isn’t to say they were stupid. They weren’t. They were just like us but their society didn’t have the tools available for a deeper understanding of biology. They wrote down the best understanding they had. Unfortunately, that was an overly simplistic view of what really happens. But, they didn’t really have any way to know that. They hadn’t yet discovered genetics. They had no understanding of intersex people. They existed, but there are a lot of ways that this can manifest and a lot of it is subtle or even invisible without modern medicine. And, if it was different, well, ancient societies in that part of the world world were not especially kind to those who had any sort of physical differences from the norm. They were often considered cursed by the gods.

Some of you are probably getting ready to say, “ Wait! Humans may have written the Bible but it was inspired directly by God so it can’t have mistakes!”

Unfortunately, it does. Even if inspired by God, it was written down by humans. Humans make mistakes (until Gutenberg, every Bible in existence was copied by hand). Humans have agendas and make edits to support those agendas and they also sometimes make innocent mistakes. I highly recommend a book by biblical scholar Bart Ehrman called Misquoting Jesus. He goes into the history of the Bible and how scholars can track how it changed over time and how it has passages that are contradictory. He goes into far more detail than we have room for in a podcast and this field of study is his life’s work. He’s an expert where I’m just a person who has done a lot of reading and given the subject a fair amount of thought. It’s a great book and very accessible as it is written for the lay reader and not academics. Given the influence that the Bible has had on western societies, I think it makes sense for all of us to understand the history of the Bible itself.

But, let’s say you don’t want to accept that the Bible could have a mistake in it. There are people who think it is the inerrant word of God to use their phrase. Let’s accept for the moment that this could be true. Does that end the discussion?

I would argue that it does not. The question now becomes how to interpret that phrase “male and female he created them”. Those Christians who have argued against accepting transgender people have interpreted it to mean that God created male and female bodies and that is all that matters. However, I would argue that God also gave us souls. Are those male or female? Is it possible that a male soul could end up with a female body or the other way around? This ignores the whole intersex question as the people who make this point don’t seem to even want to consider it (probably because it’s a big hole in their argument). But, putting that aside, how are we to know whether Genesis 1:27 is talking about bodies or souls? There is no context to guide us so we all bring in our own preconceptions. There’s just no way to know. And, since we can’t know, we shouldn’t presume that we do.

But, now, for the sake of discussion, let’s assume that these people are right in their interpretation of Genesis. Why, then do transgender people exist? Well, it’s an imperfect world but God allows it to happen to people. Why would God allow people to suffer like that who have done nothing wrong? I won’t make any claim to know why. There is an awful lot of suffering in the world and a lot of it is upon the shoulders of people who have done nothing wrong. So, then the question becomes what should a transgender person do?

Does God want you to live with the dichotomy of a body and spirit that don’t match and to learn to endure that pain for your entire life? Or does God want you to find the strength to speak up and do something about it? Both approaches require great inner strength. Both are paths that will test the person. But, which one does Genesis encourage? You have a perfectly good body and a perfectly good mind but they don’t match. Which one is right? What does God want you to do?

I don’t know. But, I don’t think any Christian can claim to know either. If they do, then they are either giving a surface reading to Genesis 1:27 and jumping to conclusions or they are grabbing at justifications to push back against something that makes them squeamish. Personally, I don’t think Genesis 1:27 says anything at all on the subject and that Christian opponents of transgender people are cherry picking a statement and using it completely out of context to justify their point of view.

Now, let’s turn to another favorite for the anti-transgender Christian, Deuteronomy 22:5, “A woman must not wear men’s clothing, nor a man wear women’s clothing, for the Lord your God detests anyone who does this.”

Like Genesis, Deuteronomy is a Bronze Age oral tradition that was first written down about 2,500 years ago. Social gender roles were fairly rigid in most near eastern ancient societies. They were also fairly repressive to women.

There isn’t any context in Deuteronomy to say why this rule existed. It’s possible that at the time the reason was obvious but that as time went by that reason become less obvious and was lost to memory. It’s another case of cherry picking and ignoring context. But, let’s go with that for a bit. First, if a transgender female is wearing women’s clothes she isn’t cross dressing by Deuteronomy’s standards. She is a woman so she’s wearing appropriate clothing. And this whole thing ignores how what is considered gender appropriate clothing has morphed from culture to culture and century to century. Should modern humans be bound the clothing customs of 2,500 years ago? Duetoronomy 22:11 says, “Do not wear clothes of wool and linen woven together”, while verse 12 says “Make tassels on the four corners of the cloak you wear.” Does any person who isn’t an orthodox Jew follow these practices? So, then, why can they ignore much of what is here and then choose to pick out a single line to justify their views?

This passage is so weakly tied to the subject that it doesn’t hold any weight. And, speaking of cherry picking. Do the people quoting this passage follow the dietary restrictions in Deuteronomy? Do they sacrifice animals at the temple? Do they completely destroy the inhabitants of conquered lands? Do they stone people for blasphemy or adultery? If not, then they are being hypocrites. If most rules in Deuteronomy no longer apply to Christians then you need to make a much stronger argument than they are about why this one should apply.

Let’s look at another overreach of Biblical interpretation: Psalm 139: “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”

The implication here seems to be that God doesn’t make mistakes. But, then what about people born with a disease caught in the womb? Or birth defects, like a heart valve defect? The list of ways in which a baby could be born with problems is too long to list and each of us knows that there are children born every day that require medical treatment to live good lives or even to live at all. Are these children “wonderfully made”? If so, then should we not treat them? Is treating them, thumbing our noses at God and saying that we know better? If so, I want to be there when that claim is made to the parent of a child needing help to survive.

If we are all “wonderfully made” then is not the very existence of a transgender person something wonderful because God made them that way.

Or, perhaps, this is yet another example of someone taking a statement completely out of context and projecting their own meaning on to it.

There are more verses like this that are used but they have one thing in common. They are always used out of context and the person using them is trying to project their own point of view on to them.

Since we’re talking about Christianity and the Bible, I need to be clear about my own view on it. I was raised in a nominally Catholic house. As a child, I believed in the stories I was told in Church. Everyone around me did. When I was in late elementary school, one of my sisters became very involved in a local Baptist church and wanted me to go with her. I did and I liked it. It was welcoming and the energy was amazing. But, as a student who was also interested in science they said some things that were incredibly hard to swallow. Things like Noah had dinosaurs on the ark. They went to enormous lengths to rationalize how the world could be 4,000 years old instead of 4 billion. At 12 years old I could see the logical flaws in these arguments and I was trying not too — I liked the place and I didn’t want anything to challenge what they were saying. 

The questions were there and the more I learned the less I was willing to concede to a faith that required me to deliberately cover my eyes, especially when more reading of history showed me how religion had been used to hurt people  (things like the Crusades and the Inquisition). The more I learned about the history of Christianity and the history of the Bible, the less credible I found it. That isn’t to say that the Bible isn’t full of wonderful words that have real life lessons in them or that Christian churches haven’t done good things. But, for me, I no longer could call myself a believer. I don’t have a problem with those that do. Who am I to judge how someone else lives their life? Except when religion is a weapon to hurt people. The Bible has been used to justify slavery. It has been used to justify bans on interracial marriage. It has been used to justify mistreatment of native Americans. It has been used to deny gay people equal rights. And, now it is being used to deny transgender people’s very existence. These are things I have a problem with. It isn’t Christians being Christlike. It’s Christians being repressive. Unfortunately, Christians have a long history of using their holy book to justify attacks on groups they don’t like. We need Christians who also don’t agree with these repressive attitudes to stand up and be heard. 

Our Constitution guarantees that the government must be free of state sponsored religion. These Christians are entitled to believe whatever interpretation of the Bible they want, but they aren’t free to impose these views that they overtly ground in their interpretation of the Bible on everyone else. Not all Americans are Christians and not all Christians agree with their interpretations. Take those debates back to the Churches and have them there. They don’t belong in our government. 

If you have an experience of LGBT life you want to share, or you are a Christian who thinks my arguments are just so much hot air and want to refute my arguments here, please reach out to me at spectrumpodcasthost@gmail.com.

Take care.