November Vol.2 Issue 23
News & Views
The Monthly Newsletter of PFLAG Beaumont
Insights Anecdotes and Opinions
By Jacqueline Hays PFLAG Beaumont President
From time to time, the PFLAG Beaumont board, subcommittee and volunteers may get a bit discouraged our message of inclusion is not being heard or practiced. We, like other like-minded individuals, can occasionally get bogged down when we advocate day after day and then another hate monger pops up on our television or at our grocery store. A few mornings ago, while I was a bit bogged down after my news radio program informed me of the potential of an exclusionary bill being passed, I received an unexpected pick-me-up. A friend, who happens to be an older, gay man stopped to greet me with a brief hello while we were both waiting for coffee at a local shop. After we exchanged pleasantries, he shared with me a moment he experienced during his recent travels. My friend and fellow PFLAGer explained he had recently visited the Deep South. While attending a church service, he could clearly hear several parisheners speaking negatively about one other parishioner. My friend didn’t explain the context, but he did describe his actions. Our neighbor, while visiting a different state, simply took a seat beside the woman about who everyone was gossiping. He introduced himself
______________Insights Cont. Page 2
Bob’s Blurbs
Annual Confrence Workshop highlights Transgender in the Bible
By Bob Meier PFLAG Beaumont Hospitality Chair
I attended Gender Infinity in Houston this
past weekend. Every hour there were 7-8
presentations to choose from for two days. I chose this one dealing with how the Bible
explains Gender Identity and learned a lot. I’ll pull a few quotes from the document
“Transgender in the Scriptures partner and her partner’s relationship with her friend.”
that I’ll share with you. Let me start with a bit of humor used by the author.
JESUS:Lord, why do you pile all these troubles upon
us? It’s because of the gays, G-D:Yes, it is.
JESUS: I knew it. You’re punishing us for their abominations!
G-D: Oh, no no no. I’m punishing you for the shitty way you treat them.
Importnat Takaways:
The US Constitution was written in English
only 230 years ago, in 1789. Despite the fact that it was written in English, we still don’t all agree on
female. (King James Version) The AND represents a spectrum, not a binary. Scriptures often uses a
combination of two contrasting words, to refer to an entirety.
Genesis 1:13 “And the evening AND the morning
were the third day. This means that God didn’t create only mornings and evenings, but also the things in
between, like dawn and dusk, and all the times of day. When he created Male AND Female, this means that he created a SPECTRUM, from one end to the other and everything in-between.
Biological and genetic diversity was present from the moment life started on this planet.
Biblical scholars have identified six different genders in the scriptures: Zachar, Nekevah, Androgynos, Tumtum, Aylonit, and Saris.
Zacharrefers to a phallus and is usually
translated as “male” in English. Nekevahis Hebrew
for crevice and is translated “female”. Androgynosis a person with both “male” and “female” sexual characteristics.
Tumtum is a person whose sexual characteristics
what it says. There are hundreds of different
are indeterminate or obscured. Alonitis a person who is
which is the most accurate. What gives people the right
characteristics at puberty. Sarisis a person identified as
translations available. There is no Bible translation,
to definitively say what Scriptures says about LGBT people?
Genesis 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male AND
identified as “female” at birth but develops “male”
male at birth but develops “female” characteristics at puberty and/or is lacking a penis. A person can be
“naturally” a saris (referred to a “saris chamah”) or can become one through human intervention (“saris adam”).
American Indians believed that there are five
genders.
Excerpts from Masha Leah Dina.