[Christian Doctrine] Transsexuals and gendered roles in the Church

**Dunecat** · November 28, 2009, 01:18 PM

Where do transsexuals fit in the clergy or in holy marriage? If the priest must be male because of male-gendered reasons, then isn't a transgender woman or solely transsexual man fully capable of fulfilling his duties? Essentially what I'm asking is, "How important is the penis, really?", and "What does the Church believe about gender and sexuality?"

This complication I think is applicable to other positions in the church.

What does the EMM think?

**~~Ummon~~** · November 28, 2009, 01:22 PM

http://www.religioustolerance.org/transsexu15.htm

**blackwatersix** · November 29, 2009, 07:00 AM

Originally Posted by Dunecat

Where do transsexuals fit in the clergy or in holy marriage? If the priest must be male because of male-gendered reasons, then isn't a transgender woman or solely transsexual man fully capable of fulfilling his duties? Essentially what I'm asking is, "How important is the penis, really?", and "What does the Church believe about gender and sexuality?"

This complication I think is applicable to other positions in the church.

What does the EMM think?

First of all, which Church?

**Bovril** · November 29, 2009, 09:42 AM

The question becomes even muddier when you add in intersex people. Do people with XY chromosomes and internal testes but a female genitals and secondary sexual characteristics (AIS) count as men or women for the purposes of the priesthood? What about XX people born with fused labia and an elongated phallus? What about XY people born with indeterminate external genitals who have their testes removed soon after birth and a vaginoplasty? Most churches, like the rest of society, prefer to ignore intersex people because they challenge they challenge our dichotomous notion of gender and make striclty gender segregated roles very problamatic.