The search for gender identity, say trans seekers, brought them closer to God

by News Feed Editor | Jun 27, 2023 | Religion

(RNS) — Ari Fernandez, a journalist and aspiring rabbi living in Atlanta, began to realize the gender they were assigned at birth wasn’t a good fit in 2018, when they were reconnecting with their Jewish roots by working at Hillel International, a campus faith group.“When I was first exploring outside of the (gender) binary,” said Fernandez, who was a philosophy student at Appalachian State University at the time, “I wasn’t really aware of how queer Judaism could be.”
Their workmates seemed to feel similarly. “I said, ‘Hey, just so you know, I’m going by Ari now,’ and they all immediately got it,” said Fernandez, now 26. “They were like, ‘Yeah, that makes sense. Of course, you’re Ari. Why wouldn’t you be Ari?’”
As opposition to recognition for transgender Americans has increased in recent months, so have clashes between people with transgender identities and faith leaders. But it’s not always the case that faith and transgender don’t mix. Some transgender seekers, such as Fernandez, have found that the search for a gender identity can often come with a more profound sense of spirituality.

In Judaism, Fernandez pointed out, name changes usually signal a new sense of identity, in which the name changer gets closer to God. Avram and Sarai, the first Jewish …

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[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nn(RNS) — Ari Fernandez, a journalist and aspiring rabbi living in Atlanta, began to realize the gender they were assigned at birth wasn’t a good fit in 2018, when they were reconnecting with their Jewish roots by working at Hillel International, a campus faith group.“When I was first exploring outside of the (gender) binary,” said Fernandez, who was a philosophy student at Appalachian State University at the time, “I wasn’t really aware of how queer Judaism could be.”
Their workmates seemed to feel similarly. “I said, ‘Hey, just so you know, I’m going by Ari now,’ and they all immediately got it,” said Fernandez, now 26. “They were like, ‘Yeah, that makes sense. Of course, you’re Ari. Why wouldn’t you be Ari?’”
As opposition to recognition for transgender Americans has increased in recent months, so have clashes between people with transgender identities and faith leaders. But it’s not always the case that faith and transgender don’t mix. Some transgender seekers, such as Fernandez, have found that the search for a gender identity can often come with a more profound sense of spirituality.

In Judaism, Fernandez pointed out, name changes usually signal a new sense of identity, in which the name changer gets closer to God. Avram and Sarai, the first Jewish …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]