God of Hate: Evangelicalism’s Transphobia Problem
How did evangelical Christianity in the UK become so transphobic, and can it change?
A trans spiritual seeker who enters an evangelical church is very likely to find the whole experience rather uncomfortable.
Many evangelical churches practice gender-segregated group prayer; their sermons insist upon God’s creation of two immutable sexes; and there may well be an expectation, whether overt or subtextual, that a trans person will eventually cease to be trans after accepting Jesus.
Indeed, in its singular track-record of anti-trans hostility, evangelical Christianity feels entirely closed off as an option for any trans and non-binary person exploring faith.
To understand how this state of affairs came about, we first have to understand what evangelicalism is.
Strictly speaking, evangelicalism is not a denomination but an expansionist pan-Protestant movement that stresses the salvation of the soul by grace alone. Functionally and doctrinally, however, it behaves like a denomination, with its own central organisations that distribute guidance and make general declarations of belief.
The Evangelical Alliance is the largest such body in the UK, representing around 3,300 congregations. The Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches comes a distant second, with 600 congregations.
In general, evangelicals see sex/gender as God-given, binary, and fixed. As a result, many evangelicals believe that to be trans or non-binary is to live apart from biblical models for a healthy and orderly society. In accordance with these beliefs, they have consistently opposed political reforms to allow trans people to more easily change their legal gender.
The Evangelical Alliance’s position was summarised in a 2018 report titled Transformed: A Brief Biblical and Pastoral Introduction to Understanding Transgender in a Changing Culture.
Though it goes out of its way to come across as conciliatory and forward-thinking, the report essentially embodies everything that trans people have come to expect from anti-trans manifestos. It spreads fear about the effects of the ‘transgender ideological movement’ on families and children and ultimately concludes that, although churches should show ‘compassion,’ they should also continue to make known their ‘concerns’ about ‘invasive and non-reversible medication and procedures.’
So far, so typical. With some stylistic changes, you could easily pass Transformed off as a conservative Anglican or perhaps Catholic exploration of the subject.
But I wanted to know why evangelical Christianity has such an appalling reputation among trans and non-binary people. Why are so many evangelicals so convinced that trans identity is a moral sickness? Why do trans people instinctively give evangelical churches a wide berth? And what makes evangelical transphobia doctrinally unique?
As with everything in the evangelical movement, it starts with scripture.
The scriptural basis for evangelical transphobia
Unsurprisingly, the Bible passage most frequently cited by anti-trans evangelicals is 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.’)
Since evangelicalism is especially Christocentric, the repetition of this assertion by Jesus in Mark 10:6 is equally significant (‘at the beginning of creation God “made them male and female.”’)
Genesis 2:18 and 2:21–24, relating to the creation of Eve, are also cited to emphasise that God designed these two sexes to be complementary.
Other go-to verses relate in general terms to the perfection of God’s creation, such as Psalm 139:14 (‘I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.’), and to the sanctity of one’s body as part of that perfect creation, for example in 1 Corinthians 6:19–20 (‘Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.’)
These passages are interpreted as meaning that it is wrong to change one’s body to fit one’s own conception of self, for God created our bodies as He deemed best. In other words, our bodies are not ours to change.
Other popular passages seemingly extend this proscription to the act of mixing gendered dress codes, particularly 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.’)
Incorrectly adorning the body is believed to be an affront to God’s intended order of things. As the Evangelical Alliance states: ‘Cross-gender identification is a concern because it distorts the creational order of male and female.’
Not all references to gender diversity in the Bible are this condemnatory. The Bible contains a number of allusions to ‘eunuchs,’ including in Isaiah 56:4–5, Matthew 19:12, and Acts 8:26–40, in which God/Jesus stresses the need to show respect and hospitality towards them. Transformed interprets these passages as meaning that Christians should ‘make room for the marginalised, whilst encouraging obedience.’
All of these passages are frequently cited in other Christian denominations as evidence of the sinfulness of being trans.
The evangelical approach stands out, however, in the depth of its conviction that, quite apart from the ‘false hope’ offered by rejecting gender boundaries, one can gain ‘true freedom’ only through the acceptance of Jesus Christ.
In The Transgender Craze, a report published in 2020, the Christian Institute supports this argument with two quotes from Jesus, the first in John 8:36 (‘if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed’), and the second in John 10:10 (‘The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.’)
Belief in Christ’s transformative power has led many trans evangelicals down the path of ‘conversion therapy,’ the discredited and often dangerous effort to change gay people into straight people or trans people into cis people.
And here we begin to see why evangelical churches are often regarded as not just unwelcoming, but downright dangerous for unsuspecting trans seekers.
Conversion therapy, evangelical style
Conservative evangelical groups have never tried to hide their belief that a trans person can eliminate their sense of being trans by letting Jesus Christ into their life.
In the conclusions to a book titled Transsexuality (2001), the Evangelical Alliance Policy Commission stated:
Within the context of a loving Christian environment, we hope and anticipate that transsexual people will come in due course to accede to the need to reorient their lifestyle in accordance with biblical principles and orthodox church teaching. … We commend and encourage those transsexual Christian people who have determined to restore their birth sex identity as a consequence of biblical conviction. … We would seek to prayerfully support their reorientation through the grace of God.
Transformed is less overt in its endorsement of ‘reorientation,’ stating simply that evangelical churches should try to lead trans people ‘to the transformative work and power of Jesus and the Holy Spirit.’
This softening of language does not indicate a genuine change of heart among evangelical leaders. Tellingly, the booklet includes the following quote from a parishioner who had once grappled with their gender identity: ‘Hey, it is scary to see God not rescue someone from cancer or schizophrenia or [gender identity disorder].’ Being trans is clearly still viewed as a malignant (but curable) affliction.
Some evangelical groups fully endorse conversion therapy, while others deny that the counsel, prayer, and ministry they offer trans people should be associated with that unsavoury label. However, most of them oppose the outlawing of conversion practices on the grounds that such a ban would (as they see it) wrongly criminalise ‘biblical sexual ethics.’
The Christian Institute insists that ‘Christians don’t pray to “suppress” people, but you can easily see how praying for God to give someone grace to resist temptation could be misinterpreted in this way. … It is deeply repressive to outlaw it.’
Meanwhile, the Family Education Trust (FET), an evangelical-adjacent ‘moral conservative’ organisation, stated in their recent submission to the UK Government’s consultation on banning conversion therapy that ‘Since talking conversion therapies frequently take place in a religious context, this proposal has serious implications for freedom of speech and religion.’
It is misleading for the Institute and FET to downplay evangelical conversion therapy as nothing more than a passive and voluntary element of ordinary church practice. In fact, it has a history of deliberate coercion.
The Parakaleo Ministry, directed by a man called Keith Tiller, was a London-based trans conversion therapy organisation that operated within the broader evangelical LGBT+ conversion group Courage UK. Tiller himself experienced gender dysphoria in the 1980s, but shortly after being recommended for gender-affirming surgery, he recalls, ‘God intruded into my life.’ Through faith, he claims that he overcame his trans ‘addiction.’
In the 1990s, Tiller started offering spiritual conversion therapy to other evangelicals struggling with questions of gender identity. On the Ministry’s now-vanished website, Tiller explained that most inquiries to Parakaleo came from people in positions of church leadership who were ‘concerned for someone they know who is either cross-dressing or calling themselves transsexual.’
Trans parishioners were, Tiller admits, ‘invariably under some form of duress to make contact with me.’
Marissa Dainton, a trans woman pressured by her evangelical church to contact Parakaleo in 1996, has since spoken publicly about her experience.
Dainton became convinced that her trans identity was ‘born of sin’ and therefore reprised her ‘once hated male identity.’ Only six months passed before her feelings of discomfort in her assigned gender role resumed, and she decided, after having undergone so much mental and social effort to make herself conform, to present as a woman once again.
Tiller’s faith in Christ-powered conversion was not shaken by its failure in Dainton’s case (or by his own continuing urge to cross-dress). ‘I personally know people in the US and Australia who have resumed living in their original biological gender role,’ he told The Guardian. ‘Nearly all claim to have done so as a result of Christian conviction.’
The story of Keith Tiller and Parakaleo demonstrates that active efforts to make trans people cis have not been solely the responsibility of marginal individuals within the evangelical movement.
It was church leaders who provided a steady supply of unfortunate victims over the decades. Moreover, the Evangelical Alliance itself endorsed conversion therapy in the aforementioned report on Transsexuality (2001), which, according to veteran trans rights campaigner Christine Burns, was primarily written by Tiller himself. The Alliance also published a list of Tiller’s recommendations for church leaders on its website.
As things stand, the top-down commitment to conversion therapy in one form or another is the foundational reason that evangelicalism is inaccessible and repulsive to so many trans people.
Given this dark and damning history, one has to wonder: can evangelical Christianity ever redeem itself?
A kinder evangelicalism?
Difficult thought it may be to believe, a slow change has been occurring in British evangelicalism’s views on sexual and gender diversity for some time. The change has not gone unnoticed by leading conservative evangelicals, who have themselves acknowledged that some of their fellow believers are becoming more accepting of trans people.
Sharon James, writing in the Evangelical Times in 2019, warned that:
many professing evangelicals now believe that personal experience is an authority alongside Scripture. Just as many evangelicals have, over the past fifty years, “accommodated” homosexuality, so now there is intense pressure to “accommodate” transsexuality.
Transformed also recognises that some evangelicals wish to address trans issues through a ‘diversity framework’ that values and affirms many different personal characteristics.
Some evangelical churches are already placing less emphasis on the whole issue of sexuality and gender, and given that the baseline is outright hostility, their declining interest is a perverse kind of progress.
In large part, the (admittedly glacial) change in attitudes is driven by the fact that evangelical pastors in today’s world are more likely to encounter trans people both in their daily lives and in their churches. The debate is experienced on a less abstract level when ‘a person standing in front of [them]’ asks for advice about gender identity. While the opportunities for doing damage are multiplied, so are the opportunities for learning.
Peter Lynas, a senior staff member at the Evangelical Alliance and author of Transformed, actively sought out groups of trans people to talk to during his research. This does not seem to have helped him overcome his deep-rooted preconceptions, but the acknowledgment that trans perspectives are worthy of attention is a good first step.
Moving forward, any evangelical leaders who genuinely want to foster a loving and affirming environment for trans and non-binary people must first accept, and be ready to apologise for, the movement’s appalling history of bigotry and violence towards LGBT+ communities. This is not easy, but letting go of one’s pride never is. Nor is unconditional love.
For trans people and their allies, on the other hand, the path forks in two directions. First, I suspect that the overwhelming majority of trans and non-binary people wouldn’t shed a tear if evangelical Christianity vanished completely, and perhaps believe that we should all do our part to take it down. That’s understandable.
But for those who want to help accelerate change in the evangelical movement — perhaps because loved ones are part of it — the best approach is arm’s-length engagement. Every conversation, pointless and tiring though it might seem, has the potential to nudge a person’s mind closer to the realisation that humanity (and creation) is more diverse than any scripture, divinely inspired or not, can ever fully describe.
