Growing up as a Catholic, I was told to love and accept everyone, but I didn’t see it being carried out by the church. There were always caveats, and eventually I found them so hypocritical I stopped practicing. I never really found another formal faith, and I’m fine with this. I believe that there is a god, and whoever or whatever it is, I know in my bones that god has the unconditional love and acceptance the Catholic church always preached to me. What I find fascinating is that other Christian denominations can swing so violently the other way.
Although there are some who have an uncomfortable amount of hatred baked into their religious practices, others lead with love. A pastor at an upstate New York United Methodist church felt comfortable enough to tell their congregation who they really are.
Standing on the pulpit in a rainbow stole, the Rev. Phillip Phanuef, 51, who now uses the name Phillipa, announced to their Sunday congregation that they would be transitioning from a man into a woman.
“I am giving up pretending to be a man,” they boldly claimed, according to the New York Post. “I’m affirming to all of you that I am transgender. The best way to put this is that I’m not becoming a woman, I’m giving up pretending to be a man. This is a process, and it may be shocking for some as to what this all means,” Phaneuf preached in footage of the service held where they made their announcement.
“I’m in the category of what they call asexual,” Phaneuf openly continued. “I’ve been that way since we’ve all been together, in that I am not living my life in a way that involves looking for romance.”
Phanuef continued to let everyone in the church know that they had been privately taking hormone replacement therapy and wanted to let their congregation know that their appearance would be changing.
Heartbreakingly, they also shared that they would not have the support of their parents, who asked the pastor to let the congregation know that they would be choosing their convictions over their child.
The comments in the video shared by the Post were mostly full of transphobic remarks, so they do not bear repeating, in my opinion. I truly hope that Phillipa is respected and loved by their congregation and that they all remember that their church made this possible in 2024.
In its 2024 statement on human sexuality, the United Methodist Church wrote: “The United Methodist Church affirms human sexuality ‘as a sacred gift and acknowledge that sexual intimacy contributes to fostering the emotional, spiritual, and physical well-being of individuals and to nurturing healthy sexual relationships that are grounded in love, care and respect.’ (2024 Book of Discipline, Paragraph 162.C). This applies to all persons, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.”
It also goes on to explain that marriage is a consensual bond between two of-age adults, nothing that two people may join in union regardless of sexual identify or gender identity.
