Dr. Cameron Partridge is the Episcopal chaplain at Boston University. He's also a transgender man. Today he will be the first openly transgender priest to preach from the Canterbury Pulpit at Washington's National Cathedral.
The service...part of the cathedral's celebration of LGBT Pride month, will be presided over by The Right Rev. Gene Robinson, the first openly gay Episcopal bishop, who says the service will include "readings and prayers from members of the LGBT community."
The Very Rev. Gary Hall, dean of the cathedral, says he hopes Partridge's appearance "will send a symbolic message in support of greater equality for the transgender community."
--AP
Cameron Partridge is a priest of great intellect, pastoral presence, and possesses a deep passion for the Gospel. We are excited for him to preach at the Cathedral.
--Rev. Hall
According to Religion News Service, Partridge lives outside Boston with his wife and two children.
After graduating from Harvard Divinity School, Partridge transitioned from female to male and was ordained as an Episcopal priest.
With so many changes taking place, there is still opposition from those in the Christian community. Transgender members are reported to still meet some hostility when entering the church or seeking membership. According to Chris Paige of Transfaith, a nonprofit organization focusing on the issues of faith and religion in the trans community, many transgendered members feel segregated or alone when walking into a church that still claims to be accepting of all walks of life. Paige is enthusiastic about the transgendered priest’s history making decision to provide a sermon and hopes that this will help bring light to the cause.
--Tyler Cole, Liberty Voice
Some heads on the right have exploded.
At Desiring God blog, theologian John Piper offered the following:
Is my sex determined by my decision in my mind, or by God's design in my nature?
Just as physical nature reveals the truth about God, so physical nature reveals truth about sexual identity.
Whom we should worship is not left to our preferences, and who we are sexually is not left to our preferences. Both are dictated by God's revelation in nature.
--John Piper
On the other side of the river, a vigil will be held in Fort Myers, FL for slain transwoman Yaz'min Shancez.
She loved walking into her stepmother's kitchen to find freshly made cakes. She loved macaroni and cheese. Loved the color black. And being surrounded by endless relatives at a family barbecue. She was known for borrowing her cousins' shoes. Styling her other cousin's hair. Arguing.
--Christeia Guerra, News-Press.com
Her body was found shot and burned behind a dumpster in an alleyway...exactly two years after her sister was found shot to death.
Yaz'min was also known as Miss T.
Nobody deserves that. Straight, gay, purple, pink, white, black. Nobody... There will never be another T, you couldn't clone her, couldn't mold her.
--Beatrice Loggins, Shancez's aunt
We don't know of any person who would do something like that to T. It's mind-boggling. You'd never think that would happen to your family.
--Jasmine Weaver, cousin
Yaz'min's body was discovered on Thursday. On Friday Fort Myers police mis-gendered her, referred to her by her birth name, and shared her arrest record. Police say they have yet to determine a cause of death and are not investigating the homicide as a hate crime.
We have no indication at this time to say this was specifically done because it was a male living as a female or anything like that. If you really think about it, a hate crime is killing someone for a specific reason, being black, Hispanic, gay. We’re investigating as we would any other homicide.
--Ft. Myers Police Lt. Jay Rodriguez
We didn’t hate him for what he was,. Still to this day I love him. I wish he was here right now.
--Harvey Loggins, victim's father
Yaz'min apparently began transition in 2004. She worked sporadically as a self-employed hair stylist.
...no one deserves to be violently murdered and set on fire and put behind a Dumpster.
Transgender women, particularly transgender women of color, face the most violence against them.
I think that transgender people are still marginalized and stigmatized in our society. We tend to talk about transgender people in a way that discounts their experience and makes them a butt of a joke or deviant or suspicious and doesn’t take (their) whole life into account.
--Ross Murray, GLAAD
The Southwest Florida Equality Coalition will be holding a vigil at 7:30pm this evening at Centennial Park in Fort Myers.