In case you missed the controversy, Easter Sunday and Transgender Day of Visibility fell on the same day this year. Oh, the horrors!
Conservative evangelicals — many of whom who believe transgender identity is not a real thing — saw this as an evil attempt to take attention away from the highest holy day of Christianity. But before you get your unmentionables in a knot, remember that Easter is a moveable feast on the church calendar. It does not fall on the same calendar date from year to year.
Mark Wingfield
Transgender Day of Visibility, however, is now a fixed date. And this is more likely where the real objection arises. Although 15 years old, the trans awareness day got a permanent date by presidential proclamation in 2021. By President Joe Biden. So it must be part of some evil persecution of the true faith.
The fact that this day of awareness for one of the most misunderstood and persecuted people groups of our day happens to fall on Easter this one year does not undermine the Christian faith. For some of us, it actually illustrates the message of resurrection and new life.
Too many Christians are so convinced of their own made-up persecution that they’re always looking for some new thing to be offended by. This is another nonsensical controversy made up by people who go out of their way to be ungracious to people who are not like them.
Two things can be true at the same time. It can be Easter and Transgender Day of Visibility on the same day. Just as my wife’s April birthday sometimes falls on Easter Sunday. That doesn’t lessen the beauty of Easter or of her birthday.
“These objections are not about celebrating the Christian faith; they are about excluding the transgender community from the Christian faith.”
These objections are not about celebrating the Christian faith; they are about excluding the transgender community from the Christian faith. I’ve written at length before about why that’s wrong, so I won’t rehash that here.
Many of my transgender friends saw in Easter this year a way to speak of their own resurrection to new life by becoming who they are sure God made them to be. Their testimonies are beautiful and inspiring.
Here’s how I spent this day: I went to church, taught my Bible study class on hope as a great theme of the Bible, participated in worship with glorious songs and sermon, then got to serve as an angel for a transgender friend in need. Someone who manages a charitable foundation approached me about serving as an intermediary to deliver a check to this transgender friend, and it just so happened that today was the day we could make that happen.
So after Easter worship, I stood in the church parking lot and hugged and cried with my friend as I did my duty to pass along a much-needed financial lifeline because no one will hire my talented and highly experienced transgender friend. Even a major company in our city that is known for its inclusionary policies disappointed because the hiring manager in a particular division is an evangelical Christian who wouldn’t hire a transgender woman. That’s real persecution.
What this gift meant for my friend today is that she was seen. She was made visible. That’s an Easter miracle I’ll remember for years to come.
Mark Wingfield serves as executive director and publisher of Baptist News Global. He is the author of Honestly: Telling the Truth About the Bible and Ourselves and Why Churches Need to Talk About Sexuality.
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Why being transgender is not a sin | Opinion by Mark Wingfield