Transhood – May

What We Will Become – A Mother, a Son, and a Journey of Transformation By Mimi Lemay (Mariner Books)

A mother’s memoir of her transgender child’s odyssey, and her journey outside the boundaries of the faith and culture that shaped her. From the age of two-and-a-half, Jacob, born “Em,” adamantly told his family he was a boy. While his mother Mimi struggled to understand and come to terms with the fact that her child may be transgender, she experienced a sense of déjà vu—the journey to uncover the source of her child’s inner turmoil unearthed ghosts from Mimi’s past and her own struggle to live an authentic life.    

Take Back the Word | A Queer Reading of the Bible edited by Robert E. Goss and Mona West (Pilgrim Press)

Perhaps the most revolutionary contribution of Take Back the Word is its presentation of resistant practices of reading the Bible that challenge oppressive applications of Scripture to “clobber” queer folx. If lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender, non gender conforming, and questioning people are to take back the word of Scripture for themselves, they must take it back in a new way. Essays examine queer strategies for reading, queer ethical models from the Hebrew Scriptures, and queer good news stories from the Christian Scriptures. An impressive assembly of contributors bring their wisdom to the work of taking back the Word, including Justin Tanis.

How to They/Them – A Visual Guide to Nonbinary Pronouns and the World of Gender Fluidity By Stuart Getty, Illustrated by Brooke Thyng (Sasquatch Books)

What does nonbinary really mean? What is gender nonconforming? And isn’t they a plural pronoun? In this charming and disarming guide, a real-life they-using genderqueer writer unpacks all your burning questions in a fun, visual way. No soapboxes or divisive comment-section wars here! Sometimes funny, sometimes serious, always human, this gender-friendly primer will get you up to speed. It’s about more than just bathrooms and pronouns–this is about gender expression and the freedom to choose how to identify. While they might only be for some, that freedom is for everyone!

Beyond a Binary God – A Theology for Trans* Allies by Tara K. Soughers (Church Publishing)

All are made in the image and likeness of God. If this is what we believe, then trans people, like all people, reflect something of God, and not just in the ways that they share in common with others, but also in the ways that they are different. They remind us that God is beyond all of our categories, even gender. In this book, Tara Soughers explores theology from the position of a trans ally—a parent of a trans young adult as well as priest. What does it mean about God and about humans, that there is not a strict gender binary? How can we affirm and include what we have learned about the permeability of boundaries to affirm those whose path does not follow traditional cultural stereotypes, and how might the broadening help us to understand the God who is never two for Christians, but both one and three? What gifts does this broader understanding bring to the church? (An EfM Interlude selection.)

Radical Love – An Introduction to Queer Theology by Patrick S. Cheng (Church Publishing)

Contextual theologies have developed from a number of perspectives—including feminist theology, black theology, womanist theology, Latin American liberation theology, and Asian American theology—and a wide variety of academic and general introductions exist to examine each one. However, Radical Love is the first introductory textbook on the subject of queer theology. In this lucid and compelling introduction, Cheng provides a historical survey of how queer theology has developed from the 1950s to today and then explicates the themes of queer theology using the ecumenical creeds as a general framework. Topics include revelation, God, Trinity, creation, Jesus Christ, atonement, sin, grace, Holy Spirit, church, sacraments, and last things, as seen through the lenses of LGBT theologians.

Outlove – A Queer Christian Survival Story by Julie Rodgers (Broadleaf Books)

After decades of bouncing between hope and despair, Evangelical, Baptist-raised Julie Rodgers found herself making a powerful public statement that her former self would have never said: “I support same-sex marriage in the church.” Outlove is about love and losses, political and religious power-plays, and the cost to those who sought to stay in a faith community that wouldn’t accept them. Shedding light on the debate between Evangelical Christians and the LGBTQ community–a battle that continues to rage on in the national news and in courtrooms across the country–this book ultimately casts a hopeful vision for how the church can heal.

To Survive on this Shore (website) – Photographs and Interviews with Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Older Adults

Representations of older transgender people are nearly absent from our culture and those that do exist are often one-dimensional. For over five years, photographer Jess T. Dugan and social worker Vanessa Fabbre traveled throughout the United States creating To Survive on This Shore: Photographs and Interviews with Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Older Adults. Seeking subjects whose lived experiences exist within the complex intersections of gender identity, age, race, ethnicity, sexuality, socioeconomic class, and geographic location, they traveled from coast to coast, to big cities and small towns, documenting the life stories of this important but largely underrepresented group of older adults.