The Light in the Closet ministry points to a God who longs for us to be happy and whole, living freedom because of the Grace of God.
We believe that God has made a wonderfully diverse creation full of a beautiful variety of gender identities.
Gender identity is something different from sexual orientation. The usual biblical texts used against lesbian, gay, and bisexual people do not apply to issues of gender identity. A trans person may be heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual.
Trans Clobber Texts
Deuteronomy 22:5 is the only Biblical scripture relevant to issues of gender identity and it is a part of the levitical code of the Hebrew Bible, which also forbids things like eating shrimp or cheeseburgers; and wearing two different kinds of cloth simultaneously.
Meanwhile, Deuteronomy 23:1 is also cited to condemn male-to-female post-operative transsexuals. However, both history and the Bible (Isaiah 56:4-5; Acts 8:26-39; Matthew 19:12) have shown that eunuchs and castrati have been praised for their faithful service. We might also note that circumcision, an ancient Jewish practice, is itself a form of genital modification.
Frankly, other Christian arguments against gender variance stray far from the text.
Gender Variance in the Bible
The more wonderful and often overlooked question is to explore the amazing gender variance in the Bible. While it is inappropriate to superimpose modern understandings of sex and gender onto this ancient text, there are nonetheless many stories that celebrate people of diverse gender experiences and expressions.
Some Jewish middrash understand the original Adam as a bi-gender being, with Eve being the female half later seperated from Adam's "side."
Eunuchs are affirmed specifically by Jesus, but also appear throughout the scriptures (e.g. key roles in the book of Esther, the Ethiopian Eunuch in Acts, etc).
The man carrying a jug of water pointed Jesus' disciples to the Upper Room, but carrying water was the work of women and children in that time.
