By Gregory Coles – The Center for Faith, Sexuality & Gender – Pastoral Paper 11
As Christians, what pronouns should we use when we speak about transgender people? Do we listen to how our transgender friends and colleagues identify themselves as “he,” “she,” “they,” or even a recently minted pronoun like “ze,” and then adjust our language accordingly? Or is there a biblical mandate, a divinely dictated relationship between sex and gender and pronoun use, that supersedes individuals’ self-identification?
I’ll argue in this paper that the most biblical response to transgender people’s pronouns is a posture of unequivocal pronoun hospitality. That is, I believe that all Christians can and should use pronouns that reflect the expressed gender identities of transgender people, regardless of our views about gender identity ethics. If a person identifies herself to you as “she,” I hope you will consider it an act of Christ-like love to call her “she” out of respect, whether or not you believe that the way she expresses her gender identity is honoring to God.
Read the Article: https://www.centerforfaith.com/resources