Being a pastor for trans people
"A trans person's story has some unique elements, but the work of pastoral care remains essentially the same."
Tracy Nolan, a minister in the United Church of Christ, works with trans young people as a pediatric chaplain at Advocate Children’s Hospital in Park Ridge, Illinois. She has also served at a drop-in ministry in Chicago for LGBTQ youth.
How would you differentiate between these terms—sex, gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation?
Sex is typically assigned to each individual at birth based on a set of biological characteristics, such as chromosomes, reproductive organs, and hormones. But these biological categories aren’t always clear. Some people are born with biological characteristics that don’t fit the boxes: external or internal organs, hormone sensitivities, genetics, or other characteristics that don’t fit neatly into the categories male and female. The term intersex is used for folks in this category.
