Counseling Commons^™

Transgender People’S Reflections On Identity, Faith, And Christian Faith Communities In The U.S., Kristen Benson, Eli Westerfield, Bradley Van Eeden-Moorefield

Department of Family Science and Human Development Scholarship and Creative Works

Relational therapists have limited access to resources and information about transgender people’s faith beliefs and experiences in Christian communities of faith, which is largely absent from the professional literature. The purpose of this article is to examine the Christian religious and spiritual experiences of transgender people located in the U.S. Seven self-identified transgender people participated in in-depth interviews. Results of the study indicated that participants had various experiences in faith communities, with both supportive and discriminatory responses from others. The results also suggest that participants maintained their faith beliefs even when they experience rejection from faith communities. Moreover, participants reported …