Many religions take offence at transgender behaviour.  There is not much we can do about that except urge transgender people to stand firm in the face of bigotry.   However the religion at the heart of traditional Irish culture, Christianity, claims to be about love. 

We find it deeply ironic that quite a few people who claim to be followers of Jesus, who articulated the noblest of principles, somehow feel that being Christian gives them licence to depart further from those principles than ordinary un-pious people do.  Disturbingly, they are often encouraged to do so by their church leaders.  Right across the spectrum from Westboro Baptists to the Catholic Church, Christ’s message is becoming increasingly perverted by his so-called followers.  The 2nd Vatican Council gave brief hope to some, but unfortunately it has turned out to be no more than a mirage.

Rather than putting up with the hypocrites, sometimes it’s nice to be able to fight back.  Here is some ammunition:

The only direct reference to crossdressing in the Bible is this one:
"A woman must not wear men's clothing, nor a man wear women's clothing, for the Lord your God detests anyone who does this":  Deuteronomy 22:5

Deuteronomy is part of the Old Testament, which is officially the historical and religious context to the story of Christ.  Even according to the Church, the Old Testament should not to be taken as Gospel.  The Church acknowledges all of scripture as the writings of fallible men, selected and published by fallible men.  But the writers of the Old Testament weren't just fallible: Writing hundreds or even thousands of years before Christ, they were totally unaware of Christian principles.

Other prohibitions in the Old Testament include:
Lying about virginity: Deuteronomy 22:20-21
Having sex with a woman who is menstruating:  Leviticus 20:18
Mixing meat and dairy in a meal:  Exodus 23:19
Eating fat: Leviticus 3:17
Eating pork: Leviticus 11: 7-8
Eating aquatic creatures lacking fins or scales: Deuteronomy 14:9-10
Being a male who is not circumcised: Genesis 17:14
Performing any work on the Sabbath: Exodus 20:10
Manufacturing anointing oil: Exodus 30:33
Planting more than one kind of seed in a field: Leviticus 19:19

Jesus himself had this to say:
"This is my commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you":  John 15:12

Jesus also had particular distaste for church authorities who would try to invent more rules:
"But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people":  Matthew 23:13

There is one part of the New Testament (though not the Gospel) that appears unsupportive to us:  St. Paul, a law-and-order man of good Pharisee stock, repeatedly indicates that conformity with all social mores is required to show obedience to God.  In this age of personal empowerment, it's not a view that the Church likes to talk about very often.









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