Transgender pastor praised for inclusivity
There are transgender clergy members in the Lutheran, Methodist, Episcopal, and Presbyterian churches. (Getty)
Lutheran pastor Drew Stever is an ordained minister who’s created a very inclusive environment for his congregation – and he’s transgender.
Stever is a minister in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), which first ordained a transgender priest back in 2015.
He works at the Hope Lutheran church in Hollywood, California, and has ensured that the phrase “all are welcome” is not a platitude.
“I would say specifically to folks of color, to people living with disabilities, people who are LGBTQ+…you are good. Nothing is wrong with you. You are so good. And you don’t need the church to tell you that,” he told CBS News.
One of Stever’s congregants, Emma Halbert, praises him for his inclusivity: “Pastor Drew just brings such a light and life and just encapsulates everything we’ve always believed in in learning to really spread a message that is just love.”
Stever entered seminary school as a woman but in the summer of 2016, decided to transition as he could no longer deny who he was.
He said: “There was a moment where I woke up in the morning… and the words that came to my mind was ‘you don’t have to be angry anymore’. And I almost felt like God just took a snowball and just like threw it at my face.”
Stever grew up in Minnesota’s Twin Cities, where he was born and raised Lutheran but attended a Catholic school. He felt a lot of gender dysphoria as a kid, and felt angry about it.
“There were definitely times where I like, if I can’t exist in one way, I don’t want to exist at all. There were definitely periods where I thought I would just be better off not alive because I did feel a lot of pain,” Stever explained.
It was a teacher at his school that showed Stever that Christian theology can – and should be – accepting of everyone, which led to him becoming a pastor.
Though Stever had a positive experience with transitioning, with both his family and friends being very supportive of him, he began receiving hateful abuse online.
Stever lives with his partner Hazel and their three children, and says that their “safety” is his “top priority”.
It can be difficult being a transgender pastor, Stever said. He had a pride flag hanging outside his church but someone recently ripped it down and damaged it. Despite this, he is “not deterred by one person’s small worldview”.
