[Subject line from "Reflection," a song in Mulan performed at this morning's church service.]

An excellent service this morning -- the sermon was "Beyond Male and Female," delivered by Gail Seavey and Holling Smith-Borne. It covered an impressive range of ground, including reasons people do(n't) come out as transgender, the bureaucratic nightmares that too frequently beset someone whose birth gender does not match their current identification, the stupid things people say (to paraphrase, "I can assure you that anyone who has gotten to the point of discussing a transition or coming out has already thought long and hard about all of their other alternatives, so telling them they need to think more about it is basically insulting"), and luck (again paraphrasing: "Because I was a girl, I was steered towards playing piano, which in turn became my ticket out of my hometown"). Compelling stuff, with humor laced throughout; I'll link to the podcast and/or text once it's up.

The service texts included an excerpt from Kate Bornstein's My Gender Workbook. The order of service included a "Transgender Glossary of Terms" (obtained from GLAAD). A woman lit a candle in celebration, saying that she had been waiting 25 years for a service like this.

For interested locals: my church is offering an adult religious education class called "Understanding the 'T' in LGBT"; it's free, open to the public, and starts this Wednesday. Details here.