A Letter About Pronouns

To the teacher who believes that using preferred pronouns "will defile the holy image of God":

Dear Mr. Cross,

You state in your lawsuit against your school system that “[you] will not affirm that a biological boy can be a girl and vice versa because it is against [your] religion.” I am assuming by “your religion” you mean Christianity, and as a Christian, I gotta call a big steaming pile of BS on you.

You might not be comfortable with it. You might believe that gender dysphoria is nothing more than a problem that can be solved with prayer. You may think it’s disgusting and wrong. But let’s be clear. There is NOTHING in the bible that says gender dysphoria is a sin. But there are lots of things written in the bible that tell us that God made us to be exactly who we are.

Take Psalm 139, for example. The psalmist says “you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made…” Do you think that you get to choose who is excluded from being wonderfully made? 

And what about the beginning of Ephesians 2:10 (my favorite verse in all of scripture)? “For we are God’s workmanship…” Are we not all God’s workmanship? Are some people excluded because they were made differently than you? Does God create a piece of art and then discard it because it’s not good enough? I certainly don’t think so.

God made me a straight woman – I’m guessing you’re okay with that because it fits into your view of what is “right.” But God made trans and gay and all LBGTQ women and men as well. God doesn’t make mistakes. All of us are wonderfully made, indescribably magnificent in our own way, created by a God that cherishes us no matter our sexual preference or preferred pronoun. I for one am thankful that we live in a time where people can live the lives that they were born to live, not one that is censored by two thousand years of (mostly) men who thought they were the only ones who get to decide what God wants.

In the end, I hope we all remember that Jesus gave us only two rules: love God and love others. Loving others includes accepting those who are different than you and not assuming that their differences make them wrong in God’s eyes. You don’t have God’s eyes, so you don’t get to speak for Him. 

Tell your own truth for what it is—bias and fear. Don’t disguise it as Christian thinking because it isn’t. 

I wish you no ill will, but I hope you lose your lawsuit. 

Sincerely,

Maryann Lozano