Is God Transgender?
In
the 1970s a cousin of mine, Paula Grossman, became one of the first
people in America to undergo sex-reassignment surgery. As Paul Monroe
Grossman, Cousin Paula had been a beloved music teacher in New Jersey.
She was fired after her surgery, and she subsequently lost her lawsuit
for wrongful termination based on sex discrimination (though a court did rule
that she could receive a disability pension). The story was all over
the news back then; I’d like to think it would have ended differently
today.
Forty
years after the Supreme Court refused to hear Paula’s appeal in 1976,
the transgender story is still unfolding. This month, a transgender high
school student in Virginia lost the right to use the restroom of his
choice when the Supreme Court temporarily blocked
a lower court’s order. Still, for the first time it is possible to
imagine a ruling from a fully seated Supreme Court to comprehensively
outlaw discrimination against transgender people. There is real reason
to be hopeful, even if social prejudices don’t disappear overnight.
I’m
a rabbi, and so I’m particularly saddened whenever religious arguments
are brought in to defend social prejudices — as they often are in the
discussion about transgender rights. In fact, the Hebrew Bible, when
read in its original language, offers a highly elastic view of gender.
And I do mean highly elastic: In Genesis 3:12, Eve is referred
to as “he.” In Genesis 9:21, after the flood, Noah repairs to “her”
tent. Genesis 24:16 refers to Rebecca as a “young man.” And Genesis 1:27
refers to Adam as “them.”
Surprising,
I know. And there are many other, even more vivid examples: In Esther
2:7, Mordecai is pictured as nursing his niece Esther. In a similar way,
in Isaiah 49:23, the future kings of Israel are prophesied to be
“nursing kings.” NYTimes
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