‘We are an open network of Evangelical Christians who believe the time has come to move towards the acceptance of faithful, loving same-sex partnerships at every level of church life, and the development of a positive Christian ethic for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.’

That is the purpose statement for Accepting Evangelicals.

But although we have been campaigning for almost 10 years on LG&B issues, we have said very little on T – Transgender issues.

The reason for that is partly the task of identifying someone from the Trans community who would like to join us in our work, and partly comes from the fact that for some Evangelicals, Trans issues are even more difficult to engage with than Gay issues.  If we are to actively talk about T, we need to do it well in a way which will help conversations, rather than alienate.

So we are delighted to have found Elaine Sommers – a Trans person with a strong Evangelical background who has agreed to join our Steering Group.

As a result, we will be developing a Trans section to our website over the next few months as a resource for and everyone who wants to understand better the issues which we need to face in the Church.

Next Monday, Elaine is going to be a Keynote Speaker at a conference in Taunton, Somerset entitled ‘Transformational Conversations’.  The aim of the day is ‘To provide an open and safe environment for people from LGB and Trans communities and religious and belief communities to come together and explore issues of identity and understanding.’

If you want to know more or want to register, follow this link: http://www.equalitysouthwest.org.uk/events/view/94

Otherwise watch this space…