If all one read were these stories, it would appear that the Bible is unequivocal in its condemnation of gender expansiveness and that all of Christendom is unflinching in its interpretation of that scripture.
Nothing could be further from the truth. As scholars who have studied the Bible for decades, we believe transgender people—just like all people—are our sacred, precious, divinely cherished neighbors. There’s no reason that one narrow religious interpretation should be able to dictate policy and structure our community.
The author of Genesis writes that “male and female [God] created them” (1.27). While some point to this scripture as confirmation of a gender binary, others identify it as a rhetorical device known as a merism, used frequently throughout the Bible to describe an expansive concept.
The original bible was transphobic though. Since transphobia is bad, we should also agree the Bible is bad, rather than all this whitewashing to try and make god mutable and change to whatever the current morality is.
I’m an ex-evanglical turned athiest who was practically antitheist for many years, but… The older I get the more I realize how unimportant judging others beliefs is. I love and appreciate a group of folks who believe in God and the Bible but are also kind to trans people and defends their right to exist against the real religious bigots.