US Protestant congregation hires transgender as pastor

Rev. Laura Bethany Buchleiter. Photo: Christianity Daily

North Anderson Community Church Presbyterian (PCUSA) in Anderson, South Carolina, called the Rev. Laura Bethany Buchleiter last month to lead their congregation as its stated supply pastor, reports Christian Post.

Earlier, in 2021, Buchleiter became the first trans-identifying person to be ordained by a Cooperative Baptist Fellowship-affiliated congregation in the state of Indiana. In one interview, he rejected claims that being transgender is incompatible with ordination. "I believe that to accept the complex expressions of gender we have seen throughout human history is not an affront to God's sovereignty, but a testimony to God's immense creativity," Buchleiter said at the time.

During an interview earlier this year on the "Gay With God" podcast, Buchleiter claimed his wife divorced him in part because of his trans identity, and discussed coming to terms with identifying as a lesbian because of continued attraction to women. The pastor chose his name deliberately: the name Laura symbolizes a laurel wreath of victory, while Bethany references the Gospel account of the resurrection of Lazarus.

"I was reading in the New Testament the story of Lazarus; Jesus calling Lazarus back from the grave. And it just says he came up to the town of Bethany, and that hit me," Buchleiter said. "So, yeah, Laura Bethany together is my victorious new life."

As the UOJ reported, a Catholic nun opened a transgender support group in a monastery.

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