Culture Watch

A reader sent me a like the the following story

The Rev. Malcolm Himschoot may be the closest thing to a rock star in the world of Protestant ministry: young, brainy, charming, subject of a new documentary, recently married — and transgendered.

Now Himschoot, 27, is coming this summer not only to a theater near you, but also to a congregation: Plymouth Congregational Church in Minneapolis, where in August he begins a two-year appointment as outreach minister.

He’s one of only a few openly transgendered clergy members in the United States and may be the first to serve in the Twin Cities. The United Church of Christ (UCC), which ordained Himschoot, says it became the first mainline Christian denomination to ordain an openly transgendered minister a few years ago.

But that’s not why Plymouth leaders chose Himschoot over other highly qualified candidates, said the Rev. James Gertmenian, Plymouth’s senior minister.
Rev. Malcolm Himschoot and his wife

"It speaks to us of the self-insight and courage that he has, but it was not the driver in our decision," Gertmenian said. "He’s got exceptional academic credentials. … We were impressed he spent a year doing urban ministry in Denver, and he impressed us with the depth of his own spiritual vision."

Plymouth, an independent Congregational church, is a liberal congregation with 1,800 members that is known for its robust ministries in social justice and the arts. It’s the home of VocalEssence, the award-winning choral group founded and directed by Plymouth organist and choirmaster Philip Brunelle.

Really? A liberal congregation – I would never have guessed that.

Himschoot, a Colorado native, graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Amherst College in Amherst, Mass., and was student of the year at Iliff School of Theology in Denver. For the past year he has been associate pastor at Denver Inner City Parish, where he worked with students, seniors and ex-prisoners.

But he has drawn the most attention for "Call Me Malcolm," a documentary about his bodily change from a woman to a man and the cross-country trip he took to find support and acceptance. The film, produced by the UCC and directed by Joseph Parlagreco, won raves at recent film festivals in Los Angeles and Cleveland.

This is funny and sad at the same time. That psychiatric disorders are now accepted, that a deeply confused person is not told that they are confused, but affirmed in their disorder.

"If we didn’t have the courage to hire this young man, what did that say?"

An aspect of courage is telling the truth even when it will deeply hurt someone. This must be done with charity, but not doing it is a sin against charity. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them, of course sometimes a gender mulligan can be called. I wonder if this will be the next tactic of the women’s ordination movement kind of like Richard Raskind who became tennis star Dr. Renee Richards – except in the opposite direction.

Via Just One Minute comes the lie of the week.

WOODRUFF: Similarly, on the question of gay rights, aren’t Democrats always going to be on the defensive? You now have 11 states that ban gay marriage. Should Democrats think about changing their position?

CLINTON: Well, I don’t know many Democrats who support gay marriage. In fact, I don’t and haven’t for, you know, years before I became a senator. But I support giving people the right to enter into recognized relationships, that whether you call him civil unions or domestic partnerships, enable them to own property, to have hospital visitation. To me, that’s a human rights issue.