Queer and trans folks wonder why I stay in a church that has done so much harm to my community over the centuries. Depending on my relationship with the person asking and my mood, sometimes I’m witty: “I stay because I’m stubborn.” Sometimes I answer: “I don’t know why I stay, because it’s exhausting.”

In my heart of hearts, my answer is this: I stay because I find meaning in this Jesus story. There is something so captivating about Jesus, God taking on human flesh. Jesus who cares about and centers the marginalized, Jesus who heals the sick and makes really good wine, Jesus who hangs out with all of the freaks, Jesus who speaks truth to power. Jesus who is executed by both religious and political power. Jesus who defies even the authority of nature to be resurrected. More than that, I also find meaning in the way these Jesus stories have been passed down. How people have struggled to make sense of them and to find themselves in the larger Christian story. How people have continually read the stories of Jesus in light of their own lived experiences and found a connection to the Divine and to one another. From liberation theology in Latin America to Black theology, to feminist theology and womanist theology, to queer theology and now to trans theology. I am part of a lineage of people who are trying to find themselves in this story.

I stay because no one owns the story. No one gets to say that I don’t belong in this church, in this tradition, in this faith. No one has the power to kick me out; what God has joined together, let no one separate. I stay because this tradition is mine, too.

(Kearns, Shannon T. L.. In the Margins: A Transgender Man's Journey with Scripture (pp. 205-206). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.. Kindle Edition)