About this episode
Celeste Irwin shares her experiences of being transgender in Christian spaces and discusses the challenges and joys of her journey.
In this episode of the Untidy Faith Podcast, I sit down with Celeste Irwin for an honest conversation about what it’s like to be trans in Christian spaces—from childhood shame over “transy thoughts” with no language for them, to losing every friend when coming out, to discovering that transition feels like being literally raised to life. Celeste Irwin is a transgender, lesbian woman and a survivor of a spiritually abusive evangelical church network. She’s written in-depth about her experiences in that network, and she now writes and speaks about issues affecting transgender people, including queer inclusion in Christian spaces. Topics Covered * Why even as a child Celeste knew “this is the thing I can’t confess”—different from sins you talk about in small group, this was something that would “really mess stuff up” if she stared at it too long * The cost of exile like losing most friends when leaving evangelicalism, then losing the rest when coming out as trans * What churches miss without trans people: * Why queer exclusion is spiritual abuse * The three things Celeste is tired of saying but will say for us anyway: * How the movie Moana captures trans joy best Timestamps: 02:00…
People in this episode
Host: Kate Boyd
Guest: Celeste Irwin
Topics covered
- transgender experiences
- Christianity
- spiritual abuse
- queer inclusion
- friendship loss
- identity
Keywords
- transgender
- Christian
- spiritual abuse
- queer inclusion
- identity
- friendship loss
- Moana
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: evangelical church network
Books & works: Moana
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