HakunaHafada

You're right; I forget insurance is for the poor.

I feel like "mass-produced" is doing a lot of heavy lifting here. Also, insurance is going to be insane.

Malicious compliance at its best.

"There's no hate like Christian love" appeared a lot on Reddit.

OP might be able to find an affirming United Methodist church as well; the UMC recently voted to affirm LGBTQ+ clergy by a very large margin (90ish percent in favor).

To my knowledge, the Bible itself doesn't say much. The few notable exceptions are a few lines in Song of Solomon (specifically in regards to gendered expectations of who is saying what lines that could be seen as socially transgressive), and very few mentions of the Greek word malakoi. Malakoi referred to softness or effeminacy, but has been difficult to translate from the original context since there are so few uses of that specific word in the Bible.

That being said, Jennifer Wright Knust wrote a book called Unprotected Texts in which she demonstrates why the Bible should not be used as the measuring stick for sexual morality. Knust specifically calls out the Song of Solomon in regards to gendered expectations, though she doesn't spend a lot of time on that topic.

I'm glad you've brought up the "inbetweenness" argument within creation, such as night/twilight/dawn/dusk/day, etc. This spectrum between extremes, also called a "continuum", is talked about at length in Adrian Thatcher's Gender and Christian Ethics. This is a really fantastic book in my opinion, and really brought to light the theological legitimacy of gender expression.

Patrick Cheng, a queer pastor and theologian, wrote Radical Love: An Introduction to Queer Theology, which is another fantastic resource.

If you'll permit me to recommend a few more books about Queer Theology: Indecent Theology: Theological Perversions in Sex, Gender and Politics and The Queer God, both by Marcella Althaus-Reid. Althaus-Reid offers a unique perspective about sex and gender, specifically coming from an angle of liberation from oppressive forces, whether political or religious. And Susannah Cornwall wrote Constructive Theology and Gender Variance: Transformative Creatures, where she discusses trans* identities as a process of continual building and living in that identity.

All of these authors are Christians, and with the exception of Cheng, have taught (or still teaching) at various universities.

To summarize: the Bible itself doesn't say much, but there's far more sources of inspiration to the Christian faith than what is contained in the Bible. Various denominations recognize/do not recognize the legitimacy of those sources (which is also talked about in Thatcher's book).

High fantasy and futuristic sci-fi. I will accept and love this bastardization.

FOR THE GLORY OF THE SHIRE!

Watch the odd-numbered ones first, then the evens.

Salt, pepper, cumin, and paprika.

What a terrible day to be able to read.

Man, that's a lot of black hoodies.