wfn.org | Greater Atlanta Presbytery Retains Member after Sex Change

[PCUSA.NEWS@ecunet.org]

11-November-1996 
 
 
96443          Greater Atlanta Presbytery Retains  
                     Member after Sex Change 
 
                          by Tracy Early 
                  Ecumenical News International 
 
ATLANTA--Greater Atlanta Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has 
voted that a minister ordained as a man can retain ordination after a 
sex-change operation. It is believed to be the world's first case of a 
mainstream church body giving such official recognition to a transsexual. 
 
     The matter became an issue for the church when Eric Swenson, a 
49-year-old father of two adult daughters, asked for a change of name -- to 
Erin -- in church records. Swenson had undergone a sex change. 
 
     After considering the situation for a year and debating it at a 
meeting on October 22, the presbytery voted 186 to 161 that Swenson could 
retain her ordination. 
 
     The case received national publicity through an article in the 
November 4 issue of "Newsweek" magazine. Contacted by ENI, Swenson 
confirmed the accuracy of the "Newsweek" account, but declined to comment 
further. 
 
     "Newsweek" quoted Swenson as saying: "I'm no she-male or drag queen, 
and I don't want to fight society. But I have as much right as anyone to 
practice my livelihood." 
 
     Anne Sayre, the presbytery's associate for justice and women, told ENI 
that the presbytery had a "very hard struggle," but decided it had "no 
grounds either theologically or morally" for revoking the ordination. She 
said another Georgia presbytery, Cherokee, had been confronted with a 
similar situation. 
 
     Swenson does not serve a congregation, but for the past 12 years has 
conducted a private marriage-counseling service.  Previous jobs held by 
Swenson include a position as instructor at the Candler School of Theology, 
a United Methodist seminary at Emory University in Atlanta. 
 
     Sayre said no one in the debate over Swenson quoted anything from 
church standards to prevent a minister from continuing in ordained work 
after a sex-change operation.  But one opponent said it violated the 
general requirement of maintaining "the peace and unity of the church." 
 
     Swenson's former wife and the wife's father, O. H. Lyon, himself a 
minister, supported the request for continued ordination status. "A wounded 
healer can be the best kind of minister," Lyon told the presbytery. 
 
     The Rev. Don Wade, pastor of Rehoboth Presbyterian Church in Atlanta, 
who voted against Swenson's request, told ENI that he would probably ask 
for reconsideration of the decision. "A lot of people in our presbytery are 
pretty upset," he said. "It was a very close vote, and there was no serious 
discussion of the theological issues." 
 
     He acknowledged that the denomination's "Book of Order" contained 
nothing on the subject.  But insisting that "this individual is a male," 
Wade said that "gender identity confusion" could be "healed by the power of 
the Spirit of God." A minister, especially one who has been a husband and 
father, should not try to resolve such struggles through a sex-change 
operation, Wade said. 

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