A transgender woman and pastor invites RD readers to join the Human Rights Campaign in advocacy for justice.
Rev. Erin K. Swenson
The Rev. Erin K. Swenson, Th.M., Ph.D., was ordained as Eric Karl Swenson in 1973 by the Presbytery of Atlanta, which was then a part of the southern Presbyterian Church in the United States. Twenty-three years later, after completing a gender transition from male to female, that ordination was sustained by the Presbytery of Greater Atlanta, PCUSA, making Swenson the first known mainstream Protestant minister to transition from male to female while remaining in ordained office. Swenson continues to practice active ministry as a pastoral psychotherapist in Atlanta’s Midtown section, working primarily with individuals and families with gender identity issues. She is past Co-moderator of the National Board of More Light Presbyterians, an organization devoted to the full participation of gay, lesbian, bisexual and A term used for someone whose gender is not (exclusively) the one they were assigned at birth. Learn more people of faith in the life, ministry and witness of the Presbyterian Church (USA), and has served as chair of the Health Ministries Committee and the Committee on Inclusion of the Presbytery of Greater Atlanta. In 1999 Swenson co-founded the Southern Association for Gender Education Inc., a non-profit organization devoted to educating institutions of higher learning, medical associations and practices and faith groups about diversity in gender expression and the place of gender in modern life. Swenson travels nationally presenting to conferences, churches, organizations, seminaries and universities.
