Clerics step up, offer phone support to trans, queer youth

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This article was published 26/09/2023 (1106 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

For Misha, a trans woman who lives in Winnipeg, the last couple of weeks have been very hard.

“This has been a very difficult time for a lot of queer and trans people,” she said.

Manitoba’s Progressive Conservatives have promised to expand parental rights over what their kids learn in school if the party is re-elected in next week’s provincial election. The pledge followed heated debates last spring over the possibility of book bans in some school districts.

Outside the legislature last week, hundreds Manitobans took part in a coast-to-coast “1 Million March 4 Children” protests against LGBTTQ+ inclusive education and sex-ed policies in public schools across the country. They were met by counter-protesters, and, as tensions rose, the two groups had to be separated by police.

Four days later, more than 1,000 people attended a rally outside the Canadian Museum for Human Rights for trans youth, advocating for the use of neutral pronouns, gender ideology and mixed bathrooms in schools.

For that reason, Misha, 27, who prefers not to use her last name, is glad to see local clergy stepping up to provide a telephone support and care service for queer and trans youth and young adults who, like her, might be struggling these days.

“It’s quite important to know there’s someone who cares and who wants to check in on us,” she said. “Someone who doesn’t dismiss you or your identity, who is providing a pastoral service.”

Such a service is especially important for queer and trans youth who are part of churches that don’t support them or preach against their identities, added Misha, who grew up in a church-going family and goes to church “on and off” these days herself.

“I hope this can be a place where people can find some hope,” she said, praising the clergy for “doing something to create a safe space.”

The idea for that telephone service came from Jane Barter, an Anglican priest and professor in the department of religion and culture at the University of Winnipeg.

Barter was watching the march last week and all she could think about was “all of all the queer and trans kids needing support,” she said.

She reached out to two Anglican priest friends about a support line for youth who needed someone to talk to. “They thought it was a good idea,” Barter said.

She then approached the Diocese of Rupert’s Land for funding for a co-ordinator to manage the service. Simon Blaikie, executive archdeacon for the diocese, was immediately onboard.

“Finding ways to help the most vulnerable people in our communities is of particular importance to the Anglican Christians in Winnipeg and the surrounding communities,” he said.

The service, he added, could be a “lifeline to those who are living in a perpetual state of fear and despondency… through this initiative we are attempting in a small way to honour the dignity of every human being.”

The phone line began operating Monday and runs from 8 a.m.-midnight. The co-ordinator receives and vets the calls, then passes them on to local clergy who volunteer for four-hour shifts to talk to people in need of support.

“We wanted clergy because they are trained in pastoral care,” said Barter.

To date, 26 clerics from Anglican, Lutheran, United and Mennonite churches have signed up to be available to talk to queer and trans youth. One of them is Zsófi Schmiedge, the minister at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in River Heights.

Offering this kind of service “is near and dear to my heart as a queer and bisexual person,” she said.

Schmiedge, who came out as an adult, knows what it’s like not to have a safe place to talk. “Church didn’t feel like a safe space then,” she said.

Having had a minister to talk to would have been helpful, she said. “There’s a lot of conflicting stuff going on, a sorting out of life. It’s important for people to be heard, seen and to know they are loved for who they are,” she noted.

David Driedger, part of the ministerial team at First Mennonite Church, has also signed up.

“Many LGBTTQ+ folks do not have a spiritual community in which to process what they are experiencing in their faith,” he said. “It seems important for people from affirming congregations to step up where they can.”

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For those providing the service, it’s also a way to show queer and trans people that some churches care about them.

Christianity has “a dismal record” when it comes to the LGBTTQ+ community, Barter said. “We want to present another face of the church.”

The service is operating for a two-week pilot project to “get people through the immediate crisis,” she said, adding it could become a long-term operation if the need is there.

Queer and trans people who want to talk to a minister can call 431-275-5079.

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John Longhurst
Faith columnist & reporter

John Longhurst has been writing for Winnipeg's faith pages since 2003. He also writes for Religion News Service in the U.S., and blogs about the media, marketing and communications at Making the News.

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