I'm not particularly religious. I was raised Lutheran but have drifted towards Taoism as an adult. The words sing to me.

But I know religion plays a very important part in the lives of some, while others are offended by a mere scent of it.

Austen Hartke is a trans Christian After recently attending the Gay Christian Network Conference in Houston, Austen wrote an article for Sojourners: 7 Things the Transgender People in Your Congregation Wish You Knew

1. We exist.

And we’re already a part of your church! Whether you know us, it’s very likely that there’s a transgender person in your congregation. This likelihood, of course, increases with the size of each community, but with transgender people numbering about .3 percent of the U.S. population — or, three in every thousand people — even a fairly small church has a good chance of including a trans person. And no, we don’t all look like Caitlyn Jenner. Some of us do dress or present in ways that you may read as definitively transgender, but others don’t, and the reality is that there’s no real way to know without asking someone directly.

2. We're human, and in many ways just like you.

It may seem obvious to assert that transgender folks are human, but unfortunately recent politics has come to see us as more of an “issue” than a group of thinking, feeling, individual people...Granted, many of our plans for the day include things like “don’t get yelled at for just trying to use the toilet in a public bathroom and our hobbies may include working for the rights of transgender detainees stuck in the immigration system...but at the end of the night, those of us lucky enough to go to sleep with a roof over our head still dream, just like you do.

3. We're waiting to see if you'll make space for us.

Despite being more like most people in our congregations than we are different, there are still several things that churches can do to intentionally welcome trans folks into the community.

4. We’re NOT waiting for you to tell us we’re OK.

There’s a big difference between being supportive and being patronizing.

5. We're diverse.

As they say in the community: once you’ve met one trans person … you’ve met one trans person.

6. We long to lead share, give and love in community.

And speaking of a rich life, trans Christians are just bursting with skills and blessings that we’d love to share with our churches. From those of us who go to seminary or Bible college hoping to be ordained, to those with financial skills who would be happy to take a turn passing the plate, to the many talented musicians and artists who would love to perform during worship — we all have something to give. If your church has rules that prevent this, now might be a good time to start asking why.

7. We can't answer all your questions but we're almost always happy to share resources.

We all know how it feels to get caught in conversation after the service by a friend who wants to talk about that one thing you were hoping to avoid. Trans people often experience this feeling of being buttonholed into trying to explain everything about being trans to someone who has wonderful intentions, but who may be just a bit too invasive.

Austen has a youtube site under the pseudonym AustenLionheart if you would like to know more.