elcome to the Joann Prinzivalli website's Religion and Morality Page. This page is intended to provide information and links that deal with the religious and moral issues that affect crossdressers, transgendered and transsexual people. The statue next to me in the picture at your left is reputed to be a young, beardless Jesus as the Good Shepherd. I would look carefully at the outfit!

NEW!added 8/18/2003: Joann Prinzivalli comments on the Roman Catholic Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith's document against gender neutral marriage: Commentary on CONSIDERATIONS REGARDING PROPOSALS TO GIVE LEGAL RECOGNITION TO UNIONS BETWEEN HOMOSEXUAL PERSONS

In Cross Dressing and Deuteronomy 22:5, Rabbi John Jay Tilsen discusses the views of rabbinical scholars on the subject of crossdressing.

Pastor Calise of Spokesman for Jesus Ministries has a website devoted to a ministry to the transgendered.

My friend Ruth ("A Nice Jewish Girl") has a wonderful website, and much of it deals with the issue. Her page on Deuteronomy 22:5 says a lot.

Karen Ann Taylor discusses the issue from a Christian point of view in Cross-Dressing and Christianity.

Another Christian viewpoint comes from Patricia Marie Allen, in her Religion Pages.

A church that has a mission to the transgendered is The New American Christian Church. This church is based in Los Angeles.

If anyone has a link for other religious views relating to crossdressing, please drop me a line at joann_percy@hotmail.com with the link! (Pagans, Wiccans, Priests of Cybele, whatever! I don't think this page has to be strictly Judeo-Christian!))

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Reaping the Whirlwind

I attended a public hearing at the chambers of the County Legislature of Westchester County, New York, on Monday, February 22, 1999. There were over 200 people present, many of them present to speak on one of two issues.

The first was a proposal before the legislature euphemistically referred to as the "Women's Right of Access to Health Care" bill. This is a bill to penalize people who protest in front of abortion clinics. The other proposal was one to establish a County Human Rights Commission and broadly prohibit discrimination in such a way as to be inclusive of gays, lesbians and transgendered people.

I was there for the latter public hearing.

Many speakers, identifying themselves as Roman Catholic, spoke out against the health care bill, citing their first amendment rights as being violated by the proposal.

But when it came to tolerance for persons who are different, many of these same people also spoke against a human rights bill that would protect the gays and lesbians (and two even spoke against the transgendered inclusion).

It made me almost ashamed to be a Catholic Christian! Where is the tolerance? Christ said, "Hate the sin but love the sinner." Assuming that one believes that homosexuality is sinful, that "sin" is a private thing between the sinner and God. It is not appropriate for persons of faith to spend their time seeking to cast out the mote of sawdust in the eye of another, when there are redwoods in their own eyes!

The intolerance and bigotry openly displayed by these people with impunity during the public hearing, is alone a testament to the need for protective laws for gays, lesbians, bisexuals and CD/TG/TS folk.

Among the speakers, and one of the two who focused on being anti-Transgender, was Dr. Catherine Hickey, the Schools Chancellor for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York. Dr. Hickey is a bright woman and an excellent speaker. She lectured the legislature during her five minute talk, referring derogatorily to the proposal's definition of gender as "creative writing" and then boldly averred, "Everyone knows that there are only two genders, male and female!"

At that point I realized that I was looking at one of those people whose ignorance about gender issues has her denying my existence in one fell swoop!

Needless to say, she was also unhappy about giving protection to gays and lesbians.

When I was listening to the abortion protesters crying for their rights, and then turning around to damn the GLBT group, I was reminded of the following parable:

(Mt. 18:23-35)

That is why the reign of God may be said to be like a king who decided to settle accounts with his officials. When he began his auditing, one was brought to him who owed him a huge amount. As he had no way of paying it, his master ordered him to be sold along with his wife, his children, and all his property, in payment of the debt.

At that the official prostrated himself in homage and said, "My Lord, be patient with me and I will pay you back in full."

Moved with pity, the master let the official go and wrote off the debt. But when that same official went out he met a fellow servant who owed himn a mere fraction of what he himself owed. He seized him and throttled him. "Pay back what you owe," he demanded. His fellow servant dropped to his knees and began to plead with him, "Just give me time and I will pay you back in full." But he would hear none of it. Instead, he had him put in jail until he paid back what he owed.

When his fellow servants saw what happened they were badly shaken, and went to their master and reported the whole incident.

His master sent for him and said, "You worthless wretch! I canceled your entire debt when you pleaded with me. Should you not have dealt mercifully with your fellow servant, as I dealt with you?"

Then in anger the master handed him over to the torturers until he paid back all that he owed.

My heavenly Father will treat you in exactly the same way unless each of you forgives his brother from his heart.