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Transgender Pastor Celebrates Transition With Religious Ceremony

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Grace Carr Reporter
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Pastor Rose Beeson, who is in transition from woman to man, will take on the name “Peter” Sunday in a public ceremony at St. Matthew Trinity Lutheran Church in Hoboken, N.J.

Lutheran Bishop Tracie Bartholomew will oversee this “renaming ceremony” for the transgender pastor, according to The Jersey Journal.

“I support Pastor Beeson coming to the realization who he really is,” the bishop said, according to the newspaper.

Beeson has been transitioning since summer 2017. “I wrestled with sex and gender from my teens into my early 20s,” Beeson said, adding that she can now be “more honest and authentic and live what God is calling me to be.”

Her church community has been supportive of her gender transition.

“This a wonderful day in the life of this radically inclusive community,” said church member Mark Singleton, 21, in support of Beeson’s transition.

The renaming ceremony is most likely the first public announcement of a Lutheran transgender identity ceremony at a church anywhere in the state, The Jersey Journal reported. (RELATED: California Can Now Jail People For Misusing Gender Pronouns)

ALSO WATCH: Clarence Thomas on the importance of faith

An elementary school principal in Massachusetts also announced Tuesday that he will no longer be identifying as a male and will also be taking a new name. Stanley School principal Tom Daniels will now be known as “Shannon Daniels,” The Salem News reported.

In California, lawmakers passed the “LGBT Senior Bill Of Rights” in October, making it illegal to refer to someone with the wrong gender pronoun. The law’s effect is limited to nursing homes and other long-term care facilities, but mandates that those who “willfully and repeatedly” refuse “to use a transgender resident’s preferred name or pronouns” can be slapped with a $1,000 fine and up to one year in prison, according to the California Heath and Safety code.

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