Openly transgender minister ordained @ First United Lutheran Church in San Francisco

First United Lutheran Church in San Francisco, the first Lutheran church to ordain an openly LGBT pastor in the 1990s, recently welcomed a new queer member of the ministry. Jay Wilson, now one of the few openly transgender pastors in San Francisco, was ordained by Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries and installed as a pastor at First United last month.

First United became a refuge for LGBT pastors after the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America decided in 1989 that all openly gay and lesbian clergy must live celibate lives or be expelled from the ministry. The First United church was itself expelled from the ELCA in 1995 for ordaining openly gay pastor Jay Johnson shortly after the denomination's ruling on celibacy. 

Wilson's December 6 installation celebrated the unique perspective he would bring to his pastoral work. Wilson will be working with the homeless and the disabled as well as offering education around gender identity in his pastoral role at First United.

"Jay helped 36 people get into housing since April," said pastor Megan Rohrer, who officiated the ordination and installation. Wilson began his pastoral work with the homeless several months before his ordination.

"It felt hopeful to be ordained, and a bit overwhelming, too," Wilson said in an e-mail interview with the Bay Area Reporter after his ordination and installation.

Wilson, who has Asperger syndrome, prefers to offer such counseling in one-on-one sessions. The ceremony included a number of accommodations for his disability. Red ribbons, strung from the balcony at the back of the sanctuary to the pulpit, were used to approximate the traditional laying on of hands near the close of the ceremony. Attendees held the length of the ribbons, and Wilson held the end, a moment of connection without the physical touching that would have caused Wilson discomfort.

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