Untying tongues: negotiations and innovations of faith and gender among Malaysian Christian trans men

ABSTRACT

Although Malaysian trans men experience discrimination and stigmatisation, their vicissitudes are under-documented. This article uncovers the negotiations and innovations of Malaysian Christian trans men in relation to their Christian faith. By using Constructivist Grounded Theory Methodology to analyse and interpret selected narratives of four Christian trans men, and building on Jason Cromwell’s theoretical insistence on meaningful self-representation of trans people by trans people, this article discloses how trans men reconfigure these beliefs to affirm their gender nonconformity through three major strategies. First, trans men engage in the meaning-making of faith through an intimate relationship with God/Christ or ascribe some fortuitous event to divine intervention. Second, those who experience the love of God/Christ embark on a self-appointed mission to educate and radiate love, namely to those who are antagonistic towards gender nonconformity. Third, some trans men deem it necessary to challenge official Christian approaches and attitudes that pertain to gender variance and sexual diversity.

KEYWORDS:

• Christianity
• gender
• Malaysia
• queer
• sexuality
• trans men

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Dorian Wilde, founder of Transmen of Malaysia (ToM). 2016. Interview by author. June 4. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

2. ‘Malaya’ is the pre-independence name of the federation of states that is now known as Malaysia, with the incorporation of Malaysian Borneo and exclusion of Singapore.

3. My research participants speak English with varying levels of proficiency. My research efforts are admittedly limited by my ability to converse fluently only in English and Malay.

4. Conversely, feminist, liberation, queer, black and Asian theologies seek to restore the significance of theology for the material world.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the School of Arts and Social Sciences, Monash University Malaysia [internal research grant].