"It's an honor to be trans" - Andy is a queer Quaker - a podcast by Avery Smith

Andy Thornton (they / he, age 23, England) is an autistic artist and scholar, excitingly gendered, and passionate about expanding our inclusion within faith spaces and queer spaces ever wider. They became a Christian at 16 before realizing they were bi and trans, and despite queerphobic messages from church leaders, Andy received only messages of affirmation from God. Thus their love for a sassy, queer Jesus grew, and they eventually found a home in Quakerism, with its radical equality of all ages and genders and emphasis on activism.

For a transcript of this episode, visit blessedarethebinarybreakers.com/podcast-archive.

Find Andy and his art and writing online:

@humansatsuma & @lesgetbetter on Instagram

medium.com/@andykt3 - blog

andythornton.work/ and behance.net/humansatsuma - art portfolios

Timestamps:

00:00 - 06:07 Avery rambles & introduces Andy

06:08 - 10:01 Andy talks about their art, how it interacts with their gender and emphasizes representation

10:02 - 17:10 How Andy came to Quakerism - interfaith, emphasis on activism, long support of gay rights, working on trans affirmation

17:11 - 25:40 Andy's family; "God is definitely queer"; "my non-binary gender is really holy"; Andy's journey from anti-queer churches to God's affirmation

25:41 - 32:25 Quaker's communalism, civil disobedience, vs. church hurt from "Hillsong churches" & "Instagram Christianity"

32:26 - 39:06 Bonding over being autistic, intersections with autism, transness, and activism + a queer and autistic, sassy Jesus

39:07 - 44:55 being excluded from others Jesus lovers because of being trans & relief of finding people like us; more on the journey to reconciling faith and gender, being a Stonewall person of faith

45:56 -  50:16 more on Quakers being interfaith, 3 pillars of Quakerism

50:17 - 55:00 wrapping up: you are enough, and God made you perfect

Further episodes of Blessed Are the Binary Breakers

Further podcasts by Avery Smith

Website of Avery Smith