"The Good Kind of Weird" — Ynza Morgan Star: Genderqueer, Pagan, & so much more! - a podcast by Avery Smith

After growing up Southern Baptist and pressured to conform to gender norms, it took time for Ynza Morgan Star (she/her & zey/zeir) to live fully into her genderqueer, agnostic, pagan, game designer self. In this episode, Ynza shares how neurodivergence and the power of story have shaped her journey; how zey crafted zeir own name; how zey joined zeir local Unitarian Universalist fellowship; and so much more!

Content warnings: lots of discussion about conservative Christianity and transphobia, including the intense policing of a child’s self-expression. There are also brief mentions of dementia and parent death.

Click here for the episode transcript, which includes links with info on various discussion points throughout.

Talking Points:

0:00 - Intro, including Avery's visit to Ynza's UU fellowship

6:54 - Overview – gaming, pagan-inclined Unitarian, didn’t realize trans till 40s

18:20 - Earliest memories – gender policed by adults; refuge in stories with gender transformation

23:56 - The Oz stories – queer is “the good kind of weird”

27:50 - Cognitive dissonance in Southern Baptist beliefs; witnessing the radicalization of conservative Christians

35:25 - From Republican to Democrat, while wrestling with the two-part system

38:28 - Protected by neurodivergence that rejected the idea of being broken, couldn't accept the cognitive dissonance

46:45 - Coming out to parents as pagan; years later, coming out to them as trans & a lesbian — very mixed reactions

57:40 - Name change! Crafting a new first name; keeping middle name; finding a meaningful last name

1:11:40 - Wrestling with the idea of Christianity being viable for queer folk

1:18:38 - The beautiful broadness of the term transgender; should we bring back the term transsexual too?

1:24:16 - Wrapping up with some recommendations: Whipping Girl by Julia Serrano; Dr. Roger Ray's Progressive Faith sermons; the Best of the Left podcast; and the Making Gay History and One from the Vaults podcasts

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Blessed  Are the Binary Breakers is part of the Rock Candy Podcast  Network. Find more shows at www.rockcandyrecordings.com.

This show's theme song is "Aetherium" by Leah Horn. This episode also makes use of "Gold Beamer" by Mother Hood.

Further episodes of Blessed Are the Binary Breakers

Further podcasts by Avery Smith

Website of Avery Smith