Unpopular Opinion: Being transgender and following the Torah are incompatible.
disagree
Just wanted to join @wanderedflew in their opposition to this anon.
I believe that the Torah is very clear in its support for supporting one’s gender identity. Deuteronomy 22:5 argues that men should wear clothing that fit their gender identity and that women should wear clothes that fit their gender identity. Pushing this further beyond men and women– this pesuk ultimately can be extended to gender nonconforming and gender-queer folks as well.
Where this pesuk can possibly get a little fuzzy is in gender expression. This verse literally argues that men should only wear men’s clothing, and women women’s clothing– but who is to say that our clothing even has a gender?
Ultimately, I would argue that the original writers of the Torah wrote this verse to argue that people need to feel comfortable in the clothing that the wear regardless of gender identity, gender expression, or any other factors. And with this feeling comfortable in our clothing, we also must respect other people’s identities and expressions because we are all created in the same Divine Image.
The Torah and the rabbis consistently agree that respecting one another is of upmost importance. If you actively choose to disrespect another human being, you dear anon are not following Torah.
Want to learn more about troubling transphobic and homophobic texts in the Torah like this one? I’d love for you to join us this Sunday at 2PM EST!
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For all the people in the notes arguing that the transphobic interpretations are correct (and therefore Torah is dated or whatever), I’d invite you to consider that this isn’t talking about trans people at all. All it’s saying is that women should not wear men’s clothing (actually, a closer translation of the Hebrew would be something like “manly”) and men should not wear women’s clothing.
1) The definition of “women” and “men” are not given. We assume that they meant “all AFAB people” and “all AMAB people” respectively, but considering that gender variant people definitely existed during the time this was written, that may not actually be the case. Strict sex binaries based on genital appearance and secondary sex characteristics is actually a comparatively modern idea. Therefore, we are arguably free to define (or redefine) “women” and “men” per our more recently nuanced understanding of the terms.
2) As you may have noticed, clothing has changed a lot since biblical times, and clothing has always varied by culture. What constitutes men’s clothing and women’s clothing is extremely culturally dependent, and our Sages recognized this. If we create a culture where we understand all clothing styles as being equally available to women and men, then we’ve created a situation where this no longer matters.
3) Any commandment, even d'oraita mitzvot, can be broken in order to save a life, with the exception of murder, idolatry, or adultery. Transgender people do not fall under any of those exceptions. Therefore, considering the frequent fatality of disallowing trans people to present as their true gender, it is arguably valid to allow this to override that, even if you insist on a transphobic interpretation (which as mentioned above I do not believe is necessary.)
4) Just like, on a personal theological note: Being transgender is not a choice, and I don’t believe Hashem would make a person whose entire soul was something inescapably incompatible with Torah. Maybe that’s your theology, but it’s not mine, and considering that we are all made b'tselem Elokim, I believe I have the right of it.
There are also plenty of interesting arguments to be made about the underlying purpose of this mitzvah historically, but I’ll leave that to someone better versed in those.
Tl;dr, please stop acting like xtian biblical literalists - we don’t derive the halacha from a modern peshat reading of the Torah without context or commentary.
