Heart and Soul: The Transgender Pastor
BBC World Service
The latest series in this excellent World Service franchise, which finds Mike Wooldridge cross-questioning people floored by the thorniest of personal dilemmas, began with Baptist minister June Joplin (13 February).
Born a man in North Carolina, Joplin experienced a spectacular moment of revelation at the age of 11; in the midst of a Christian summer camp, she decided, first, that she wanted to be a pastor, and, second, that she was inhabiting the wrong body. The first ambition was comparatively easy to fulfil. Understandably, given Joplin’s background and career, the second was put on hold. By her mid thirties she was married, with a family, and officiating at a church in Canada. Close friends detected “a darkness” that went way beyond depression.
