February 22, 2009. Calvin Neufeld speaks to West Hill United Church in Toronto as part of their process toward becoming an affirming congregation (31 minutes).
As described on West Hill's blog: "With humour and grace, Calvin Neufeld shares with us his experience living with a label – female to male post-operative transsexual. While we tend (or are raised) to think of gender, identity and sexuality in simple categories, Calvin quickly surveys many ways in which our bodies (and minds) are anything but simple. He challenges us to imagine what it would be like to wake up every day inside a body that is at odds with our understanding of who we are. The resulting dysphoria, fear of coming out, feelings of isolation – all of these experiences contribute to the significant prevalence of suicidality among the transgendered. Yet this does not have to be the case. Calvin concludes by widening the circle beyond concerns of gender, identity and sexuality. Our embrace of diversity ends up springing from the one category that is simple: life. On the affirmation that life is good, we can ground a call to reach across difference."
