Apr 3, 2018
Cass Midgley talks with Marissa Alexa McCool. Bob was out of town for this taping. This episode is a bit of detour from our regular format. Marissa doesn't have a personal deconversion from faith story, but she does have a gender conversion story that religions generally oppose. I call this episode, much like episode 60 with Callie Wright, back in the summer of 2015, a beginner class in Trans 101. I support this kind of education because in order to be a part of the solution and not the problem we need to seek to understand, stretch out our imaginations, and expose our blind spots regarding these our fellow human beings, and of course, say yes to what is. Also, we ex-Christians can relate to this: one can only lie about who one is for so long before going crazy.
Author Ellen Wittlinger is quoted as saying, “People change lots of other personal things all the time. They dye their hair and diet themselves to near death. They take steroids to build muscles and get breast implants and nose jobs so they resemble their favorite movie stars. They change names and majors and jobs and husbands and wives. They change religions and political parties. They move across the country or the world — even change nationalities. Why is gender the one sacred thing we aren't supposed to change? Who made that rule?”
Our guest today, Marissa Alexa
McCool, is 32, a podcaster, author, performer, speaker, and an
LGBT rights/atheist activist. She's a trans woman, married,
partnered, and a parent. Born in Akron, Ohio and currently residing
in Saint Paul, Minnesota with her family, she graduated the
University of Pennsylvania in 2017 with 3 degrees: English, Cinema
and Media Studies, and Anthropology, while also studying theatre,
Shakespeare, and communication theory. Within the atheist
community, she's spoken at Lehigh Valley Humanists, Minnesota
Atheists, Skepticon 10, NaNoCon 3, and several
others.
Marissa won a 2014 Keystone Award for
Excellence in Journalism, a 2015 audience choice award at the
Hershey Student Film Festival for a short film, and co-founded The
Trans Podcaster Visibility Initiative with Callie Wright in 2017.
She blends her theatrical background and fiery passion for atheism,
humanist and secular values, and intersectionality. Marissa
mentions a video by Steve Shives on this trans subject and I
feature a 5 minute excerpt within the conversation. We taped this
conversation on March 24th, 2018.
We interview people you don’t know, about a subject no one wants to talk about. We hope to encourage people in the process of deconstructing their faith and help curb the loneliness that accompanies it. We think the world is a better place when more people live by sight, not by faith. Please subscribe to our podcast, and leave a review wherever you listen to podcasts.
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Credits:
"Towering
Mountain of Ignorance" intro by Hank Green https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3v3S82TuxU
Intro bumper "Never Know" by Jack
Johnson
Thank you for listening. And be a Yes-Sayer to what is.
Steve Shive's video: Pluto's Not a Planet and Trans Women Are Women