NYC Priest Says the Unthinkable About Jesus and Transgenderism

An Episcopal priest in New York told a congregation that Jesus is transgender and that denying it denies Christ’s divinity.

Rev. Flourish Klink, who identifies as transgender and nonbinary, preached the claim at Christ & St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church. A clip of the sermon spread online this week.

“God is non-binary,” Klink said. “God is non-binary, but I’m going to go further than that, and I’m going to say God is actually also trans.”

Klink described gender as something assigned at birth and later revised. “When we trans people are born, folks assign us a gender based on what they see. Then, when we’re old enough, we realize that that wasn’t right.”

That frame was applied to the nativity. “When God, who as we have established is non-binary, was born in human form as our Lord Jesus Christ, Mary said, ‘Oh, look, a baby boy.’ God isn’t a boy. We have established this. God is beyond boy and girl. God was assigned a gender at birth, and later on, it became clear that that gender wasn’t quite right.”

Klink then tied the claim to doctrine. “So, if you’re going to deny God as trans, I think you’re going to be denying the divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, and I have some notes about that.”

As evidence from Jesus’ life, Klink cited an unmarried ministry and attention to women. “To the best of our knowledge, he didn’t get married. … He chose to teach and to engage with women in ways that were very unusual, that were not the traditionally masculine way.”

The resurrection was treated as a transition. “I think Jesus was resurrected as Jesus’s true self, which is beyond male or female. I think Jesus was not only transfigured. I think Jesus transitioned.”

Traditional readings of Luke 1 have the angel Gabriel telling Mary she would “bear a son.” John 20 has Mary Magdalene first mistaking the risen Jesus for a gardener and addressing him with a masculine title. Klink said the Bible does not explain why the disciples failed to recognize him at first.

The sermon is one more public fight over Christian language in 2026, landing in the same week other clergy have questioned the resurrection and exclusive claims about Jesus. Klink presented the transgender reading not as metaphor but as a test of whether listeners accept Christ’s divinity.