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Delfin Bautista, director of Ohio University’s LGBT Center, helped to write the book Trans Bodies, Trans Selves: A Resource for the Transgender Community. The new work is aimed at helping those who identify as trans and those who don’t understand trans life.

 

OU faculty member author in new trans education book

Delfin Bautista, director of the LGBT Center, pulls background in religion and spirituality to write in new trans education book

Within the trans community, few comprehensive resources exist surrounding issues dealing with religion, health and sexuality.

The book, Trans Bodies, Trans Selves: A Resource for the Transgender Community, edited by Laura Erickson-Schroth, attempts to fill that void. It compiles opinion pieces on various aspects of trans life and Delfin Bautista, director of the Ohio University LGBT Center, is one of the authors.

The editors wanted to pull from Bautista’s experiences and knowledge in religion —as a graduate of Yale Divinity School, and how that background translates into the trans community — which resulted in a chapter that Bautista co-authored.

“For a lot of us, it’s the new bible on all things trans and because it is written by trans people of the community, often times in first person, it’s based on our experiences as authors as well as a survey of over 400 trans people that were asked a myriad of questions,” Bautista said.

Bautista said chapters were framed by responses from the survey. It’s modeled like the book Our Bodies, Ourselves, a women’s book about health and sexuality.

“How we hope to see it integrated is to show that it is a new resource,” Bautista said. “Folks at Campus Care, folks at HCOMM have told me that this is the text that they are using.”

Bautista said the LGBT Center will also be integrating the book into programming, highlighting it during Trans Awareness week, Nov. 12-19.

“(I want people to take away from my chapter that) religion isn’t the enemy. There is a space where gender identity, sexuality and religion can come together,” Bautista said.

For Erickson-Schroth, she said she wanted to provide a resource where trans people educate other trans people through information and experience.

Erickson-Schroth said this book hopefully will make an impact on the way trans-identified people are able to navigate through life, even though she herself does not identify as trans.

“The book is targeted at trans people but it also is a place where people’s parents, friends, partners, children can go for information, too, that gives them a place to get basic information,” Erickson-Schroth said.

Six copies are available in the LGBT Center through Bautista. Jesper Beckholt, a fifth-year studying English, said they are excited about the resource and have suggested the book to others who are exploring topics on gender and sexuality.

“I’ve already had one person who is figuring out their identity timed right when this book was coming out and it’s like ‘here have this,’ ” Beckholt said.

There is also a non-profit organization titled Trans Bodies, Trans Selves, which now aims to provide the book to those who would not be able to obtain it, Erickson-Schroth said, and more can be found at transbodies.com.

“I think the most important thing that people would get from this (book) is an understanding that this is one of the most diverse communities that you can be involved in,” Erickson-Schroth said. “There is not one kind of trans person.”

Erickson-Schroth said there are plans for a second edition of the book in 2020, and she wants to continue to find diverse resources and voices to be included.

@reb_barnes

rb605712@ohio.edu 

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