I proudly received my Master of Divinity this May from Meadville Lombard Theological School. I am also a colleague and friend of Christian Theologian Megan K. DeFranza, Ph.D. For June Pride month, I am often frustrated with the intersex erasure I see. I am also frustrated with people reading the bible and not realizing that intersex people were mentioned in the times of Jesus.
With this said, I will boldly announce that according to the New Testament, I am the “Eunuch Born that Way.” So in honor of JUNE Pride month, I decided to write this blog. My “ministry is my transparency,” so here I am again, coming out to the world.
I am an intersex man. I was never a “male” man, nor could I simply call myself a “trans man” because I was born with intersex bodily sex traits. I write this blog in hopes of educating people about my intersex existence so that well-meaning people who use the bible to prove that LGBTQ+ people existed back then can stop erasing us, intersex people.
In the New Testament Bible, it talks about us intersex people. There are many ways to be born intersex; however, I believe that a eunuch born that way was a variation of an intersex person. Like many who study the Bible, I also believe it is possible that the eunuchs made that way by themselves or others might have been what we now call queer or transgender people.
Here are two bible verses that talk about the eunuch born that way, and the eunuch made that way by themselves or others (castrated):
Matthew 19:12 NRSV
12 For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let anyone accept this who can.”
Isaiah 56: 1-5 NRSV: The Covenant Extended to All Who Obey
Thus says the Lord:
1 Maintain justice, and do what is right, for soon my salvation will come and my deliverance be revealed.
2 Happy is the mortal who does this, the one who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath, not profaning it, and refrains from doing any evil.
3 Do not let the foreigner joined to the Lord say, “The Lord will surely separate me from his people,” and do not let the eunuch say, “I am just a dry tree.”
4 For thus says the Lord: To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant,
5 I will give, in my house and within my walls, a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off.
I believe that if I had been born in the time of Jesus, I would have been recognized as ‘the eunuch born that way. I was born 46XX Intersex, with Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia. Making my body appear hermaphrodite, with no testicles. I also live as a man. So it makes sense that unclothed, I would have been seen as a eunuch.
More about me, I desire to be with other men, so most people would say that makes me “gay.” However, as you can imagine, labels do not work easily with me. Since I was also assigned the wrong gender identity at birth, as a girl, when I emancipated my true gender as a man, some people would also say I am “transgender” too, when this is not completely accurate either. I have “hermaphrodite” sex traits. To me, calling myself “hermaphrodite” is not a slur, while other people born intersex might never want to call themselves a hermaphrodite due to not having these types of sex traits.
Statistics show that about 50% of the intersex community identifies as LGBTQIA+ and might want to celebrate Pride Month in June. I do identify as part of the LGBTQIA+ RAINBOW. When others in the intersex community would not consider themselves “straight” and might not want anything to do with June Pride month. I actually define my existence as being a Nonconforming, Intersex Gay Transgender Man, too.
With all that said, we need to pause and listen to others’ stories before making blanket statements about a group of people. We have to listen with care, or even as well-intentioned allies, we can do harm.
To me, nothing is worse than intersex erasure during June Pride Month. Please be mindful not to do it, and if you see it happening, speak out for us!
Thank you and HAPPY PRIDE MONTH!
Anunnaki R. Marquez, M.Div.
To learn more please read my blog: More than Two Sexes Exist in Jewish and Christian Scripture: Male, Female, and Intersex in the Image of God.
You can also read the book by my colleague and friend, Megan K. DeFranza, Ph.D.: Sex Difference in Christian Theology: Male, Female, and Intersex in the Image of God.
~.V.~
Rev. Anunnaki Ray Marquez, M.Div. 