NEITHER MALE NOR FEMALE

A trans-gendered Christology
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

GENERAL INTRODUCTION 3

SECTION 1

TRANSGENDER: BASIC UNDERSTANDING 5

1.1. Introduction 5
1.2. Geographically 5
1.3. Mythical origin 6
1.4. Hijaras in Bible (Eunuchs) 7
1.4.1. The Old Testament 7
1.4.2. The New Testament 7

SECTION 2
MULTIFACETED EXCLUSIONS: UNVEILING THE ISSUES ENCOUNTERED 9
2.1. Introduction 9
2.2. Exclusion from Society 9
2.3. Discrimination at Healthcare Settings 10
2.4. Exclusion by Media 10
2.5. Exclusion by Penal code 11

SECTION 3
CHRISTOLOGICAL DISCOURSE IN A HIJARA CONTEXT 13
3.1. Introduction 13
3.2. Jesus Christ, the Divine Identity Giver 13
3.3. Jesus Christ, the Master of Initiation 14
3.3.1. Analogical dimension 14
3.3.2. Sotereological dimension 15
3.4. Jesus Christ, the Liberator 15
3.5. Jesus Christ, the Healer 15

GENERAL CONCLUSION 16

BIBLIOGRAPHY 18

2
 GENERAL INTRODUCTION
Ever since I can remember, I have always identified myself as a woman. I lived in Namakkal,
a small town in Tamil Nadu. When I was in the 10th standard I realised that the only way for
me to be comfortable was to join the hijara community. It was then that my family found out
that I frequently met hijaras who lived in the city. One day, when my father was away, my
brother, encouraged by my mother, started beating me with a cricket bat. I locked myself in a
room to escape from the beatings. My mother and brother then tried to break into the room to
beat me up further. Some of my relatives intervened and brought me out of the room. I related
my ordeal to an uncle of mine who gave me Rs.50 and asked me to go home. Instead, I took
the money and went to live with a group of hijaras in Erode.1

Christ manifests as a totipotent stem cell with potency to translate Himself into any
context, in any language, performed by any culture. This understanding provoked my
philosophical mind to understand contextual Christology under the rational
Aristotelian metaphysics of substance and accidents. Christ, the ultimate substance
stands in itself but for human assimilation He manifests Himself through accidents i.e.
contexts. Therefore, no contexts are isolated or separated but lies within the very
being of Christ. Thus varieties of contexts, cultures, traditions etc., exists at the very
fundamental being of Christ and it is because of this that each human being is able to
identify Christ in ones own context. It is with this basic presumption that the
Christological discourse in this paper begins in the concrete context of transgender
called as Hijaras in India. This paper is an attempt to see Christ wearing the spectacle
of being a hijara and answering the fundamental question that Christ pose, Who do
you say I am? from a hijaras point of view.
The topic selection was not random. The topic was an outcome of a very disturbing
and at the same time challenging question that every human fundamentally asks: Who
am I? And the point of departure to this question begins at the fundamental
identification of our gender and sex. I am what I am because of my sexuality, which
is an outcome of a congruence of ones physical disclosure and its psychological
manifestation. Has anyone ever thought what it would feel to be male physically and
female psychologically? This physio-psycho duality provoked this paper. The very
thought that out there, there are people who live with this sort of contradiction. Is it

1
From the Peoples Union of Civil Liberties (Karnataka) Report on Human Rights Violations Against
the Transgender Community, released in September 2003.

3
possible to translate the love of Christ in a more authentic manner in their life? This
fundamental question would be answered through this seminar paper.
Personally this paper is not free of limitations. The basic limitation is my fundamental
incapacity to be a hijara, so the analysis made over here is from a third person point
of view; however appreciable attempts have been made to show justice to the
research.

4
 SECTION I

TRANSGENDER: BASIC UNDERSTANDING

1.1. Introduction

Gender is a human social system of differentiation by sex for roles, behaviours,

characteristics, appearances, and identities, which maps cultural meanings and norms
about both sex and gender onto human bodies. Everyone has an internal sense of their
gender, and this sense is called gender identity2 Most peoples gender identity is
congruent with their assigned sex, but many people experience their gender identity to
be discordant with their natal sex.3

Transgender is a broad term used to describe those whose gender, gender identity, or
gender expression is in some sense different from, or transgresses social norms for,
their assigned birth sex. Transgender may include those who identify as being
transsexual, cross dressers, androgynous, bi-gender, no-gender or multi-gender,
gender queer, and a growing number of people who do not identify as belonging to
any gender category at all. For some transgender individuals the discomfort with
social gender role is accompanied by a profound sense of mismatch of the physical
body to their internal bodily experience. This body dysphoria known as gender
dysphoria, causes significant distress, negatively influences daily functioning and
well-being, and requires medical services in order to realign the body with the self.
Although there are many transgender people with medically diagnosed intersex
conditions4 most people with intersex conditions are not transgender.

1.2. Geographically

Transgender communities have existed in most parts of the world with their own local
identities, customs and rituals. They are called baklas in the Philippines, berdaches
among American Indian tribes, serrers in Africa and hijras, jogappas, jogtas, shiv-

2
Stone, Gender Identity is For Everyone: Creating a Paradigm of Change,28.
3
Lev, Disordering Gender Identity: Gender Identity In The DSM-IV-TR, 40.
4
Xavier, http://www.nctequality.org/HealthPriorities.pdf

5
shaktis and aravanis in South Asia. The hijara community in India, which has a
recorded history of more than 4,000 years, is considered to have special powers
because of its third-gender status. It is part of a well-established eunuch culture in
many societies, especially in West Asia.5 The hijara community is divided into seven
houses, each headed by a nayak who appoints gurus or spiritual leaders to train their
wards or chelas in badhai and protect them. Hijaras in South India do not have the
same cultural role as their counterparts in North India and most of them take up sex
work as a means of earning a living.

1. 3. Mythical origin6

Hijaras trace their origins to myths in the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Rama,
while leaving for the forest upon being banished from the kingdom for 14 years, turns
around to his followers and asks all the `men and women' to return to the city. Among
his followers the hijras alone do not feel bound by this direction and decide to stay
with him. Impressed with their devotion, Rama sanctions them the power to confer
blessings on people on auspicious occasions like childbirth and marriage, and also at
inaugural functions. This set the stage for the custom of badhai in which hijaras sing,
dance and confer blessings.

The legend in the Mahabharata is that Aravan, the son of Arjuna and Nagakanya,
offers to be sacrificed to Goddess Kali to ensure the victory of the Pandavas in the
Kurukshetra war. The only condition that he made was to spend the last night of his
life in matrimony. Since no woman was willing to marry one who was doomed to be
killed, Krishna assumes the form of a beautiful woman called Mohini and marries
him. The hijras of Tamil Nadu consider Aravan their progenitor and call themselves
aravanis.

5
Chakrapani, Hijras/Transgender Women In India: HIV, Human Rights And Social Exclusion, 3
6
http://www.everyculture.com/South-Asia/Hijra-Religion-and-ExpressiveCulture.html#ixzz3ft46uUlK

6
1.4. Hijaras in Bible (Eunuchs)7

The concept of a eunuch (a castrate) is described in the Bible primarily by two

words, namely saris (Hebrew, Old Testament) and eunouchos (Greek, New
Testament). In addition to eunuch, however, both words can also mean official or
commander, while castration is sometimes indirectly referred to without using these
terms.

1.4.1. The Old Testament8

In total, the original texts contains 38 references to saris, one reference to katut in
relation to animal castration (Lev. 22:24) and one reference to the practice of human
castration (Deut. 23:1). From contextual and circumstantial evidence, these texts can
be classified as using the words to indicate a eunuch, or to indicate an official, or
inconclusively.
Textual context indicating eunuch:
In Deuteronomy 23:1 the law forbids the community of the Lord to accept anyone
who has undergone destruction or removal of their sexual organs.
In the book of Esther, saris is repeatedly used in reference to officials in the palace
of Ahasveros. Esther 1:10, 12, 15; 2:3, 14; 4:4, 5; 6:14 and 7:8 refer to the court
officials concerned with the care of the women. These were probably eunuchs, in
keeping with the custom of the time in Persian courts.
In Isaiah 56:3-5, the eunuch is welcomed into the church community with empathy
(in contrast to his unconditional rejection in Deut. 23:1)

1.4.2. The New Testament9

Only two scriptural passages in the New Testament refer to eunuchs (eunouchos),
namely Matthew 19:12 and Acts 8:27-39. It has already been shown that eunouchos,
like saris in the Old Testament, had more than one meaning, and could also mean
official.

7
Acta Theologica Supplementum 7, Eunuchs In The Bible, 250
8
Acta Theologica Supplementum 7, Eunuchs In The Bible, 250.
9
Acta Theologica Supplementum 7, Eunuchs In The Bible, 253.

7
 In Matthew 19:12, Christ describes three types of people as unfit for marriage,
namely those who have been castrated (which all exegetes take as indicating
eunuchs); those born incapable (congenital eunuchs) and those who, by their own free
choice and for the glory of Gods Kingdom, abstain from marrying (voluntary
celibates).
Acts 8:27-39 tells the story of the conversion of an Ethiopian court official by the
apostle Philip. The NAV, the KJB and the NIV all call him a eunuch, but the word
eunouchos may be meant in the sense of official. As the sole representative of the
Ethiopian monarch in Palestine, he was obviously a very senior official, and there is
no pressing reason to believe that he was also a eunuch. However, in a comprehensive
theological discussion of this episode, which is one of the best-known references to
eunuchs in the Bible, theologian Spencer 10 does indeed take the official to be a
eunuch, and finds his study of Isaiah 53 particularly significant.

10
Spencer, The Ethiopian Eunuch and His Bible: A Social Science Analysis159.

8
 SECTION 2
MULTIFACETED EXCLUSIONS: UNVEILING THE ISSUES
ENCOUNTERED

2.1. Introduction
Transgender people encounter difficulties in virtually every aspect of their lives, both
in facing the substantial hostility that society associates with those who do not
conform to gender norms and in coping with their own feelings of difference.
Considerable verbal harassment and physical violence accompany the powerful social
stigma faced by transgender people and may be accompanied by racial and ethnic
discrimination. Transgender people also experience dismissal from jobs, eviction
from housing, and denial of services, even by police officers and medical emergency
professionals. Restrooms, the most mundane of public and workplace amenities, often
become sites of harassment and confrontation, with access often denied.
2.2. Exclusion from Society
Hijaras face a variety of social security issues. Since most hijaras run away or are
evicted from home, they do not expect support from their biological family in the long
run. Subsequently, they face many challenges especially when they are not in a
position to earn (or has decreased earning capacity) due to health concerns, lack of
employment opportunities, or old age. Most employers deny employment for even
qualified and skilled transgender people. For many hijaras, sex work is the only
option because no one is willing to employ them because of their gender identity.
Even as commercial sex workers, hijaras are the most vulnerable group as they are
placed right at the bottom of the hierarchy of sex workers. This results in their having
little bargaining power and being unable to ensure that their customers practise safe
sex. They are also at risk of violence both from customers and the police. The
harassment and surveillance by the police sometimes extends into the privacy of their
homes. The place with the most scope for abuse is the police station where the police,
on a regular basis, violate all canons of civilised behaviour by physically, sexually
and verbally abusing, apart from being the most systematic tool for dehumanising an

9
individual, can be understood as a punishment for not conforming to the gender roles
laid down by society.11

2.3. Discrimination at Healthcare Settings

According to the two main diagnostic systems used in the Indian medical
establishment, transsexualism is defined as a gender identity disorder. The doctors
usually prescribe a sexual reassignment surgery (SRS), which currently resorts to
hormone therapy and surgical reconstruction and may include electrolysis, speech
therapy and counselling. Surgical construction could include the removal of male sex
organs and the construction of female ones. Since government hospitals and qualified
private practitioners do not usually perform Sex Reassignment Surgery (SRS), many
hijaras go to quacks, thus placing themselves at serious risk. Neither the Indian
Council for Medical Research (ICMR) nor the Medical Council of India (MCI) have
formulated any guidelines to be followed in SRS. The attitude of the medical
establishment has only reinforced the low sense of self-worth that many hijaras have
at various moments in their lives.12

2.4. Exclusion by Media

The media have also reinforced stereotypes about hijaras. In December 2002,
Chandini, a hijara from Bangalore, died of severe burns in her home. The hijara
community alleged that her husband, who had a long-standing relationship with her,
had murdered her for money, and demanded that an impartial probe be held. The
police refused and stuck to their version that it was a case of suicide. The local
newspapers, including Police News, portrayed the incident as an exciting romantic
tryst between two strangers, in which the unsuspecting man discovered the true sexual
identity of the wily hijara. Even a progressive and anti-establishment publication, in
its story, described hijaras as a race apart, freaks of the underworld, half-man half-

11
Clarke, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Queer Psychology, 90.
12
Chakrapani, Hijras/Transgender Women In India: HIV, Human Rights And Social Exclusion, 6

10
woman, almost devilish in their customs and practices. This kind of gender
stereotyping was seen in many local English newspapers as well.13

2.5. Exclusion by Penal code14

The systematic violence that hijras face is reinforced by institutions such as the
family, media and the medical establishment, and is given legitimacy by the legal
system. The violence that the hijara community faces from the police can be traced to
the 1897 amendment to the Criminal Tribes Act of 1871, which was subtitled An Act
for the Registration of Criminal Tribes and Eunuchs. Under this law, the local
government was required to keep a register of the names and residences of all eunuchs
who were reasonably suspected of kidnapping or castrating children or committing
offences under Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code. The law also decreed eunuchs
as incapable of acting as a guardian, making a gift, drawing up a will or adopting a
son. The law that is used most to threaten the hijara communities, is Section 377 of
the IPC, which criminalises carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any
man, woman or animal even if it is voluntary. In effect, it criminalises certain kinds
of sexual acts that are perceived to be unnatural. The law, which has its origin in
colonial ideas of morality, in effect presumes that a hijara engaging in carnal
intercourse against the order of nature, thus making this entire lot of marginalised
communities vulnerable to police harassment and arrest. The hijara community is
deprived of several rights under civil law because Indian law recognises only two
sexes. This means that hijaras do not have the right to vote, marry and own a ration
card, a passport or a driving licence, or claim employment and health benefits. In
north and central India, hijaras, who have contested and won elections to local and
State bodies, are now facing legal challenges. In February 2003, the Madhya Pradesh
High Court struck down the election of Kamala Jaan as the Mayor of the Municipal
Corporation of Katni. 15 The court's logic was that since Kamala Jaan was not a
woman, she could not contest the seat, which was reserved for women. Lawyer Pratul
Shandilya, who is arguing Kamala Jaan's case, said: I have already filed the Special

13
Narrain, Being A Eunuch, 19
14
Narrain, Being A Eunuch, 19
15
Narrain, Being A Eunuch, 20

11
Leave Petition (SLP) before the Supreme Court, and the court has also granted leave
in the petition.

12
 SECTION 3
CHRISTOLOGICAL DISCOURSE IN A HIJARA CONTEXT

3.1. Introduction
The person of Jesus stands at the beginning of any Christological discourse which is
the creed of any contextual theology. The following section is a narrative
reconstruction of the life of Jesus, adopting the insights of a hijara socio-cultural-
historical exegesis. This section is a serious and sincere attempt to free the person of
Jesus from a gender biased prejudiced society paving way for a Christ centred
humanism and thereby promoting an authentic Christ centred hijara way of living.

3.2. Jesus Christ, the Divine Identity Giver

Hijaras in India follow Hinduism not out of their faith foundations or revelations but
only as an attempt to reach out and identify themselves to some divine power out
there. For examples,

Bahuchara Mata, the main object of hijara veneration, is specifically associated with
transvestism and transgenderism. All hijara households contain a shrine to the goddess that is
used in daily prayer. Hijaras also identify with Shiva, a central, sexually ambivalent figure in
Hinduism, who combines in himself, as do the hijaras, both eroticism and asceticism. One of
the most popular forms of Shiva is Ardhanarisvara, or half-man/half-woman, which
represents Shiva united with his shakti (female creative power). The hijaras identify with this
form of Shiva and often worship at Shiva temples.16

This identification with God is a personal venture to relate to a supernatural power,

which is a unidirectional one. However in Christ they find a different God who is not
out there but who is with them and within them. In Jesus, they manifest a God coming
down and identifying Himself with them in relation to the Kingdom of Heaven as we
see in Mt: 19:12. In the first case they try to figure out their identity, however in the
second case God gives them identity. He manifests a kingdom of God which provides
a sexless and genderless citizenship and thereby providing them with an identity in
the eschatological hope.

16
http://www.everyculture.com/South-Asia/Hijra-Religion-and-Expressive-
Culture.html#ixzz3ft46uUlK

13
3. 3. Jesus Christ, the Master of Initiation17
Initially I approached Hijaras with a prejudiced thought of presenting Christ as an
identity giver. I always felt that their main issue was an issue of identity with a
masculine body and feminine sexuality. But a deeper study led me to a realisation that
an issue of identity came to limelight only before the service of initiation and not
afterwards. The ceremony:

The central ceremony of hijara lifeand the one that defines them as a groupis the
emasculation operation in which all or part of the male genitals are removed. This operation is
viewed as a rebirth; the new hijara created by it is called a nirvan. For the hijaras,
emasculation completes the transformation from impotent male to potent hijara. Emasculation
links the hijaras to both Shiva and the mother goddess and sanctions their performances at
births and Weddings, in which they are regarded as vehicles of the goddess's creative power.
Bahuchara has a special connection with the hijras as emasculated, impotent men. Hijaras
believe that any impotent man who resists a call from the goddess to emasculate himself will
be born impotent for seven future births. Emasculation increases the identification of the
hijaras with their goddess, and it is in her name that the operation is ritually performed. A
hijara, called a midwife, performs the operation after receiving sanction from the goddess.
The ritual of the surgery and many of the postoperative restrictions involving special diet and
seclusion imitate those of a woman who has just given birth. At the end of the forty-day
isolation period, the nirvan is dressed as a bride, is taken in procession to a body of water and
subsequently to a ritual involving fertility symbolism relating to marriage and childbirth,
becomes a hijara, and is then invested with the power of the goddess. In the hijara
emasculation ritual, we have a culmination of the paradoxes and contradictions characteristic
of Hinduism: impotent, emasculated man, transformed by female generative power into
creative ascetics, becomes able to bless others with fertility and fortune. 18

In the spiritual realm the entire ritual of initiation is a process of transformation

(transfiguration) from what one is to what one should be. Christ during his earthly
journey underwent this initiation and became an exemplary model of initiation.
Taking into consideration the transcendental dimension of initiation, Jesus is
presented as the master of initiation.

3.3.1. Analogical dimension: Jesus is a master because he himself has undergone the
phase of initiation is an exemplary way. The process of initiation can purely formally
be an analogy to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Death, burial and
resurrection are well known phases in any process of initiation. This is the trial of

17
Kuster, The Many Faces of Jesus Christ, 59.
18
http://www.everyculture.com/South-Asia/Hijra-Religion-and-Expressive-
Culture.html#ixzz3ft46uUlK

14
being buried somewhere and the return to a new life to a new form of socio- religious
living.

3.3.2. Sotereological dimension: Jesus Christ is the master of initiation because he

has completed his initiation vicariously for us. Being master, he has completed the
process of initiation not merely for Himself but also for others. Anyone who needs to
be transformed completely from now on need not undergo the ritual transformation
but will be transformed by faith in Him.

3.4. Jesus Christ, the Liberator: Though the Hijara community try to find solace in
other deities, it is only in Christ that they identify their pains. The very cross and
resurrection of Christ along with the promise of a sexless and genderless eschatology,
gives them hope for a citizenship in the kingdom of God. Christ gives them the
strength to endure the psychological and sociological pains that they undergo.

3.5. Jesus Christ, the Healer

For a hijara being ill, have a personal, psychological and a sociological dimension.
Fundamentally, being ill is an alteration in the equilibrium of human organism they
experience this alteration at every point of their existence. Jesus, being presented as a
healer finds its relevance not because of the fear of death because of illness but
because of a degraded state of human living. Jesus for a hijara, becomes a healer,
because the healings were a central element in the activity of Jesus, not only physical
but psychological, spiritual and social. Again, Jesus Christ is the healer, because
through his own suffering he is present in human suffering especially the ones
endured by Hijaras.

Thus the Christ of history becomes an identity giver, the master of initiation, the
liberator and a healer in the hot, burning life context of a hijara and thereby holding
their hands as He held that of Peter amidst the sea, to transcend their life and go
beyond their sociological, and psychological struggles towards a sexless and
genderless eschatology.

15
 GENERAL CONCLUSION

On April 24, all-American sporting superstar Bruce Jenner, who won gold for the decathlon in
Montreal in 1972, announced that he was transsexual and that essentially, he was a woman. In
his interview with Diane Sawyer he said: I would sit in church and always wonder, In God's
eyes, how does he see me?19

Transgender people experience their transgender feelings in a variety of ways. Some

can trace their transgender identities or gender-atypical attitudes and behaviours back
to their earliest memories. Others become aware of their transgender identities or
begin to experience gender atypical attitudes and behaviours much later in life. Some
transgender people accept or embrace their transgender feelings, while others struggle
with feelings of shame or confusion. Some transgender people, transsexuals in
particular, experience intense dissatisfaction with their birth sex or with the gender
role associated with that sex. We are conditioned to react to people as male or female
from the very start of our lives. There's a whole set of assumptions and expectations
that goes along with that and people who do not fit those pre-set categories throw us
completely off-balance. The danger is that we blame them for it. However, it is not
their fault if we feel uncomfortable; we need to learn to deal with it. Like everyone
else, they are made in the image of God and for whatever reason, today they have a
particularly hard road to walk.

The Ethiopian Eunuch in Acts 8:31 had been a challenging and provoking figure
throughout the rendering of this paper. The very fundamental question being asked in
response to Philips query whether anything is understood, How can I unless
someone guides me? provokes and reminds about the availability of Christ to
everyone regardless even of their sex and gender. This same figure had been
inspiration in contextualising Christ in the down to earth living context of Hijara in
India. It is a challenge and it would remain a sin if we close our eyes to a section of
society in front of us thereby bracketing them from the knowledge of Christ merely
for not conforming to our gender norms. Our mission lies here to go beyond not only
cultures, caste, race, religion but also to transcend the boundaries of binary sex and be
open enough to spread the good news of Christ to entire humanity.

19
Clarke, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Queer Psychology, 126

16
A fitting conclusion to this paper can be traced in St. Pauls letter to Galatians 3:28,
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and
female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. This very thought that all are one in Christ
incites us to move on holding on to our brethren regardless of their gender identity.

Finally, this seminar paper was not merely an attempt to translate Christ into a Hijara
context for the sake of newness in subject but it was and is an outcome of a dream of
seeing hijaras sit along with us around the Eucharistic table of our Lord and take part
in His table fellowship.

17
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Chakrapani, Venkatesan M.D. Hijras/Transgender Women In India: HIV, Human

Rights And Social Exclusion, Issue Brief, of United Nations Development
Programme, December 2010.

Clarke, Victoria, Sonja J. Ellis, Elizabeth Peel, and Damien W. Riggs. Lesbian, Gay,
Bisexual, Trans and Queer Psychology: An Introduction. Delhi: Cambridge
University Press, 2010.

From the Peoples Union of Civil Liberties (Karnataka) Report on Human Rights
Violations Against the Transgender Community, released in September 2003.

Kuster, Volker. The Many Faces Of Jesus Christ: Intercultural Christology. New
York: Orbis Books, 2001.

Lev, A. I. Disordering Gender Identity: Gender Identity in the DSM-IV-TR in

Journal of Human Sexuality, 17(3/4), 2005, 3569

Narrain, Siddarth. Being A Eunuch, in Frontline. 14 October, 2003, 18-22.

Spencer F. S. The Ethiopian Eunuch and His Bible: A Social Science Analysis in
Biblical Theology Bulletin, 22, 1993, 155-165.

Stone, M. R. Gender Identity is For Everyone: Creating a Paradigm of Change.

Paper presented at the 6th International Congress on Sex and Gender
Diversity. Manchester, U.K.: 2004

http:www.everyculture.com/South-Asia/Hijra-Religion-and Expressive Culture

html#ixzz3ft46uUlK, collected on 12 August 2015

18
Xavier, J., Hitchcock, D., Hollinshead, S., Keisling, M., Lewis, Y., Lombardi, E.,
Lurie, S., Sanchez, D., Singer, B., Stone, M. R., and Williams, B. An overview
of U.S. Trans Health Priorities: A Report by the Eliminating Disparities
Working Group. Washington, DC: National Coalition for LGBT Health.
Collected on 20 August 2015, from
http://www.nctequality.org/HealthPriorities.pdf

19