No Regrets: The Wild (Trans)Gender Journey of Greg Eilers
Today we catch up with an old friend Greg Eilers and his wife Julie, to follow up on Eilers’ life story, which involves gender dysphoria growing up, successful work at a conservative Lutheran pastor, resignation from the pastoral office to pursue full transition, including a full range of surgeries and legal name change to Gina, and finally a detransition. This is not an exercise in trans denial. Rather it helps nuance the overall conversation by showing how individualized each experience is, how complicated and powerful hormones are in terms of their ability to affect a person’s wellbeing and mental health, and how we can learn to listen closely as individuals candidly tell their stories and gain new insights.
From the biographical information on Greg Eilers, A Roller Coaster Through a Hurricane: One Wild Ride: My Journey with Gender Identity (2019):
Greg Eilers was at the center of privilege: a respected minister in a conservative church, a middle-class male in a rural community, a family man with a wife and kids. But he harbored a deep secret—a lifetime of questioning his gender identity. In 2013, the questioning had morphed into crushing gender dysphoria, and Eilers found himself in a battle to save his life and sanity. He also found himself in a conundrum: gender identity issues don't fit with a traditional life and conservative values. How could a man who followed all the rules, and made the church his life's work, be transgender?In 2015, Eilers transitioned to female to resolve the internal struggle. The road to inner peace, though, was rife with sacrifices. Transitioning took him from the job he loved, put his relationships to the test, and cast him to the margins of society. Scorn replaced privilege. Then, 2018 brought a development just as confounding as 2013's struggle, and Eilers faced yet another transition.Through it all Eilers held firm to his faith, and found room in the Gospel for an outcast such as himself. He resolved to speak out—to share his story so others would know they're not alone, and to speak up—to educate the public about transgender and bring dignity to a highly misunderstood group of people. A Roller Coaster Through a Hurricane is a memoir, a unique transgender experience, and an inspiration to the Christian church to lovingly minister to transgender persons.
Links and Topic
Greg’s memoir, A Roller Coaster Through a Hurricane
Greg’s book for churches, Ministering to Transgender Christians
The previous Virtue in the Wasteland podcast’s part 1 and part 2 of the story
Walt Heyer and Christian Trans Denial
Diethylstilbestrol and fetal development