Authors: Julie J. Exline, Amy Przeworski, Emily K. Peterson, Margarid R. Turnamian,
Nick Stauner, & Alex Uzdavines

Publication Journal: Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 13(3), 2021

This 2021 study dives into the unique challenges faced by transgender and gender-nonconforming (TGNC) individuals on the topic of religion and spirituality. The researchers surveyed 305 TGNC adults, mostly from North America and Western Europe, with an average age of about 31. Nearly 90% identified as Caucasian, and most lived in the United States. Participants shared a variety of gender identities, with 41.6% identifying as nonbinary, while others described themselves as transgender men, transgender women, gender fluid, genderqueer, agender, and more.

One of the standout findings is just how many TGNC individuals left organized religion. Over half (58%) of those who were once religious, primarily Christian, had since left their faith. Only 13.8% identified themselves as currently part of a religious community, with many shifting toward atheist, agnostic, or spiritual practices like Wicca or paganism. These rates of disaffiliation are significantly higher than what’s seen in the general population.

Interestingly, those who held onto their belief in God often didn’t feel that God disapproved of their gender identity, which may have made it easier to keep their faith. However, some did struggle with the idea that God might disapprove of them or that God caused and then condemned their gender identity, leading to greater emotional and spiritual conflict.

Rejection from religious communities was a common experience, with 54% of previously religious participants reporting feeling excluded or unwelcome. This rejection exacerbated gender minority stress (stressors that gender minorities experience due to stigma, prejudice, and violence) – like internalized transphobia or fear of social rejection. On top of that, many wrestled with identifying a sense of purpose and meaning in their lives, which is not uncommon for religious disaffiliates. Notably, lacking purpose and meaning was linked to greater gender minority stress. This suggests that fostering a sense of purpose and meaning may be a crucial factor in mitigating gender minority stress, particularly for individuals who have experienced rejection from religious communities

This study is novel in its focus on TGNC individuals, a group often overlooked in research on religion and spirituality (much of the religious research on demographic subpopulations emphasizes sexual orientation minorities rather than gender identity minorities). It sheds light on the dual challenge faced by TGNC individuals who may experience a double “coming out”— as TGNC and as a religious disaffiliate, as well as the associated rejection from one or both identities. By addressing the unique struggles tied to gender identity and religion, this research deepens our understanding of the psychological impacts of disaffiliation among this population. To close out this synthesis, here’s a question to consider: How has your gender identity or expression influenced your experience of religious belief or religious exit? Feel free to reply all to share your experience with the group!

Q&A with the Author: Dr. Julie Exline

Q: What motivated you to pursue this research?

A: As a psychologist of religion and spirituality, I’ve been studying spiritual struggles for many years. Over the past decade I’ve become especially interested in studying these struggles among people who identified as LGBTQIA+. Having been raised in a very conservative church, I saw firsthand how biblical interpretations and community norms often made these individuals feel judged and excluded. My colleague Amy Przeworski and her graduate students were beginning a large survey project on TGNC individuals and invited me to collaborate.

Q: Were there any findings you would highlight?

A: I found it striking to see the massive levels of religious exiting among our TGNC participants. For example, 206 participants reported that they were raised as Christians, but only 40 still held a Christian affiliation. These findings fit with other recent data suggesting that many people are leaving religion because of their religious communities’ stances on LGBTQ issues (see, e.g., https://baptistnews.com/article/i-asked-people-why-theyre-leaving-christianity-and-heres-what-i-heard/).

TGNC individuals reported more spiritual struggles if they felt a sense of disapproval or rejection from their religious communities or from God. These spiritual struggles, in turn, were linked with more gender minority stress.

Q: Were there any findings that surprised you?

A: As mentioned above, we had expected to see high levels of religious exiting but were still surprised by the sheer number of participants who had left religion.

Q: Given that most participants identified as Caucasian, do you think that that reflects the demographics of the TGNC community or community of religious disaffiliates? What are the challenges of engaging a more diverse constituency and some ways we can increase diversity in religious disaffiliation research?

A: The question about the demographics of TGNC individuals and religious disaffiliates is so important–but unfortunately a little outside my wheelhouse.

Clearly, it’s always important to try to move beyond samples that are overrepresented in psychology studies (e.g., majority white, U.S.-born, Christian, cisgender, with sexual orientations that are heteronormative). Sometimes this might require special, purposive sampling–and often the types of large, representative surveys that sociologists do or else more in-depth qualitative research looking at diverse groups of individuals, to get a sense of how their diverse identities might intersect.

Q: What were the main challenges/limitations you encountered when conducting your research?

A: It was challenging to recruit a large number of TGNC individuals. We wanted to ask so many questions that we needed to create a long survey, which may have been tiring for some participants. Given that so many of our participants had left religion, we would have liked to attract a larger sample of participants who still had some engagement with religion.

Q: How might future research build on your findings?

A: We would love to see (or do) multi-method studies where open-ended questions or interview methods could be used alongside numeric survey questions, so that we could get a richer sense of people’s spiritual struggles. It’s likely that many people had struggles that we couldn’t capture well with our limited set of survey questions.

We would also like to see more work on positive spiritual or religious experiences among TGNC individuals: What spiritual or religious beliefs, practices, or communities have they found