Pride Edition: Why I Am Passionate About Protecting Trans Rights

Rabbi Sally Preisand, the first female Reform rabbi in 1972

I was born in 1972—the same year the first female rabbi in the Reform movement, Rabbi Sally Priesand, was ordained. I have lived my life occupying spaces served exclusively for men for over 2,000 years. I wear a kippah and tallit, garments once deemed “men’s” clothing, and I lead a community from the bimah as a woman. In doing so, I know I am bending gender norms. I know that my very presence in this role challenges a long-standing patriarchal religious structure.

And that is exactly the point.

I do this sacred work not only to answer my own calling but as an effort to create a reality beyond patriarchy—a Judaism rooted in authenticity, equity, and expansiveness. I know from experience how powerful it is to live outside the boundaries others set for you. I chose to become a rabbi. But my trans siblings are not making a professional choice—they are expressing who God made them to be in this created world.

“Beloved is humanity, for we were created in the image of God.” Pirkei Avot 3:18

Trans people are living b’tzelem Elohim — in the image of God — just as all human beings do. And when someone embraces their full, authentic self, they reflect the divine in all its diversity and complexity.

That sacred authenticity is exactly why trans and queer people pose such a threat to patriarchy: they challenge the rigidity of a system built on dominance and conformity. They upend false binaries and refuse to be silenced. And in doing so, they open the door to a more liberated, loving, and human future for all of us.

I am passionate about protecting trans rights because I want to build a world where people are not limited by gender or sexuality. A world where we can live the full, beautiful spectrum of human expression. A world where every person is celebrated for their truth, not punished for it.

“You shall not wrong or oppress a stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” Exodus 22:20

This mitzvah — repeated 36 times in the Torah — demands that we stand with those most vulnerable and marginalized. In our time, that includes trans people, whose very existence is being legislated against and dehumanized.

Where can we begin to build a world of justice and affirmation? In our synagogues. In our Jewish communities. Right here, in the sacred spaces we shape and share.

We do not need the gender binary to define our lives. When we turn to the oldest and most enduring sacred text of all—the natural world—we find that creation itself is varied, dynamic, and nonbinary. There is incredible diversity in gender and sexuality across animal species and ecosystems. The natural world teaches us that God’s creation is anything but rigid. It is alive, adaptive, and breathtakingly broad.

“The world is built on chesed — on lovingkindness.” Psalm 89:3

“Eilu v’eilu divrei Elohim chayim” — “These and those are both the words of the living God.” Talmud Eruvin 13b

Jewish tradition teaches us that truth is not monolithic. There is space for multiplicity, contradiction, and transformation in our sacred discourse. If the Divine can hold more than one truth, surely we can hold space for the infinite beauty of gender diversity.

I place trans people at the top of my list of those to uplift and protect because they are so often the targets of hatred and fear—of those who wish to erase complexity, who want to dull the radiant light of creation, who fear change more than they fear cruelty. And because when trans people live their truth, whether intentionally or not, they shake the foundations of patriarchy. They remind us what it means to live with courage. They show us a better way forward.

“Justice, justice you shall pursue.” Deuteronomy 16:20

And I believe our Jewish tradition calls us to walk that path with them.