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The Reverend Erin K. Swenson, Th.M., Ph.D.

Press contact, 404-312-5677

BIO (100 Words)

The Reverend Dr. Erin Swenson is an ordained Presbyterian minister (PCUSA) and a licensed marriage and family therapist. In 1996 she became the first known mainstream Protestant minister to make an open gender transition while remaining in ordained office. She provides counseling for individuals with gender identity issues and their families from her office at the Morningside Presbyterian Church in midtown Atlanta and lectures nationally on issues of gender and faith. Erin serves on the national board of More Light Presbyterians and is co-founder of the Southern Association for Gender Education, Inc.

BIO (250 Words)

The Reverend Erin K. Swenson, Th.M., Ph.D., was ordained as Eric Karl Swenson in 1973 by the Presbytery of Atlanta, which was then a part of the southern Presbyterian Church in the U.S. Twenty-three years later, after completing a gender transition from male to female, that ordination was sustained by the Presbytery of Greater Atlanta, PCUSA, making Erin the first known mainstream Protestant minister to transition from male to female while remaining in ordained office.

Erin continues to practice active ministry as parish associate at Ormewood Park Presbyterian Church in southeast Atlanta and as a pastoral psychotherapist at the Morningside Presbyterian Church in Atlanta's Midtown section. She serves the board of More Light Presbyterians, an organization devoted to the full participation of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people of faith in the life, ministry and witness of the Presbyterian Church (USA), and as a chair of the Health Ministries Committee of the Presbytery of Greater Atlanta, .

In 1999 Erin founded, along with Mr. Raja Qasim, the Southern Association for Gender Education, Inc., a non-profit organization devoted to educating institutions of higher learning, medical associations and practices, and faith groups about diversity in gender expression and the place of gender in modern life. She travels nationally presenting to conferences, churches, organizations, seminaries, and universities.

She continues to maintain warm a supportive relationships with her ex-spouse and their two grown daughters, as well the rest of her family, in the wake of her 1995/96 gender transition.

Profile

Erin was profiled in 2000, "The war inside of one's self is incredible. It's like being at odds with your own molecules," by John Blake in the Atlanta Journal Constitution. The article can be viewed at http://stacks.ajc.com/ with registration ($5.95 to retrieve up to 20 articles from their archive). She also appeared in Newsweek (Nov. 4, 1996, p. 66) and more recently in numerous other newspapers and magazines as she has traveled across the country.

Contact Information

Erin may be contacted through the Southern Association for Gender Education, P.O. Box 29681, Atlanta, Georgia 30359-0651, or through erin@erinswen.com.