Erin Swenson

Erin Katrina Swenson was ordained in November 1973 by Atlanta Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.), as Eric Karl Swensen. Eric served as a chaplain at the Georgia Regional Hospital in Atlanta before moving to Dalton, Georgia to become the Minister of Education there. Eric returned to Atlanta in 1977 to become chaplain at the Georgia Retardation Center, finally becoming a pastoral counselor in 1982. Eric has held professional positions with the Atlanta Psychiatric Clinic, Brookwood Center for Psychotherapy, The Center for Pastoral Care, and St. Luke's Training and Counseling Center. In 1995 Eric underwent a gender transition, and after many months of examination had her ordination sustained by the Presbytery of Greater Atlanta on October 22, 1996. She is currently practicing in Atlanta and is Parish Associate at Ormewood Park Presbyterian Church.

Erin Swenson broke new ground within mainstream Christian Protestant faith groups on October 22, 1996, when the Presbytery of Greater Atlanta, by a vote of 186 to 161, sustained her ordination as a Presbyterian minister. Erin had transitioned from male to female in 1995/96 after 23 years of ordained service, and with the Presbytery's vote in 1996 she became the first mainstream minister to make a gender transition while remaining in ordained office.

In 1999, Erin co-founded, with Raja Qasim, the Southern Association for Gender Education, Inc. (SAGE), an interfaith educational agency devoted to providing gender education for colleges, universities, medical groups, and faith organizations. Through SAGE Erin has presented her program across the country since 1999 in settings both large and small, from Massachusetts to San Francisco. In 1991, she was elected to the Board of More Light Presbyterians, an organization devoted to the full inclusion of GLBT people in the life and ministry of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

Erin continues to maintain warm relationships with her former spouse and their two daughters as well as her extended family. In 2003, Erin became the chair of the Health Ministries Committee of the Presbytery of Greater Atlanta. According to Erin, "My ministry is about bringing full understanding and compassion not just for people who are differently gendered, but for everyone who lives in a culture where rigid gender roles impose unhealthy and unrealistic expectations for abundant living."

Martha Juillerat
Founder, Shower of Stoles Project
2006

The LGBTQ Religious Archives Network's oral history with Erin Swenson can be accessed here.