ABSTRACT
Raising male children to be men’s heirs was central to the family structure. Entire communities could be affected by such violations, since they affected the future heritage of the family and the family’s relationship with other families. Jesus refusal to settle down and marry was undoubtedly more socially deviant than the Greek and Roman practice of marrying and raising a family while having homosexual relationships on the side. The oldest references to social institutions and relationships in the Judeo-Christian tradition are found in the Hebrew Scriptures, known to Christians as the Old Testament. The Christian elite made themselves spiritual eunuchs. Given the transgendered nature of eunuchs and the close association of eunuchs to gay men, this could be an important lesson to the Christian churches that continue to exclude from their ranks. As a lesbian transsexual Christian, the New Testament stories are extremely powerful statements of validation and acceptance from Jesus and the early Christian Church.
