{{Short description|English Anglican priest (born 1951)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2025}}{{Use British English|date=June 2025}} {{Infobox religious biography | image = Christina Beardsley (born 1951) at the GVox18 Brenda Harrison Lecture.png | caption = Giving the Brenda Harrison Memorial Lecture in 2018 | religion = Church of England | birth_place = Huddersfield, West Riding of Yorkshire, England | birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1951}} | alma_mater = University of Sussex<br>St John's College, Cambridge<br>Westcott House, Cambridge<br>University of Leeds | occupation = retired Anglican ordained priest and healthcare chaplain, theologian, researcher, writer, and advocate for transgender inclusion in the Church of England | honorific prefix = Reverend Doctor | ordination = 1979 }}
'''Christina Beardsley''' (born 1951), also known as '''Tina''', is an English retired Anglican priest and healthcare chaplain, theologian, researcher, writer, and advocate for transgender inclusion in the Church of England.
== Biography == Beardsley was born in 1951 in Huddersfield, West Riding of Yorkshire. She was educated at the University of Sussex, St. John’s College and the Anglican theological college Westcott House (both at the University of Cambridge) and at the University of Leeds.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Revd Dr Christina Beardsley |url=https://gatheringvoices.info/speakers/tina-beardsley/ |access-date=2025-06-15 |website=Gathering Voices |language=en-GB}}</ref> She was ordained in 1979.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Revd Christina Beardsley |url=https://www.crockford.org.uk/people/5884/the-revd-christina-beardsley |access-date=2025-06-15 |website=Crockford's Clerical Directory}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Burns |first=Christine |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=synhDgAAQBAJ&dq=Christina+Beardsley&pg=RA1-PT37 |title=Trans Britain: Our Journey from the Shadows |date=2018-01-25 |publisher=Unbound Publishing |isbn=978-1-78352-470-9 |language=en |chapter=A Vicar's Story}}</ref> Beardsley worked as a parish priest in the Portsmouth diocese before moving to London.<ref name=":0" />
Beardsley is a transgender woman who began exploring her gender transition in 1999.<ref name=":1" /> In 2000, she established the Clare Project, a transgender support group, in Brighton and Hove.<ref name=":1" />
From 2008 to 2016, Beardsley was Head of the Multi-faith Chaplaincy at the Chelsea and Westminster NHS Foundation Trust Hospital in London.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Connell |first1=Sharon |last2=Beardsley |first2=Christina |date=2014-12-16 |title='Hospitality of the Heart – Hospitality for the Human Spirit': How Healthcare Chaplains can Discover, Create and Offer Spaces for Spiritual Care in the Hospital Setting |url=https://journal.equinoxpub.com/HSCC/article/view/15383 |journal=Health and Social Care Chaplaincy |language=en |volume=2 |issue=1 |pages=65–78 |doi=10.1558/hscc.v2i1.65 |issn=2051-5561 |archive-date=9 September 2024 |access-date=15 June 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240909135915/https://journal.equinoxpub.com/HSCC/article/view/15383 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Beardsley |first=Christina |date=2009-02-01 |title='In need of further tuning': using a US patient satisfaction with chaplaincy instrument in a UK multi-faith setting, including the bereaved |journal=Clinical Medicine |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=53–58 |doi=10.7861/clinmedicine.9-1-53 |pmid=19271602 |issn=1470-2118|pmc=5922636 }}</ref> Between 2006 and 2013 she was Changing Attitude England’s first transgender trustee.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |date=2015-06-30 |title=Name Change Liturgies and Trans People: a Church of England Perspective |url=http://www.transepiscopal.org/1/post/2015/06/name-change-liturgies-and-trans-people-a-church-of-england-perspective.html |access-date=2025-06-15 |website=TransEpiscopal |language=en|last=Coward|first=Colin}}</ref> She was also an advocate in the campaign for women to become bishops in the Church on England, and was vocal in her opposition to the General Synod’s 2012 vote denying this, as well as the church's exemption from equality legislation.<ref>{{Cite web |date=26 November 2012 |title=Pastoral Fallout: a Trans Perspective on Women Bishops |url=http://www.transepiscopal.org/1/post/2012/11/pastoral-fallout-a-trans-perspective-on-women-bishops.html |access-date=2025-06-15 |website=TransEpiscopal |language=en}}</ref>
From August 2017, Beardsley was one of the five original consultants in the House of Bishops' (the religious governing assembly of the Church of England)'s "Living in Love and Faith" (LLF) project on human identity, sexuality, and marriage.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-05-20 |title=Living in Love & Faith (LLF) to reconsider gender identity and transition |url=http://www.unadulteratedlove.net/blog/2021/5/20/living-in-love-amp-faith-llf-to-reconsider-gender-identity-and-transition |access-date=2025-06-15 |website=Unadulterated Love |language=en-US |archive-date=27 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221027065043/https://www.unadulteratedlove.net/blog/2021/5/20/living-in-love-amp-faith-llf-to-reconsider-gender-identity-and-transition |url-status=live }}</ref> She resigned in 2019 over "remarks made about an LGBTI+ contact."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Handley |first=Paul |date=1 February 2019 |title=House of Bishops' sexuality project loses transgender member |url=https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2019/1-february/news/uk/house-of-bishops-sexuality-project-loses-transgender-member |access-date=2025-06-15 |website=Church Times |archive-date=17 February 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250217174052/https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2019/1-february/news/uk/house-of-bishops-sexuality-project-loses-transgender-member |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=1 February 2019 |title=Dr Christina Beardsley: Why I left the Bishops' sexuality project |url=https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2019/1-february/comment/opinion/dr-christina-beardsley-why-i-left-the-bishops-sexuality-project |access-date=2025-06-15 |website=Church Times |archive-date=19 May 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250519213535/https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2019/1-february/comment/opinion/dr-christina-beardsley-why-i-left-the-bishops-sexuality-project |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=22 September 2021 |title=Dr Christina Beardsley: Why I left the Bishops' sexuality project |url=https://cofe-equal-marriage.org.uk/beardsley-left-llf/ |access-date=2025-06-15 |website=The Campaign For Equal Marriage in the Church of England}}</ref> She has continued to campaign for the inclusion of transgender and non-binary people in similar projects and to influence the Church of England's policy and practice in relation to transgender and non-binary people.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Coward |first=Colin |date=2021-05-24 |title=Trans leaders ask Next Steps Group chair to ensure trans membership on new working group |url=http://www.unadulteratedlove.net/blog/2021/5/24/trans-leaders-ask-next-steps-group-chair-to-ensure-trans-membership-on-new-working-group |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250616001745/http://www.unadulteratedlove.net/blog/2021/5/24/trans-leaders-ask-next-steps-group-chair-to-ensure-trans-membership-on-new-working-group |archive-date=16 June 2025 |access-date=2025-06-15 |website=Unadulterated Love |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Sarmiento |first=Simon |date=2023-06-02 |title=Trans People and LLF |url=https://www.thinkinganglicans.org.uk/trans-people-and-llf/ |access-date=2025-06-15 |website=Thinking Anglicans |language=en |archive-date=15 May 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250515065936/https://www.thinkinganglicans.org.uk/trans-people-and-llf/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Beardsley |first=Christina |date=2021 |title='On Consulting the Faithful' in Matters of Human Identity, Sexuality and Gender |url=https://liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/abs/10.3828/mb.2021.4 |journal=Modern Believing |volume=62 |issue=1 |pages=37–47 |doi=10.3828/mb.2021.4}}</ref> She has also submitted written evidence to parliamentary committees<ref>{{Cite web |date=November 2020 |title=Written evidence submitted by The Revd Dr Christina Beardsley [GRA0920] |url=https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/16960/pdf/ |access-date=15 June 2025 |website=UK Parliament}}</ref> and protested with Peter Tatchell and Davis Mac-Iyalla over the "victimising, intimidating and bullying" of the gay Anglican priest Canon Jeremy Pemberton in 2014.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gledhill |first=Ruth |date=2014-10-08 |title=Protesters confront John Sentamu over Jeremy Pemberton case |url=https://www.christiantoday.com/news/protesters-confront-john-sentamu-over-jeremy-pemberton-case |access-date=2025-06-15 |website=Christian Today |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2014-10-07 |title=Archbishop of York beset by gay protesters |url=https://www.petertatchellfoundation.org/archbishop-of-york-beset-by-gay-protesters/ |access-date=2025-06-15 |website=Peter Tatchell Foundation |language=en-GB |archive-date=16 January 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250116021618/https://www.petertatchellfoundation.org/archbishop-of-york-beset-by-gay-protesters/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
Beardsley has published several articles and books,<ref>{{Cite book |last=St Reynolds |first=Shane |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oBxYEQAAQBAJ&dq=Christina+Beardsley&pg=PA45 |title=Faithfulness in Service: The Evolution of Anglican Doctrine and Civil Rights in Australia: A Legal and Theological Analysis of the Faithfulness in Service Code |date=2025-04-19 |publisher=Saint Publishing Australia |isbn=979-8-3163-3705-7 |pages=45 |language=en}}</ref> has participated in queer theology panel discussions<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xNLLC3pdxU |title=Queer Theology Panel Discussion |date=2021-08-14 |last=St James's Church Piccadilly |access-date=2025-06-15 |via=YouTube |archive-date=24 July 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240724082553/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xNLLC3pdxU |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aNz4-y7lwE |title=Transgender people and the church: Preston Sprinkle & Christina Beardsley |date=2021-02-05 |last=Premier Unbelievable? |access-date=2025-06-15 |via=YouTube |archive-date=19 June 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250619205903/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aNz4-y7lwE |url-status=live }}</ref> and has spoken at the Cambridge Festival of Ideas.<ref>{{Cite web |date=30 September 2015 |title=Festival explores the impact of religion and faith |url=https://www.cambridgenetwork.co.uk/news/festival-explores-impact-religion-and-faith |access-date=2025-06-15 |website=Cambridge Network}}</ref> She has been interviewed on how her personal experience of being Christian and transgender intersect for the Gender Identity Research and Education Society (GIRES),<ref>{{Cite web |title=Personal experience of Revd Dr Christina Beardsley |url=https://www.gires.org.uk/personal-experience-of-revd-dr-christina-beardsley/ |access-date=2025-06-15 |website=Gender Identity Research & Education Society |date=19 November 2020 }}</ref> on ''Soho Radio'',<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-02-01 |title=LGBT+ History Month Show |url=https://sohoradiolondon.com/show/lgbt-history-month-show-01-02-2025/ |access-date=2025-06-15 |website=Soho Radio}}</ref> and on the ''Evolving Faith'' podcast.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Evolving Faith: Ep. 18 The Wilderness, Spiritual Gifts, and Gender-Expansive Christians |url=https://evolvingfaith.com/podcast/season-1/ep-18 |access-date=2025-06-15 |website=Evolving Faith |language=en-US}}</ref> She has also been interviewed for the 40th birthday of the OneBodyOneFaith (previously the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement) in 2016, with the project archive held at the London School of Economics Library.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Christians Voices Coming Out at the LSE |url=https://www.onebodyonefaith.org.uk/news/cvco-lse/ |access-date=2025-06-15 |website=OneBodyOneFaith |archive-date=16 June 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250616001746/https://www.onebodyonefaith.org.uk/news/cvco-lse/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
As of 2025, Beardsley is retired and assists in London parishes.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.sacristy.co.uk/books/theology/human-flourishing |title=Theology and Human Flourishing: Essays in Honour of Elizabeth Baxter |publisher=Sacristy Press |editor-last=Leathard |editor-first=Helen |language=en |access-date=15 June 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250425232150/https://www.sacristy.co.uk/books/theology/human-flourishing |archive-date=25 April 2025 |url-status=live}}</ref>
== Publications ==
=== Articles === * Taking Issue The Transsexual Hiatus in ''Some Issues in Human Sexuality'', ''Theology'', Vol. 108, Issue 845. (2005)<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Beardsley |first=Christina |date=2005-09-01 |title=Taking Issue The Transsexual Hiatus in Some Issues in Human Sexuality1 |url=https://doi.org/10.1177/0040571X0510800504 |journal=Theology |language=EN |volume=108 |issue=845 |pages=338–346 |doi=10.1177/0040571X0510800504 |issn=0040-571X|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Congdon |first=David W. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hyP0EAAAQBAJ&dq=Christina+Beardsley&pg=PA341 |title=Who Is a True Christian?: Contesting Religious Identity in American Culture |date=2024-02-22 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-009-42903-0 |language=en}}</ref> * ''The Transsexual Person Is My Neighbour: Pastoral Guidelines for Christian Clergy, Pastors and Congregations'' (with an Appendix on Intersex by Michelle O'Brien) (2007)<ref>{{Cite book |last=Beardsley |first=Rev Dr Christina |url=https://sibyls.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/The-Transexual-Person-is-my-Neighbour-2007.pdf |title=The Transsexual Person Is My Neighbour: Pastoral Guidelines for Christian Clergy, Pastors and Congregations |date=2007-05-21 |publisher=Sibyls |language=en}}</ref> * Love is a Many Gendered Thing: Gender Roles, Relationships and Trans People, ''Modern Believing'', Vol. 55, Issue 2. (2014)<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Beardsley |first=Christina |date=2014 |title=Love is a Many Gendered Thing: Gender Roles, Relationships and Trans People |url=https://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/10.3828/mb.2014.18 |journal=Modern Believing |volume=55 |issue=2 |pages=163–177 |doi=10.3828/mb.2014.18|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
=== Book review === * Theological Reflection and Education for Ministry, ''Scottish Journal of Healthcare Chaplaincy,'' Vol 10, Issue 1. (2007)<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Beardsley |first=Christina |date=2007-04-07 |title=Theological Reflection and Education for Ministry Paver J. E. ISBN 0-7546-5754-X Ashgate |url=https://journal.equinoxpub.com/HSCC/article/view/15607 |journal=Health and Social Care Chaplaincy |language=en |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=37 |doi=10.1558/hscc.v10i1.37 |issn=2051-5561 |access-date=15 June 2025}}</ref>
=== Books === * ''Unutterable Love: The Passionate Life and Preaching of F. W. Robertson'' (2009)<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Chapman |first=Mark |date=2011-10-01 |title=Review of Unutterable Love: The Passionate Life and Preaching of F. W. Robertson. By CHRISTINA BEARDSLEY. |url=https://academic.oup.com/jts/article-lookup/doi/10.1093/jts/flr091 |journal=The Journal of Theological Studies |language=en |volume=62 |issue=2 |pages=801–803 |doi=10.1093/jts/flr091 |issn=0022-5185 |url-access=subscription |access-date=15 June 2025}}</ref> * ''This is My Body: hearing the theology of transgender Christians'', co-written with Michelle O’Brien (2016)<ref>{{Cite book |url=http://archive.org/details/thisismybodyhear0000unse |title=This is my body: hearing the theology of transgender Christians |date=2016 |publisher=Darton, Longman & Todd |isbn=978-0-232-53206-7 |editor-last=Beardsley |editor-first=Christina |location=London |editor-last2=O'Brien |editor-first2=Michelle}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Hayton |first=S. J. |date=2020-11-22 |title=This Is My Body |url=https://transformingministry.co.uk/this-is-my-body/ |access-date=2025-06-15 |website=Transforming Ministry Magazine |language=en-GB |archive-date=26 April 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250426052543/https://transformingministry.co.uk/this-is-my-body/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Gill |first=Robin |date=27 May 2016 |title=Scarred — and not by surgery |url=https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2016/27-may/books-arts/book-reviews/scarred-and-not-by-surgery |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250124094529/https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2016/27-may/books-arts/book-reviews/scarred-and-not-by-surgery |archive-date=24 January 2025 |access-date=2025-06-15 |website=Church Times}}</ref> * ''Transfaith: a'' ''Transgender Pastoral Resource'', ''Includes Bible Studies and Liturgies'', co-written with Chris Dowd and Justin Edward Tanis (2018)<ref>{{Cite book |last=Turner |first=Victoria |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DsBgEAAAQBAJ&dq=Christina+Beardsley&pg=PT43 |title=Young, Woke and Christian: Words from a Missing Generation |date=2022-02-28 |publisher=SCM Press |isbn=978-0-334-06153-3 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Shurville |first=Derrie |date=2022-11-14 |title=Thought for the Week - Transformation, Lament and Glory |url=https://www.sjp.org.uk/thought-for-the-week-transformation-lament-and-glory/ |access-date=2025-06-15 |website=SJP |language=en-US}}</ref> * ''Trans Affirming Churches: How to Celebrate Gender-Variant People and Their Loved Ones'', co-written with Chris Dowd with foreword by Susannah Cornwall (2020)<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" /> * ''Theology and Human Flourishing, Essays in Honour of Elizabeth Baxter'', contributor (2024)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Seabrook |first=Penny |date=9 May 2025 |title=Book review: Theology and Human Flourishing: Essays in honour of Elizabeth Baxter, edited by Helen Leathard |url=https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2025/9-may/books-arts/book-reviews/book-review-theology-and-human-flourishing-essays-in-honour-of-elizabeth-baxter-edited-by-helen-leathard |access-date=2025-06-15 |website=Church Times}}</ref>
== References == {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Beardsley, Christina}} Category:1951 births Category:Living people Category:Transgender Christian clergy Category:21st-century English LGBTQ people Category:21st-century English Anglican priests Category:Alumni of the University of Sussex Category:Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge Category:Alumni of Westcott House, Cambridge Category:Alumni of the University of Cambridge Category:Writers from Huddersfield Category:Clergy from Yorkshire