A transgender woman’s journey from rejection to acceptance
01 Sep 2019
Call Me Paula
By Lisa Truesdale Paula Stone Williams often gets mail addressed to “Paul.” She understands when it’s just junk mail addressed incorrectly because of outdated mailing lists. “But usually,” she says, “it’s an arrogant statement of superiority from a religious person intent on correcting my sinful ways. I never cease to be amazed at the confidence of fundamentalists.” Williams’ perceived “sinful ways,” according to those fundamentalists, can be traced back to 2013 when she came out as transgender, changed her name from Paul to Paula and began living life as a woman. At the time, she was working for a large religious nonprofit organization, writing for a religious magazine and preaching at two large megachurches. After she came out, she was promptly fired from every single one of those jobs. “I wouldn’t be welcome to preach at any of those churches today,” she says. “Not as transgender and not even as a woman.” In 21 states, you can’t be fired for being transgender, Williams explains. But in all 50 states, you can be fired for being transgender if you work for a religious organization. She learned that the hard way.Finding Her Way
Williams says she can trace her gender awareness back to her earliest memories, around age 3 or 4. She didn’t yet know the word “transgender,” of course, but she believed that a “gender fairy” would appear and ask whether she wanted to be a boy or a girl—and she was prepared to declare “Girl!” “I didn’t hate being a boy,” she says. “I just knew I wasn’t one.”
–Paula Stone Williams
(photo courtesy Paula Stone Williams)
