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Continued: Getting to know you: Susan Huxford-Westall by Fran Darlington

Susan continues to encourage others experiencing gender dysphoria, and to educate Canadians about them. "Transgendered men feel at home in the gay community, but... they're not realistic. They have little or no education or training, because they left school because of bullying, and some were sexually abused. The stable ones are genetic females who go to males because they know they're going into a dog-eat-dog society. As many women become men as the other way. The insignia for female-to-male is the appearance of a beard, and for male-to-female is the development of breasts. What causes transgenderism? There's now some thought that our sex centre in the brain is displaced."

Though researchers work to unravel its mystery, human sexuality still has many secrets. Humans tend to fear what we do not understand; fear unsettles us, and leads to strong reactions. Openness to learning and compassion for others, especially those different from oneself, can reduce that fear and bring humanity to new wisdom, wholeness and fulfillment of that phrase in the baptismal covenant, "Will you respect the dignity of every human being?" Susan chuckles as she says, "What an uninteresting world it would be if we were all the same! There'd be no challenge!"

Explorations in faith

With courage and commitment, Susan continues to challenge spiritual complacency. She explores the work of the Jesus seminar, a group of internationally renowned scholars who study the Bible, especially the New Testament, trying to determine what is truly authentic and what is editorial comment. "Pitman's shorthand hadn't been invented, and nobody had a tape recorder! I've been reading Luke's Gospel, the seven last words. Not one of them is accepted by scholars as said by Jesus, but they were written in later. How can they be anything else (but editorial commentary)?" Then another challenge: "The four symbols of the Gospels? The very same figures were used in the Gnostic Gospels." (The name, Gnosticism, derived from the Greek word for 'knowledge,' refers to a complex religious movement, ancient in origin and appearing in the Christian community in the second century A.D.)

Susan's exploration of her deep faith leads to clear questions: "One of my big problems with the Church is that the Number 1 work of the Church is to worship God. Is God narcissistic? Because if he is he did a rotten job on creation! God did not want puppets on a string; if he wanted a creation to do exactly what he wanted, he would have created worshipping people who would bow down and worship him. God took a gamble on us and gave us free will--even though the early Church couldn't accept that--but God gave us free will, the opportunity of returning to him." Susan grins, "Some people would say some others wouldn't make it!" Asked about them, she continues, "That's the question. What about reincarnation? There are people who seem to have had the experience."

On another tangent: "Hell is a place where we keep repeating the same mistakes. I believe that from earliest times God has wanted us to know him. Early humans could only understand the things around them. I believe that God has revealed himself through his creation in many ways that could be understood by various cultures."

"What is God? We must worship (God) in spirit and in truth. We cannot measure, see (God), but I have a strong sense that (God) is there. In part we can sense, (because God) manifests itself in other forms. Is God pure energy?--because that would account for the life in anything! There's certainly plenty of energy in the core of the planet; it's all part of God's creation."

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