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OC2: The Rev Victoria Kolakowski (retired)


“[B]alancing an understanding of both our similarities and our differences is the key to creating a modern spirituality that can enrich us all.”

The Rev Victoria Kolakowski (retired) in
“Foreword” and “Wrestling Like Jacob”
OtherWise Christian 2: Stories of Resistance


OtherWise Christian 2 v. 3

I had lunch with Vicky while I was in the Bay area, really just hoping to catch up and maybe squeeze a Foreword out of her. As she disclosed in that Foreword, she stepped back from her religious vocation when she became a judge. So, I was pleasantly surprised that she was also willing and able to write a chapter for the book. While there is a passing mention of her role as a judge, the article focuses on Jacob’s wrestling (and her own).

Vicky’s chapter, “Wrestling Like Jacob,” will appear in OtherWise Christian 2: Stories of Resistance (March 2020) from OtherWise Engaged Publishing.

Pre-order now! Or sign up to get updates!

The Reverend Victoria S. Kolakowski received her M.Div. from the Pacific School of Religion in 1998. She was the first person to have a transgender positive article published in an academic religious journal in 1997. She was ordained in the Metropolitan Community Church as the first person to start and complete the ordination process as an openly transgender person. She served as clergy at several churches, and on the board of the California Council of Churches. She retired from ministry when she became a judge in Alameda County, California, in 2011.

Join us in celebrating the #SacredOtherWise! Claim your own story during March 2020! Possible hashtags include:

#TransAndSacred
#IntersexAndSacred
#NonBinaryAndSacred
#TwoSpiritAndSacred
or your own version of #SacredOtherWise

These are also great hashtags to add when you are talking about #TransgenderDayOfVisibility / #TDOV!! March 31, 2020 is our official launch day!

We are also using #ClaimYourStory and #ClaimingOurStories to encourage celebration of our stories of faith and resistance.

#ClaimingOurStories
#ClaimYourStory
#YouAreLoved
#YouAreNotAMistake
#SacredOtherWise

OC2: Minister KimiFloyd


To be two-spirit is to bring two halves back together, to heal division in myself, and then help end the oppression of my people. … I am rejecting centuries of language and violence that tried to deny my existence…

Minister KimiFloyd in
“Balance”
OtherWise Christian 2: Stories of Resistance

Continue reading “OC2: Minister KimiFloyd”

OC2: Mr Z Shane Zaldivar

I am a person of Mayan descent. … The constraints that most Christians want me to submit to seem like just another example of the ways that they have colonized me and my people.

Z Shane Zaldivar in
“Light Shining in the Darkness”
OtherWise Christian 2: Stories of Resistance

Continue reading “OC2: Mr Z Shane Zaldivar”

OC2: Mx Bobbi Taylor

Redefining how I think of God is, itself, a spiritual discipline and a process of discovery. In so doing, I have begun to see that the God I work with is differently-gendered.

Bobbi Taylor in
“Reclaming: A Body in Prayer” and “A Prayer to Begin My Day”
OtherWise Christian 2: Stories of Resistance

Continue reading “OC2: Mx Bobbi Taylor”

OC2: Rev Louis Mitchell


I claim this Holy Hybrid space, in the creases and folds between, as holy space… To be a Holy Hybrid is to claim my own both/and without shame or reservation. 

The Rev. Louis Mitchell in
“Holy Hybrids”
OtherWise Christian 2: Stories of Resistance

Continue reading “OC2: Rev Louis Mitchell”