Christina (Tina) Beardsley SMMS, a retired healthcare chaplain – Head of Multi-faith Chaplaincy, Chelsea & Westminster Hospital (2008-16) – and previously a parish priest, is a Visiting Scholar at Sarum College and helps in her local parish in West London. Tina was Changing Attitude, England’s first transgender trustee (2007-14) and continues to work with CAE for the full inclusion of LGBTI+ people in the Church of England.

She co-edited ‘the Sibyls’ book’ This is My Body: hearing the theology of transgender Christians (DLT 2016) with Michelle O’Brien and has co-authored two books with Chris Dowd: Transfaith: a transgender pastoral resource (DLT 2018), and Trans Affirming Churches: How to Celebrate Gender-Variant People and Their Loved Ones (Jessica Kingsley 2020). Tina’s biography of a Victorian preacher, Unutterable Love: the Passionate Life and Preaching of FW Robertson (Lutterworth, 2009) also examines Romantic constructions of gender and sexuality. @tina_beardsley

Chrissie is the 'Outreach and Development Worker with Transgender, Intersex and non-binary people.' for St Columba's United Reformed Church, Oxford.

Transitioning in 2014, she has worked in advocacy for transgender youth within conservative evangelical churches since then. In 2016 she pioneered the Face Book group, Transgender Church, with the vision to break the oppression of isolation that she saw many trans people of faith living under.

2021 DLT Publishers released her autobiography, 'Heaven Come Down - The Story of a Transgender Disciple'.

Crippling gender dysphoria and dysmorphia, dyslexia, dyscalculia, depression and despair robbed Chrissie of any chance of an education or academic privilege. Chrissie's theology has been formed in the crucible of survival from addiction and dysfunction, into an inextinguishable desire to walk in intimacy with Jesus.

She describes her theology as being,

'Physical, embodied, before it was ever cerebral or intellectual - if I had not experienced the Holy Spirit washing, cleansing and healing my body and mind from opium addiction and disease, I would be dead. I've spent the rest of my life trying to understand and cultivate this walk of intimacy with the Holy Spirit, who leads me to Jesus. Out of that relationship and experience, I seek to share my bread with the hungry, the marginalised and the stranger in our midst.'

Jayne has worked for many years as a research scientist, initially in Reading and later in Cambridge where she worked at The Babraham Institute for fifteen years. Her research interests included neuroendocrinology: the effects of hormones on sexual differentiation and development, and also cancer research: the genes responsible for tumour development. She has published in a range of peer-reviewed scientific journals and symposia.

In 2010, after training at Westminster College she was ordained in the United Reformed Church and has served in churches in the Cotswolds.

Jayne transitioned four years ago while in post.

She is particularly passionate about inclusivity and sits on the URC Equalities Committee. All four churches that she has ministered to have subsequently registered to be able to conduct same-sex weddings. She is also a trustee and volunteer at Signpost, a charity which seeks to offer practical support to homeless and disadvantaged people.

Alex Clare-Young (they/them/my name) is in the final stages of doctoral research at the University of Birmingham, kindly funded by the Council for World Mission, into the identities, lived experiences and theological understandings of trans people.

They are an ordained pioneer minister in the United Reformed Church serving in Cambridge City Centre.

Alex’s first book, Transgender. Christian. Human., was published in 2019.

As a trans-masculine non-binary person, Alex is passionate about advocating for the inclusion of, and social justice for, trans people. Alex researches, writes, teaches, speaks, and consults on trans identities and/or theology. They also regularly lead workshops on trans inclusion and affirmation in secular and religious contexts. They have worked as a consultant and educator for several charities, denominations, businesses, schools, and universities. Alex advocates passionately for social justice, and provides advice and opinion on trans visibility, acceptance, and inclusion in the UK. A keen supporter of LGBTQ+ charities and organisations, Alex is co-chair of the Open Table Network, and is a consultant for One Body One Faith and Creating Sanctuary.

Alex's talk,

Euphoria! Framing Trans Joy.

Nearing the end of my Ph.D. research journey I am struck by the need for a reframing of trans theology. In the public square, trans and non-binary people are beginning to assert a narrative framed by euphoria, against the trope of dysphoria. How can trans euphoria inform the way we discuss social justice and ethics in theological and ecclesial contexts?

Jay Hulme is an award winning transgender poet, performer, speaker and educator from Leicester. Alongside his writing he teaches poetry, works to raise awareness of LGBT rights and inclusion, and performs sensitivity reads on manuscripts. He is currently Poet in Residence at ‘The Poets’ Church’, St Giles’ in the Fields.

Jay writes for all ages, from small children to adults, and enjoys keeping people guessing as to what he’ll be writing next.

When he’s not working he enjoys exploring old buildings, especially churches. As you read this he’s probably standing on top of a church tower, just taking in the view.