The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) installed its first openly transgender bishop on Saturday during a ceremony at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco with 65 bishops and more than 150 pastors in attendance.
Bishop Megan Rohrer will lead the Sacramento-based Sierra Pacific Synod, which includes almost 200 congregations in California and Nevada. The 41-year-old biological female uses the pronouns “he” and “they” and is married to a wife, Laurel. The couple has two children.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Rohrer “served as pastor at Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Parkside neighborhood and chaplain for the San Francisco Police Department before being elected to a six-year bishop term” earlier this year.
“I step into this role because a diverse community of Lutherans in Northern California and Nevada prayerfully and thoughtfully voted to do a historic thing,” Rohrer said in a statement. “My installation will celebrate all that is possible when we trust God to shepherd us forward.”
The Chronicle reported, “The two-hour service featured messages, prayers, music and Bible readings chosen by Rohrer, including the story of a follower of Jesus who met and baptized a eunuch – groundbreaking in ancient times.”
The presiding bishop of the ELCA, Rev. Elizabeth Eaton, led the ceremony.