A Baptist church in Canada has fired
its pastor after she came out as transgender.
The Reverend Junia “June” Joplin
last month announced she's transgender during an online sermon.
“I want you to hear me when I tell
you that I'm not just supposed to be a pastor, I'm supposed to be a
woman,” Joplin said. “My friends, my family, my name is Junia.
You can call me June. I'm a transgender woman and my pronouns are she
and her.”
Joplin, originally from rural North
Carolina, began leading the Lorne Park Baptist Church in Mississauga
in 2014. She started coming out in 2018.
Fifty-two percent of the 111-member
congregation voted to terminate Joplin's contract.
“After a month of prayerful
discernment and discussions between June and the congregation, it was
determined, for theological reasons, that it is not in God's will
that June remain as our pastor,” the church said in a statement
given to CBC
News.
Joplin told Fox News that she was
“shocked” by her dismissal, saying that she had received positive
feedback for preaching “an inclusive message” and had employed
“LGBT+ people before without indictment.”
She added that the church was “kind
and respectful.” “Nobody intentionally misgendered me or did
anything that was intentionally disrespectful so there has been a
grace and kindness through the entire process,” she
said.