Faith Matters: Who Do You Say I Am? Transgender Pastor Elke Spörkel

Hans-Gerd Spörkel saw no alternative; he announced publicly that he was a woman in a man’s body. Outing himself demanded great courage for this pastor of a small rural parish in western Germany, and for a man over fifty. The complex issue of gender transition was virtually unknown in the German countryside. Pastor Spörkel assumed the name Elke, but her attempt to continue to minister in the parish as a woman failed miserably. So did her marriage. However, darkness eventually gave way to light. Elke Spörkel’s story is one of denial and rejection, but also of courage, new beginnings and of reconciliation.