A New York City Episcopal priest has sparked controversy after declaring in a sermon that Jesus Christ was transgender and that God is nonbinary—views previously associated with seminarian and Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico.
Father Flourish Klink, who identifies as nonbinary and transgender, made the comments during a recent service at Christ & St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.
“God is nonbinary,” Klink said in a sermon clip shared on X Wednesday. “But I’m going to go further than that, and I’m going to say God is actually also trans.”
Klink, who uses the pronouns “they/elle/hen,” compared the experience of transgender people to the way God appeared in human form as Jesus. At birth, Klink explained, people are assigned a gender by “folks based on what they see.”
“When we’re old enough, we realize that wasn’t right and we’re not, in our deepest selves, the gender that everyone thought we were. Reasonable working definition of a trans person, right?” Klink asked the congregation.
“When God, who—as we have established is nonbinary—was born in human form as our Lord Jesus Christ, Mary said, ‘Oh look, a baby boy.’”
Klink, who is married and has a daughter, then argued that God cannot be described as male. “God isn’t a boy, we have established this. God is beyond boy and girl,” the priest said.
“God was assigned a gender at birth, and later on it became clear that that gender wasn’t right,” Klink continued.
Klink added, “So if you’re gonna deny that God is trans, I think you’re going to be denying the divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ and I have some notes about that.”
The sermon also focused on Jesus’ life, with Klink arguing that he did not follow the expected social norms for a first-century man. The priest pointed to Jesus’ decision not to marry and his relationships with women, describing those actions as different from a “traditionally masculine way” of living.
Klink further cited biblical descriptions of Jesus after the resurrection as support for the claim that he was transgender.
“There was something different about Jesus,” Klink said, while acknowledging that Scripture does not clearly identify what had changed.
“The Bible doesn’t tell us why it is that Jesus’ best friends, his disciples, the people who had walked with him to the end of his life, the people who had buried him in the tomb when it was politically difficult, who were committed to him still didn’t recognize Jesus for a good long time,” Klink said.
Klink’s conclusion relied largely on personal interpretation rather than direct biblical evidence.
“Now I don’t know for sure, I wasn’t there,” Klink acknowledged.
“But based on everything else I know about God, I have an idea. I think Jesus was resurrected as Jesus’ true self, which is beyond male or female. I think Jesus was not only transfigured; I think Jesus transitioned.”
The remarks prompted a strong reaction online, with critics questioning Klink’s theological authority and accusing the priest of making blasphemous claims.
“I dont understand how so many Christians just stand by and let this happen? Where is the push back?” one commenter wrote.
Another challenged Klink’s account of Mary’s role, writing, “Mary didn’t say ‘oh look a baby boy’ and decided his gender!? This is a lie. The angel Gabriel says ‘You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus.’”
“There is a special place in hell for these pernicious blasphemers,” a third added.
Klink’s views follow Talarico’s similar remarks, but the pol has since backtracked as he seeks victory in the closely watched Senate race against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
“God is both masculine and feminine and everything in between. God is nonbinary,” Talarico said on the State House Floor back in 2021 when he was a state Rep.
“I was being provocative with that statement. I get that,” Talarico admitted, explaining, “What I was trying to say is that you can’t use human categories to define God, and that’s not controversial theologically. In fact, the late Charlie Kirk, the late Pope Benedict all said the same thing.”
