LETTER FROM STOCKHOLM
The International Transgender Day of Remembrance is held every year on November 20 in memory of Rita Hester, a 34-year-old African-American transgender woman murdered in her Boston home on November 20, 1998. This year, on its X account, which has 21,000 followers, the Church of Sweden, an Evangelical Lutheran church that was formerly Sweden's state church, posted a prayer for "transgender people who are victims of violence and hatred." "Help us to make the world better: to say each other's right name, to meet with respect so that we can show that the victory of love in the world comes through care, kindness and goodness," the post continued.
Since 2016, Charlotte Frycklund, 54, who was ordained 27 years ago, has been an "internet priest" ("nätpräst" in Swedish). Along with three communications officers, she runs the Church's three official accounts on X, Facebook and Instagram from the Archdiocese of Uppsala. On November 20, she was not on duty in the early evening, but faced with the wave of reactions, she had to resume her duties in front of her screen. She was prepared for this. On the occasion of Trans Visibility Day, on March 31, 2023, the Church had posted a similar message, calling for prayers for "all transgender people who suffer, who are oppressed, who are killed." Seen 2.9 million times, the tweet caused a storm on social media.
Despite incendiary comments mocking the "leftism" of the Church, which was accused of betraying conservative values and the Bible, the priest and her three colleagues have never abandoned their stoicism. Example: "How many genders are there?" asked Nick Alinia. Answer: "As many as God wants." To which the far-right MP Erik Hellsborn responded: "God created two genders: man and woman. The other 'genders' are created by people who believe themselves to be above God." He professed himself astonished "that a supposedly Christian church should adopt this point of view." The reply: "It's not at all surprising. From the very beginning of the Bible, when creation takes shape, there is mention of the 'multitude' that God creates. God creates exactly what he wants, and we don't do ourselves any favors by trying to limit God's creative power."
Frycklund admits that it's not always easy to find the right answers, "especially when there aren't any." She is often asked "why God lets babies die." She also sometimes finds herself faced with an internet user who has just learned that they have cancer. What can she say to reassure someone whose life has been turned upside down? "The important thing is that there be a conversation and to show people that they're not alone," she said.
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