Monterey County Rainbow Connections Gender Diversity Provider Training
Religious & Spiritual Resources for LGBTQ Youth & Families: Using Affirming Theology, Values, Practices, & Community Resources
April 2, 2025
CE’s Available
The Gender Health Training Institute is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Gender Health Training Institute maintains responsibility for this program and its content.
We Will:
- Explore LGBTQ-affirming resources in the five major world religions: Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, & Hinduism, with a focus on Christianity.
- Define eunuch as one type of gender expansive religious figure.
- Define seven components of a religion: tradition, text, myth, ritual, historical figures, philosophy, & values.
- Explore three tools to locate LGBTQ-affirming faith communities & community-based services that support faith-based acceptance of LGBTQ youth.
- Develop an individualized toolkit with LGBTQ-affirming faith resources to use with LGBTQ clients & their families.
Learning objectives:
By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:
- Use best practices recommendations to research a given client’s religious background.
- Use best practices resources to vet LGBTQ-affirming faith communities for clients & their families.
Presenters
Luke Pacha, MA, M.Div.
Luke Pacha is the owner of Infinite Diversity LLC. He holds a Master of Religion and Psychology, Master of Divinity, and Certificate of Sexuality and Religion from Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, CA. He also holds a Bachelor of Science in Human Development and Psychological Services from Northwestern University in Evanston, IL.
Luke straddles the worlds of academia/theory and practice, serving as the Board President of Trans Bodies, Trans Selves, a national non-profit organization that publishes a 705-page resource guide of the same name, by and for the trans, gender expansive, and nonbinary communities. Through this work, he connects with leading transgender and gender expansive scholars in medicine, law, mental health, social sciences, politics, and culture to collaborate on editions of Trans Bodies. He recently authored the Religion and Spirituality chapter of the second edition of the book, released April 15, 2022, and served as Survey Editor, managing a nationwide qualitative survey of over 2,000 respondents quoted in the book, and editing several chapters. Luke co-authored an academic review of methodologies used to survey transgender & nonbinary people based on the Trans Bodies Second Edition Survey, “Surveying trans and nonbinary communities: Research methodologies, accountability, and ethics with the Trans Bodies, Trans Selves Survey (2nd edition),” published in Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity in 2022.
Luke also co-authored the Religion and Spirituality chapter in the surgical textbook Gender Confirmation Surgery: Principles and Techniques for an Emerging Field, edited by Loren Schecter, released 2020. He has been featured as a subject matter expert on gender pronouns in Rolling Stone, Grammarly’s Guide to Personal Pronouns, and NPR Cap Radio about best pronoun practices in the workplace. He has also been interviewed on NPR’s The Takeaway and been published in LGBTQ Nation. More information can be found about Luke at infinitediversityllc.com.
Session is 180 min including time for Q&A.
3 CE Credits Available
The Gender Health Training Institute is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Gender Health Training Institute maintains responsibility for this program and its content.