TRANS BISHOP RESIGNS OVER RACISM ALLEGATIONS

An openly transgender cleric from San Francisco, who made history last year with an appointment as a bishop by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, has resigned amid allegations of racism after firing the pastor of a predominantly Latino congregation.

The Rev. Megan Rohrer, who uses the pronoun they, led one of the church’s 65 synods, overseeing nearly 200 congregations in Northern California and northern Nevada. They were elected in May 2021 to serve a six-year term as bishop of the Sierra Pacific Synod.

In a letter to the synod Saturday, Rohrer said they were resigning because of “the constant misinformation, bullying and harassment” they experienced after the synod voted to remove the pastor of Mision Latina Luterana on Dec. 12, the Feast of the Virgin of Guadalupe, a significant holiday for congregants of the Stockton church.

Rohrer fired the Rev. Nelson Rabell-Gonzalez after an investigation by the church into verbal harassment and retaliation allegations against the pastor, all of which he has denied. The synod council voted on Dec. 11 to vacate Rabell-Gonzalez’s call as a mission developer and to terminate his employment after they said he refused to fulfill certain mandatory requirements.

Rohrer was not available to speak with The Associated Press on Tuesday. A spokeswoman for the ELCA declined further comment Tuesday.

After Rabell-Gonzalez’s removal upset members of the Mision Latina Luterana, the Rev. Elizabeth A. Eaton, the denomination’s presiding bishop, appointed a three-person “listening panel” in March to review Rohrer’s actions.

That report released June 1 made recommendations to the ELCA, including publicly apologizing to the Latino church community for the hurt caused, planning antiracism training for churchwide staff and leaders, paying a “healing visit” to the community and creating a task force to review the church’s policies and procedures.