The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
‘Love your neighbors,’ trans pastor urges state House
Leader of Candler Park church gives morning prayer.
The Rev. Andi Woodworth, believed to be the first transgender pastor to address the Georgia House during its morning devotional prayer, told members to heed Scripture in the New Testament and “love your neighbors as you love yourselves.”
“The labels we put on other people, even the roles we step into, can in some ways be dehumanizing,” said Woodworth, Monday’s Pastor of the Day. “I would invite all of us to see more of the people of Georgia as we are, not as we imagine us to be.”
Democratic state Rep. Saira Draper, who represents parts of Atlanta, introduced Woodworth, a pastor at the Neighborhood Church, a Methodist church in Candler Park that opened in 2016.
“When I think of Neighborhood Church and when I think of Rev. Andi and Rev. Anjie (the co-pastor), I think of the heart of our community,” Draper said.
Woodworth said her motto as a pastor comes from the children’s rhyme “This is the church, this is the steeple, open the doors and see all the people.”
“The nature of our contentious political and social life means that we see the little letter after people’s names,” she said, referring to the “R” or “D” indicating the party affiliation of state lawmakers. “Or we see skin color, or we see a rainbow pin or a team jersey or what kind of truck they’re driving, and we begin to make assumptions about people — assumptions that can, even in tiny ways, begin to see those other folks as slightly less human than we are.”
Pastor Melanie Vaughn-Colwell of Oakhurst Baptist Church in Decatur said she was proud of Woodworth’s remarks. She said Woodworth modeled her message by acknowledging the members as humans, not just legislators.
“She expressed love for them with her words and embodied love for them in her presence before them,” Vaughn-Colwell said.