How One Bishop Has Change the Face of the Mainline Church

The Rev. Dr. Megan Rohrer (they/he) is Bishop of the Sierra Pacific Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Bishop Megan, the first openly transgender pastor ordained in the Lutheran church, was ordained Extraordinarily in 2006. One of 18 pastors ordained during the time when the ELCA did not allow LGBT pastors to serve openly. In 2010, Bishop Megan was one of the first seven pastors received into the ELCA after their policies changed. On May 8, 2021 they were elected as the first openly transgender Bishop in a mainline Christian denomination. Before serving as Bishop, they served as Pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in San Francisco, Community Chaplain Coordinator for the San Francisco Police Department and Executive Director of Welcome with the LGBTQ+ Homeless Community in San Francisco. Bishop Megan is an award-winning filmmaker, musician and historian and has been featured on Queer Eye, Cosmo, People and in Wittenberg, Germany for the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation. Bishop Megan lives near Golden Gate Park with their wife Laurel, two children and two cats.

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