Faith Communities Becoming Informed Advocates For Transgender People: An Interview with Just Talk Live

On March 9, 2021, I joined Just Talk Live to discuss my journey to becoming an advocate for transgender people and how churches can become informed allies and safe spaces for transgender people and their loved ones. Watch the full interview below or on YouTube.

Reverend Shantell Hinton Hill, womanist writer, speaks during the second segment.

Click the video above to watch.

Questions I address in this interview

How did I come to be an advocate for people who are transgender?
Why is it important for people of faith to be advocates and allies for people who are transgender?
How can faith communities create safe spaces and support transgender people and their loved ones?
How has the PC(USA) changed over time?
Are there any resources you would recommend?

Just Talk Live

Just Talk Live is a weekly talk show created by Unbound: An Interactive Journal of Christian Social Justice. Unbound examines, expresses, and encourages commitments to social justice as inspired by the prophetic gospel of Jesus Christ. A ministry of the Presbyterian Church USA, Unbound holds to the ecumenical voice of the Church universal. Learn more at justiceunbound.org.

Reverend Shantell Hinton Hill

Shantell is the ultimate Renaissance woman. An engineer turned pastor, Shantell situates her work at the intersections of social justice, public theology, and speculative fiction.

A native of Conway, Arkansas, Shantell is married to Rev. Jeremy Hill. She recently obtained a Master of Divinity from Vanderbilt Divinity School. She also earned a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Vanderbilt University and a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from Colorado State University. She is a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., and the National Society of Black Engineers. She is also an ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Her vocational experiences includes work as a Process Control Engineer, a Bible teacher, and as Assistant University Chaplain at Vanderbilt University.

Most recently, Shantell joined a philanthropic organization focusing on faith-based coalition building and narrative change to imagine more just communities in Arkansas. In her spare time, Shantell loves coloring, writing, and science fiction. Her favorite quote is, "Do the work your soul must have," coined by the late womanist pioneer Rev. Katie G. Cannon, Ph.D.

Visit her at shantellhhill.com.