Five years ago, I met Mr. Matthew Pancake at a McDonald’s in Houston. I was a pastoral delegate to our national church convention; he was a lay delegate. The restaurant was the only fast food place on the walk from hotel to convention center. It was always crammed full. Matthew was forced to eat with all sorts of lowlifes.
When he got home, he remembered me and friended me on Facebook. Since I began posting in regard to gender dysphoria, he got involved with the conversation. He told his pastor, the Rev. Gary Held. He told me that Pastor Held and he host a radio program.
Several weeks ago, Matthew asked if I would be interested in being interviewed regarding gender dysphoria and transgender. We did a pre-interview two weeks ago. I didn’t scare them off. Last week, we taped the interview. It aired on their radio stations on Sunday and then became available as a podcast.
Here is the link: http://lutherandifference.blogspot.com/2015/08/427-dealing-with-gender-dysphoria.html
During the first half hour, Pastor and Matthew discuss topics in the news. Pastor interviews me in the second hour. If you want to focus on the interview, start the podcast and then watch the black bar grow across the bottom. It only take a few moments. When it gets halfway, move the circle to about the middle. The interview begins at around 29:30 and lasts half an hour.
Besides being elated at the opportunity to speak to these things, I was pleased with the questions Pastor asked and my answers. In only a couple of spots, I wish I had added another thought to help clarify. Oh, and that ringing phone you will hear? Yup, that’s mine, having forgotten to turn it off. For as rarely as my phone rings . . . you know the rest.
Pastor Held and Matthew Pancake do a professional job. Check out their home page: http://lutherandifference.blogspot.com. Many podcasts are available.
If you listen, you might wonder why I am Greg on the show and not Gina. When we began our discussions, I was not sure when I would publicly change my identity. When the two were coinciding, it became a question. We had left it up in the air as to whether I would be asked about my transitioning, depending on how the conversation went and the time we had. So, it was MY decision to go with Greg, thinking it would play better.
A final thought. Everything on my blog I also post on Facebook. There, the conversation is active, often adding much to the topic. If you would like to be part of the conversation, friend me: https://www.facebook.com/porthopepizza.
Eilers Pizza 
I know Matthew Pancake. I met him through Chris Rosebrough via Facebook some years a back. Good theological mind. Glad to see you’ve finally been contacted by someone for an interview. I look forward to hearing it.
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Cool! I like Matthew a lot. Pastor Held, too.
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I listened to your interview yesterday. Damn, you’ve got a manly voice. Like, it was close to what I was expecting, but manlier. The kind of voice that makes me want to go chop down trees and punch a bear, then eat a lion with said bear while drinking a bear and speaking of great tales of our past.
In seriousness, though, after listening to your interview, I think I may have misread some of your more recent posts. For example, I took some of your more recent posts to mean that you were considering having the surgery to change genders, but the interview led me to the complete opposite impression. Could you clarify so that I am understanding you correctly?
Secondly, you mentioned in the interview (and in previous posts, but sometimes hearing does a lot more than reading) that every time you stopped the hormone therapy, that you would crash really hard. My question is why don’t you just keep going with the hormone therapy? Is there a reason you keep stopping?
Great interview, though. I hope you get to do more, preferably longer and more in depth ones.
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Now, don’t go telling me I have a manly voice! 🙂 I have a few close to me who assure me it isn’t too bad, and that it fits how I look. Ugh. I am working on feminizing it and can do it, but it still feels fake to me. But, hey, good luck with the trees and bear and your meal!
I don’t know what you heard in the interview to change your thinking. Of course, there was not time to pursue this further. Maybe in the future. Here is the skinny on it: if this Real Life Test progresses in a positive manner, my thinking right now is that I will have Facial Feminization Surgery (FFS) first, and Sex Reassignment Surgery (SRS) second, both, I would hope, next year.
Good question about the HRT. I kept stopping for two reasons. One, because staying on it changes one’s body and mind. I am now deep enough into it that I am in second puberty, and my mind if forming way more female than I ever imagined it could – and it feels very good! Two, each time I resumed trying to be male, it seemed I could not do that and remain on HRT – the two being incompatible,
Thank you for the kind words about the interview. I hope they get so much feedback that they want to do another real soon.
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Reblogged this on Reflections of Faith and commented:
This was a great radio interview. I encourage all to listen to it.
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This was a really great interview! I was very impressed with the questions you were asked by the interviewers. I wish that more Christian radio hosts were informed enough to ask such perceptive questions, instead of asking leading questions which subtly attack transgender people. Thank you for posting this. I listened to the entire episode, not just the interview with you. I was so impressed that I’ve added “Radical Grace Radio” to my podcast list. I’ll be listening to it daily, along with “The World and Everything In It”.
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I’m glad you found this, Colleen, and then found it to be well done! Thanks for listening, and thanks for your reactions!
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