Trans Identity and Latter-Day Saint Theology: A Conversation with Taylor Petrey

In this episode of Dialogue Out Loud, Caroline Kline speaks with former Dialogue editor Taylor G. Petrey about his essay, “History and Theology of Trans and Nonbinary Identity in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,” featured in the Spring 2026 issue of Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought.

Petrey offers a sweeping historical and theological account of how transgender and nonbinary identities have been understood within Latter-day Saint thought—from nineteenth-century medical theories and early Church teachings to contemporary policy shifts and lived experience. He traces how ideas about “biological sex,” “eternal gender,” and divine creation have shaped institutional responses to trans members, often in ways that exclude or marginalize them.

The conversation also explores emerging trans Latter-day Saint theologies, which engage doctrines of embodiment, spirit, and creation to argue for inclusion and reimagine what it means to belong within the tradition.