'Welcoming' is a word that was not taken lightly this weekend at a very special celebration of faith, gender and understanding. Corvallis played host to "Transforming Faith: A Transgender Witness," the first national conference examining communities of faith who offer inclusive ministry to transgenders, people whose gender identity or expression does not conform with the cultural norm.

The Rev. Tara Wilkins, director of one of the sponsoring organizations, the Community of Welcoming Congregations, said Corvallis was a good venue for the national conference.

"Corvallis just seemed like it had everything we needed," she said. "We just felt like the community would be supportive and welcoming."

Representatives of a number of faiths, including Christianity, Judaism, Unitarianism and Wicca, attended the event, as did people with a wide variety of gender identities and sexual preferences. The emphasis of the conference was to educate communities of faith on gender identity issues, to broaden the conversation away from rigid male and female roles and to celebrate gender expression in a variety of forms.

Wilkins said just as communities of faith struggle with members who identify within the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) spectrum, it is also sometimes difficult to come out as a person of faith within the LGBT community.

"It's easier to be a lesbian in the Christian world than a Christian in the lesbian world," she said, because many LGBT people have been wounded by members of the faith community.

The Rev. Gretchen Woods of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Corvallis, said the conference was an especial benefit to faith communities in the area.

"This is a tremendous opportunity for our congregations and our people," she said, "to have their understanding of the vast spectrum of human experience and sexuality, identification and expression. Not only are we being exposed to people we may have never realized we encountered before, but we also have the opportunity for interchange."

While Corvallis does bill itself as a place that welcomes diversity, Woods argued that there is much room for improvement around issues of race, class, gender and gender expression. Conferences like this one provide a real opportunity to exercise open minds and welcoming attitudes.

"People say they want to be more inclusive, but they don't introduce people with different experiences inside their homes," Woods said. "They don't go out for coffee with them."

The Rev. Malcolm Himschoot, a transgender man and a minister with the United Church of Christ, said the conference was a great opportunity to meet other transgender clergy and to remind Christian congregants that Christ's teachings were not about domination and exclusivity.

"What's being urged is bridges being built on both sides," he said, connecting the faith community and the transgender community. The fact that 150 participants from across the country came to the weekend event gave him and other conference presenters hope that the conversation is going to continue.

The conference continues today at First United Methodist Church, 1165 N.W. Monroe Ave., Corvallis. For more information, go to www.welcomingcongregations.org.