God Loves Everyone (And Me)

by Robin Dorner
Editor in Chief

It’s funny how we see ourselves…maybe even as a “green dog.” No one else probably sees us the same way, but we see ourselves and, for the most part, we’re probably wrong.

In her book, God Loves Everyone (And Me), writer Stephanie Mott describes in short stories what it’s like in the life of a transgender woman and her path coming out, self-acceptance and finding that she is loved by many, including God.

Where I, as the reader, can never imagine what a transgender person goes through in life (nor in coming out), as I read this collection of short stories and poems, I could relate to the awkwardness many of us feel at times. Life is difficult even when the playing field is even.

Mott said the first part of the book is a collection of many of those columns and blogs; the second part is from the poetry prose, adding that the book is “really just a collection from 2006 through early this year.”

Among my personal favorite short writings in the book: The Green Dog Diary, Marking the “F”  Box, When Flowers Bloom, Trans Feelings, Turning Circles, My Journey Into Feminism  and…I love & despise the There Will Always Be Zoraks.

“I've been writing columns for Liberty Press since 2008,” said Mott. “I started posting with LGBT Senior in 2011 and with Huffington Post a couple of years ago.”

Mott is also the founder of the Transgender Faith Tour: “Spreading The News…God Loves Everyone!” (www.transfaithtour.org).

“Like the transgender faith tour, it's about being able to live authentically and be a person of faith. And letting others know that they can too, if they want to.”

Mott wrote in a recent editorial piece in The Gayly earlier this year that the idea of the Transgender Faith Tour (TFT) came from a visit to the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of West Plains, Missouri in March 2014. She said, “The seeds had been planted years before at Metropolitan Community Church of Topeka, where I discovered it was possible to be transgender and have a relationship with God.”

To order God Loves Everyone (And Me), visit www.lulu.com and search the book title or author, Stephanie Mott.

The Gayly – November 13, 2015 @ 8:20 a.m.