Paula Stone Williams, the author of As a Woman: What I Learned About Power, Sex and the Patriarchy After I Transitioned, will be the featured speaker. Her lecture, “Then and Now – How an Evangelical Pastor’s Journey from Paul to Paula changed her perspective on religion, gender equity and what it means to live authentically,” is sponsored by Fifth Third Bank and the Schmidlapp Family.
Dr. Hilary Brewster, an associate professor of English and the director of the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies program, says Williams’ previous relationship with Marshall and the region made her a great pick.
“As the newly elected director, this is my first time organizing the annual Schmidlapp lecture. Luckily, a friend put me in touch with Williams’ agent, and we were able to bring in such a wonderful guest. Her ties to the region and previous participation with the Marshall TedX series, in addition to her story, of course, made her my first choice to bring to campus this year,” Brewster said.
Williams served as the president of the Christian Church planting organization Orchard Group from 1989 to 2009. She was fired by the Orchard Group and from the Christian Standard periodical, where she worked as editor, when she came out as a transgender woman in December 2012.
“Given the cultural and political discourse, and legislation happening around the country and during the most recent WV legislative session, I thought it particularly timely to highlight the life experience of a trans person—especially one with roots in a church—for this event. I hope everyone, but specifically people who identify as religious and as members of the LGBTQ community, will come hear Paula speak,” Brewster said.
Williams is now the pastor at Left Hand Church in Longmont, Colorado.
The event is free and open to the public and includes a reception. For more information contact Brewster at brewsterh@marshall.edu.