{"id":32786,"date":"2026-09-01T15:07:58","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T19:07:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/?p=32786"},"modified":"2026-09-01T15:07:58","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T19:07:58","slug":"a-south-carolina-presbyterian-churchs-new-pastor-is-a-transgender-lesbian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2026\/09\/a-south-carolina-presbyterian-churchs-new-pastor-is-a-transgender-lesbian","title":{"rendered":"A South Carolina Presbyterian Church\u2019s New Pastor is a Transgender Lesbian"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) \/ Facebook<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Another Presbyterian Church (USA) is raising eyebrows over its newly hired pastor. North Anderson Community Church Presbyterian Church in Anderson, South Carolina announced it had hired Rev. Laura Bethany Buchleiter to lead its church. Buchleiter will serve as the church\u2019s supply pastor, meaning a temporary minister that serves a congregation that is not seeking an installed, permanent pastor. North Anderson, part of PCUSA, is a small congregation, with an average attendance around 20 to 30 congregants.<\/p>\n

Buchleiter education includes studying at Moody Bible Institute, later receiving a Bachelor\u2019s degree in communications and Christian ministry from Dallas Baptist University, and a Master of Divinity from Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis. In 2021, Buchleiter became the first trans-identifying person to be ordained by a Cooperative Baptist Fellowship-affiliated congregation.<\/p>\n

Buchleiter has discussed his transition<\/a> in a 2023 book review in Christian Century,<\/em> where he also identified himself as being intersex. \u201cMy journey in discovering my intersex variations and navigating gender dysphoria challenged my addiction to answers and pushed me toward what [author of the book being reviewed] calls an \u2018acceptance of the space around the lines as a necessary part of the image itself.\u2019\u201d During an interview on the \u201cGay with God\u201d podcast, Buchleiter noted that his transition contributed to his wife leaving him and stated that he identified as a lesbian because of his continued attraction to women. In a Facebook post, Buchleiter announced the moved to Anderson, writing, \u201cmoving to Anderson, SC, the first of August \u2014 bringing an end to a three-month nomadic season of life\u201d and that the part-time position would leave Buchleiter with \u201ctime to keep working on other jobs and projects.\u201d<\/p>\n

PCUSA has become increasingly accepting of LGBTQ+ leadership and support within it general doctrine. In July, the denomination voted overwhelmingly in favor of transgender surgeries in children. The vote took place during PCUSA\u2019s 227th General Assembly. The denomination is also requiring member churches to indicate their willingness to have an LGBTQ+ pastor lead their congregation. Churches will be required to fill out what is called a Ministry Discernment Profile to indicate the church\u2019s stance on hiring LGBTQ+ pastors. While the denomination continues to embrace liberal theology, it has dwindling membership numbers. To date, PCUSA lost more than 26,000 members and 128 congregations in 2025 and has lost over 1 million members since 2000.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Another Presbyterian Church (USA) is raising eyebrows over its newly hired pastor. North Anderson Community Church Presbyterian Church in Anderson, South Carolina announced it had hired Rev. Laura Bethany Buchleiter to lead its church. Buchleiter will serve as the church\u2019s supply pastor, meaning a temporary minister that serves a congregation that is not seeking an…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":516,"featured_media":32789,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nA South Carolina Presbyterian Church\u2019s New Pastor is a Transgender Lesbian<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A small South Carolina PCUSA congregation draws attention after hiring Rev. Laura Bethany Buchleiter, a transgender supply pastor.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2026\/09\/a-south-carolina-presbyterian-churchs-new-pastor-is-a-transgender-lesbian\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A South Carolina Presbyterian Church\u2019s New Pastor is a Transgender Lesbian\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A small South Carolina PCUSA congregation draws attention after hiring Rev. Laura Bethany Buchleiter, a transgender supply pastor.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2026\/09\/a-south-carolina-presbyterian-churchs-new-pastor-is-a-transgender-lesbian\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Beliefnet News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-09-01T19:07:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/140\/2026\/09\/PCUSA-Pastor_credit-Presbyterian-Church-USA-Facebook.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Cecilia Buchanan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A South Carolina Presbyterian Church\u2019s New Pastor is a Transgender Lesbian","description":"A small South Carolina PCUSA congregation draws attention after hiring Rev. 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