Hermaphrodytus... Where the term "Hermaphrotyte" comes
was a Greek deity made from the union of Hermes (Logic and reason) and Aphrodyte (Passion and Beauty). This deity had the sex characteristics of both male and female and was thought to represent perfection.
History has a number of examples of religiously significant people who would probably be termed "transgendered". The imported Roman Goddess Cybele had priests who would castrate themselves and dress and live as women. The Goddess Ishtar/Ashera/Innanna had priests who lives as priestesses and bestowed the blessings of the goddess sexually to the male population. In the US the natives had the "Berdache" or "Two-Spirit" people - men and women who were understood to be both male and female and neither ast the same time. There were ceremonies that could only be performed by one of these special people, and taking one as a wife (or husband since not all of them liked men) was an honor. They performed the labor of both men as women and were thought to be better able to communicate with "spirits" because of their understanding of both male and female.
As far as the Abrahamic faiths go, there is a long history of supressing the feminine. Both homophobia and transphobia have their root in this as well as "good old" sexism. The Church needs a strong Male deity, so women and "not-men" must be week and weakness must be punished. That and sex is scary, especially sex for pleasure not for babies.
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