A 51-year-old United Methodist pastor stunned his congregation last month by using the pulpit to announce that he is “transgender,” is taking hormone treatments, and will now be living as a woman.
Pastor Phil Phaneuf, who leads a Massachusetts-area United Methodist church, interrupted his Sunday sermon last Nov. 23 with a “special announcement,” according to Protestia.
Congregants were told they were about to witness the pastor’s personal “creative transformation.”
Phaneuf admitted he had already begun hormone replacement therapy, declaring that he now intends to go by she/her pronouns and saying he is adopting the middle name of another woman, “Fiona,” because he wanted something they would “have in common.”
Phaneuf admitted during the sermon that his own family was not on board.
Phil Phaneuf:
Everyone gets nervous when there’s a special announcement from the pastor. I’m not leaving.I did not get into ministry to talk about myself or my personal life, but sometimes there are things that happen in a pastor’s personal life that are going to find their way out into ministry. I am inviting you to join me in a season of creative transformation for myself—and, I think, for all of us.
I get to announce with joy that I’m transitioning. I’m affirming and saying to all of you that I am transgender. The best way to put this is that I’m not becoming a woman; I’m giving up pretending to be a man.
What will change? Thank God, you have never chosen me as your pastor based on my appearance. It’s the spirit. Amen? Amen. I was waiting for that. None of you ever judged me, and that was not part of the intake process of me becoming your pastor—how my face looked, or my body, or how long my hair is, or my clothes.
Because at the end of the day, we know that clothes are just fibers. They do not carry an anatomy with them. So to say that something is girls’ clothes or boys’ clothes—well, they don’t come with a reproductive system. Amen?
So what will change? My voice—it might go a tad higher. Pronouns: she/her. But I’m not going to be the pronoun police, okay? Because I don’t think that anybody will misgender or mis-pronoun out of malice. This is a process. It’s a transition.
What may change is my full name. I’m taking on, for me, Fiona’s middle name so that we have that in common. What may change is that we might become known within the community as an even safer space for people who have felt marginalized.
Are my parents okay with this? Absolutely not. They texted me this morning and asked me to tell you all that they do not support me and that they have chosen their convictions and their beliefs over supporting their child.
I’m in the category of what they call asexual. I’ve been that way since we’ve all been together. I’m not living my life in such a way that I’m looking for romance. And that’s okay. We all have to live the ways that we live.”
WATCH:
UMC pastor shocks his congregation by announcing during the sermon that he’s transgender and will be ‘transitioning’ to a woman.
“My parents texted me this morning and they asked for me to TELL YOU all that they DO NOT support me.” pic.twitter.com/HD2s87pPLi
— Protestia (@Protestia) December 2, 2025
Following the sermon, Phaneuf posted a celebratory message online:
“Today is a brand new day! And I have the immense joy to share that I’ve publicly announced that I am a transgender woman and am in the process of transitioning. God’s Creative Transformation is abundant in steadfast love through this. I am deeply thankful for the friends, fellow clergy friends, the district and the conference, and the church members for their affirmation and support! This news is surprising to some and confirmation for others. Please be kind in your responses… not just to this one, but to everyone’s posts in this social media sphere.”
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