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Bishop Megan Rohrer speaks to the property earlier their installation ceremonial astatine Grace Cathedral successful San Francisco, Saturday, Sept. 11, 2021. Rohrer is the archetypal openly transgender idiosyncratic elected arsenic bishop successful the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. (AP Photo/John Hefti)

SAN FRANCISCO – The Evangelical Lutheran Church of America installed its archetypal openly transgender bishop successful a work held successful San Francisco's Grace Cathedral connected Saturday.

The Rev. Megan Rohrer volition pb 1 of the church's 65 synods, overseeing astir 200 congregations successful Northern California and bluish Nevada.

“My telephone is ... to beryllium up to the aforesaid messy, loving things I was up to before,” Rohrer told worshippers. “But mostly, if you'll fto me, and I deliberation you will, my anticipation is to emotion you and beyond that, to emotion what you love.”

Rohrer was elected successful May to service a six-year word arsenic bishop of the Sierra Pacific Synod aft its existent bishop announced his retirement.

“I measurement into this relation due to the fact that a divers assemblage of Lutherans successful Northern California and Nevada prayerfully and thoughtfully voted to bash a historical thing,” Rohrer said successful a statement. “My installation volition observe each that is imaginable erstwhile we spot God to shepherd america forward.”

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Rohrer, who uses the pronoun “they," antecedently served arsenic pastor of Grace Lutheran Church successful San Francisco and a chaplain coordinator for the city's constabulary department, and besides helped curate to the city's stateless and LGTBQ community. They studied religion astatine Augustana University successful their hometown of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, earlier moving to California to prosecute maestro and doctoral degrees astatine the Pacific School of Religion successful Berkeley.

Rohrer became 1 of 7 LGBTQ pastors accepted by the progressive Evangelical Lutheran religion successful 2010 aft it allowed ordination of pastors successful same-sex relationships. Rohrer is joined and has 2 children.

The religion is 1 of the largest Christian denominations successful the United States with astir 3.3 cardinal members.

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