2019 Issue 5 Sep/Oct - Focus Mid-Tenn Magazine

LGBT+ AND MINISTRY IN TENNESSEE
By Margo Hall
photo courtesy of
Vanderbilt Divinity School
Damien Domenack is
an admission fellow and
part of the admission team
for the Vanderbilt School
of Divinity. He recently
graduated with a master’s
degree in theology and is
currently pursuing a Ph.D.
He helps people find their
calling in ministry and helps
them determine if studying
theology is right for them.
Damien was drawn
to ministry because his
mom was a minister. He
found some of the same
tenants of Christianity in
community organizing.
When Damien was
younger, he was not
accepted by his church and
filled that part of his life
creating community spaces.
He found those same tenants
in the LGBT+ community,
as well as the immigrant
and people of color (POC)
communities, that he
discovered when moving to
New York City to persue his
undergraduate degree.
During his time in New
York, he was a part of the
Audre Lorde Project and a
founding member of Trans
Justice. As a member of
Trans Justice, he helped
start the first-ever trans and
gender non-conforming
march for social and
economic justice.
Interconnections
One of the things he
loves about community
organizing and working
with people is giving people
spaces to feel safe and to
have conversations. This
was a part of his work at the
Vanderbilt LGBT+ center
on campus. His academic
work also includes working
with prisons and individuals
who are incarcerated. For
Domenack, understanding
our interconnectedness and
roles with our communities
is essential, especially for
trans people. “Allowing for
trans folks to exist outside
just the trans bubble, is
the reality of our lives,” he
states. “The way we push
forward in that reality is into
that interconnectedness.”
When asked about his
path to understanding his
relationship with God, he
explains he was “made
in the image of God,
whichever form he chooses
to believe in.”
In recounting his religious
trauma, Damien talks about
how he learned his conflict
was not his own. He said it
comes from “negative ways
of speaking about God” that
feeds personal agendas,
and that “it is a construct for
hate, and that is not God,
and that is not Christianity.”
This hate impacts the
LGBT+ and other minority
communities around the
world which means his
trauma is a part of an
oppressive system. So
rather than reconciling
what he feels does not
belong to him, he focuses
on that which is his own.
A ministry based on
community
In finding happiness in his
life and as a trans person,
Damien says, “It didn’t
trans focus
“It didn’t come
without challenge
and learning about
how my body,
mind and soul
all work together.
Was that through
Christianity? No.
It was through part
queer culture, yoga
[and] Afrodiasporic
religion. It is part of
[my] ancestry and
getting to know
[myself] and [my]
people and [my]
trans identity.”
— Damien Domenack
come without challenge
and learning about how my
body, mind and soul all work
together. Was that through
Christianity? No. It was
through part queer culture,
yoga [and] Afrodiasporic
religion.” He goes on to say,
“It is a part of [my] ancestry
and getting to know
[myself] and [my] people
and [my] trans identity.”
Those are the things, he
feels, Christian supremacy
does not want you to know.
Through this selfdiscovery,
Domenack made
the core of his work to be
with transgender, nonbinary
individuals who
have religious trauma. That
was the work he did at the
LGBT+ center on campus
and will be his continued
work during divinity school.
The community work he
has dedicated his life to is
his ministry.
SUCCESS / SEP+OCT 2019 / focusmidtenn.com / Page 9