Erin Swenson

Erin Katrina Swenson Aged 11, Swenson had dreams in which she would transition from male to female, and began cross-dressing in her own room. However, she did not feel she could be open about her gender identity within her socially conservative and sexually repressed household. In 1970, the couple had their first child. Soon after, Swenson pursued her studies at the Columbia Theological Seminary Swenson completed her theological education with honors in 1973, whereupon she became an ordained minister. Swenson's family had initially been reluctant to accept her gender transition. However, she explained that she had gender identity disorder (gender dysphoria) and told herself about her prior suicidal ideation, saying that she may kill herself if she was forced to live as a man. After a period of 18 months, Swenson's family came to accept her gender identity. Her father helped pay the $14,000 needed for gender-affirming surgery.

After transitioning, Swenson spoke about how she felt more authentically herself, saying of her past self: "He seems like somebody who doesn't come around anymore." the Presbytery of Greater Atlanta voted 186 to 161 in favor of sustaining her ordination as minister on October 22, 1996, in spite of opposition from conservative members such as pastor Don Wade of the Rehobeth Presbyterian Church, who said he disagreed with "solv[ing] a psychological and emotional problem in this manner", saying that he believed transgender people could be healed through the power of prayer.

Swenson was a tennis player, and played against in the women's leagues for her local team in Chamblee, Georgia. This was opposed by a team from Loganville, who argued that Swenson was ineligible for the women's leagues as she was assigned male at birth. In 1996, the Atlanta Lawn Tennis Association (ALTA) voted to allow Swenson to play tennis for the women's leagues, saying that since Swenson had undergone gender transition and surgery and was recognized as a woman by the State of Georgia, she was eligible to play in the women's leagues.

She was the founder of the Southern Association for Gender Education (SAGE) and the co-moderator of More Light Presbyterians, an LGBT advocacy group within the Presbyterian Church (USA). In 2005, she was awarded the Lazarus Award, given by the Presbytery of the Pacific and the Synod of Southern California and Hawaii in recognition of individuals and groups that empower LGBT people.

Retirement from the ministry , Swenson is retired from the ministry, and hosts a podcast, So Much More than Gender. , Swenson was still a licensed marriage and family therapist, with a focus on transgender issues.