An openly transgender cleric from San Francisco, who made history last year with an appointment as a bishop by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, has resigned amid allegations of racism after firing the pastor of a predominantly Latino congregation.

The Rev. Megan Rohrer, who uses the pronoun “they,” led one of the church’s 65 synods, overseeing nearly 200 congregations in Northern California and northern Nevada. They were elected in May 2021 to serve a six-year term as bishop of the Sierra Pacific Synod.

In a letter to the synod Saturday, Rohrer said they were resigning because of “the constant misinformation, bullying and harassment” they experienced after the synod voted to remove the pastor of Mision Latina Luterana on Dec. 12, the Feast of the Virgin of Guadalupe, a significant holiday for congregants of the Stockton, California, church.

Rohrer fired the Rev. Nelson Rabell-Gonzalez after an investigation by the church into verbal harassment and retaliation allegations against the pastor, all of which he has denied. The synod council voted on Dec. 11 to vacate Rabell-Gonzalez’s call as a mission developer and to terminate his employment after they said he refused to fulfill certain mandatory requirements.

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After Rabell-Gonzalez’s removal upset members of the Mision Latina Luterana, the Rev. Elizabeth A. Eaton, the denomination’s presiding bishop, appointed a three-person “listening panel” in March to review Rohrer’s actions.

That report released June 1 made several recommendations to the ELCA, including publicly apologizing to the Latino church community for the hurt caused, planning anti-racism training for churchwide staff and leaders, paying a “healing visit” to the community and creating a task force to review the church’s policies and procedures.

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Members of the listening panel reported that the Mision Latina Luterana congregation had no idea their pastor was fired on Dec. 12. The congregation comprising mostly Mexican immigrants had planned an elaborate program that day with mariachi singers, traditional dancers and performances by children, all led by their pastor.

A video, which one of the congregants recorded live, shows distraught congregants voicing their concerns. {snip}

Others said the move to fire him was “unfair” and “racist.” {snip}

The report also said Rohrer threatened a child and her father with calling the police if they did not leave the sacristy — a threat that is viewed as racist by the immigrant community. Rohrer wore a bulletproof vest during the service, the report said, because they had “concerns about their safety and well-being.”

Eaton announced in a May 27 report to the church that she had requested Rohrer’s resignation from the synod.

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The church’s Latino Ministries Association had strong words for Eaton in a May 28 statement criticizing her for not bringing disciplinary charges against the bishop for “racist actions” against the congregation.

The association’s leaders called Eaton’s statement “weak and compassionless” and framed racist actions as “unwise decisions” and “unfortunate events.” They also said her message ignored the suffering of an entire community and gave “a white aggressor the opportunity to decide their own fate — a decision deeply rooted in white supremacy and systemic racism.”

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