An exvangelical writer, speaker and advocate, Chrissy Stroop is (with Lauren O’Neal) co-editor of the essay anthology Empty the Pews: Stories of Leaving the Church. A senior correspondent for Religion Dispatches and a weekly columnist for openDemocracy, her work has also appeared in Political Research Associates, Foreign Policy, The Boston Globe, Playboy, DAME Magazine, and other outlets, including peer-reviewed academic journals. Stroop has a PhD in modern Russian history from Stanford University, and was previously a senior research associate with the University of Innsbruck’s Postsecular Conflicts project. In 2019, she came out as a transgender woman and began her journey of medical transition. She lives in Portland, Oregon.