Marja-Sisko Aalto
Marja-Sisko Aalto is a Finnish minister of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. She was the vicar of the Imatra parish from 1986 to 2010.
Born in Lappeenranta as the seventh of eight children, she entered the faculty of theology at the University of Helsinki in 1973. She has been married twice, and has three children.
In November 2008, Aalto came out as trans woman and announced her intent to have a sex reassignment surgery. This caused a great controversy in the Church. The bishop of Mikkeli, Voitto Huotari, commented that there is no juridical obstacle for Aalto continuing as a vicar, but that there will be problems.
In 2009, almost 600 members left the Imatra parish. In November 2009, Aalto returned to the job of vicar after spending a year on leave. In March 2010, she requested to be allowed to resign, due in part to the discrimination she faced.
She was elected the notary of diocese for Kuopio by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in 2010.
