Seriously. How hard can it be to call someone by the name they want to be called? Is this such a huge imposition?
To hear a lot of conservative evangelicals tell it, yeah, such a simple thing goes against their conscience. God wants them to call a man a man and a woman a woman, they insist. And they get to be the judge of who’s a man and who’s a woman.
In addition to not attempting to understand the very real existence of transgender people, these pious pickled people want to make a dramatic point of their refusals. The latest case is from Baton Rouge, La., where a Baptist pastor got fired from the local library for refusing to address a colleague correctly.
Screenshot of Luke Ash talking with Tony Perkins via Tony Perkins Channel on YouTube.
According to Metro Weekly: “Luke Ash, lead pastor of Stevendale Baptist Church in Baton Rouge, says he was fired from his job as a library technician at the East Baton Rouge Parish Library after refusing to use a co-worker’s preferred pronouns. He was reportedly dismissed after referring to the colleague by female pronouns during a July 7 conversation with another library employee.”
The pastor is now a hero in the “pro-family” evangelical culture and was a guest with Tony Perkins on his show Washington Watch with Tony Perkins.
Ash said he would not use the colleague’s preferred pronouns because of his religious belief that gender cannot change and sex is fixed at birth.
“I believe that there are religious convictions and there are other kinds of convictions, and when those things are in contradiction with each other, there has to be given preference for one or the other,” he told Baton Rouge ABC affiliate WBRZ.
So this bivocational pastor is an authority in gender studies and biology?
This attitude is nothing new, of course. But it remains one of the most heinous indicators of the go-to-hell attitude of conservative evangelicals. And it defies common courtesy and good manners.
What would this pastor do with a woman who has the given name Joe, traditionally assigned to men? Would he dare to speak that name? How about all manner of British names given to males that sound distinctively feminine? What about nicknames, like the liar in chief loves to dole out; I’m guessing Ash has repeated some of those in conversation.
“They demand the rest of the world revolve around them and their belief system.”
This Baton Rouge case illustrates how a certain set of conservatives demand to set the agenda wherever they are. They demand the rest of the world revolve around them and their belief system, and they are unwilling to make the slightest accommodations for others. The arrogance is stunning.
In this case, the library has an inclusivity policy that says the library must provide an atmosphere where all employees are welcomed, accepted and respected. The policy also says employees have the right to be referred to by their proper pronouns.
But Ash and his ilk insist on prioritizing their feelings over the feelings of others. And he refuses to admit he is the problem, telling WBRZ there’s “no malice in my heart, I just refuse to use the preferred pronouns.”
Sorry, dude, there is malice in your heart if you refuse to call people by their chosen names. Especially while claiming to follow a God who calls us all by name.
Will evangelicals ever get over their sense of entitlement and constant grievance? This is not a case of religious “persecution” as some — such as Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry — are claiming. This is a case of religious cruelty.
Logan Wolf, a board member of Forum for Equality, told WBRZ: “You just have to treat someone with basic decency, and I think that’s at the crux here. This person willingly violated the library’s policies toward another employee, and I think that’s not OK. He’s doing this because he wants to be aggrieved, instead of actually being aggrieved, and it’s just not right.”
The nation is in the mess we’re in right now because Donald Trump expertly tapped into this sense of conservative grievance. We cannot let these self-serving grievances take further root.
Bravo to the East Baton Rouge Parish Library for standing up for a transgender employee. That seems to me what Jesus would have done as well.
Mark Wingfield
Mark Wingfield serves as executive director and publisher of Baptist News Global. He is the author of five books, including Honestly: Telling the Truth About the Bible and Ourselves.
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