Recently, when I went to my local grocery store outside Houston, I was greeted by rainbow-colored cups and recyclable grocery bags emblazoned with the message “Y’all Means All” on the front of a Texas-shaped rainbow.
“Woohoo!” I exclaimed when I saw these Pride items.
This is because, in the past few years, my state has become more hateful than welcoming toward the LGBTQ community. Now, I realize the grocery store’s decision to sell Pride merch does not come out of the kindness of their hearts. I am confident their Pride placement is an economic decision, driven by extensive consumer research that says there is a consumer market for Pride products throughout Texas. So, I bought some rainbow-colored hair extensions for my niece and a “Y’all Means All” recyclable bag to send my economic message of support for their business decision.
Ginny Brown Daniel
My surprise at seeing Pride items was also because we, in Texas, just endured a brutal legislative session for the LGBTQ community and those of us who stand as allies. According to Equality Texas, there were 141 anti-LGBTQ bills filed in the 2023 legislative session (this is up from 76 bills in 2021). Although only three made it to the governor’s desk, they were doozies of discrimination: banning trans collegiate athletes (of which there are currently none), banning books in public schools with any mention of LGBTQ characters or content, and prohibiting physicians from providing best practices and life-saving care to transgender youth.
How did we devolve into such a place of fear against those whom God has created as LGBTQ?
“My town is less safe today than it was 15 years ago when same-sex marriage wasn’t even legal.”
As a former pastor of one of the few welcoming churches in the northern Houston suburbs from 2003 to 2015, I continually ask myself this question. My town is less safe today than it was 15 years ago when same-sex marriage wasn’t even legal. I believe the same is true for our entire nation regarding LGBTQ rights as more and more states are taking the legislation from Texas and Florida as blueprints for their own discriminatory laws.
What happened? The short answer is white Christian nationalism.
What is white Christian nationalism?
Americans United for Separation of Church and State defines white Christian nationalism as the belief that “America is — and must remain — a Christian nation founded for its white Christian inhabitants, and that our laws and policies must reflect this premise.”
I have been reading an excellent primer on white Christian nationalism titled, The Flag and the Cross: White Christian Nationalism and the Threat to American Democracy, by Phillip Gorski and Samuel Perry. They write, “If you pledge allegiance to your own ethno-cultural tribe and place them above the rights of your fellow citizens, then you have crossed the line into white Christian nationalism.”
In this case, the ethno-cultural tribe they reference is white, Christian, straight men. Therefore, those who identify in the LGBTQ community are outside of this patriarchy and are targets for discrimination and abuse. There is no room for pluralism or diversity of thought, identity or belief because white Christian nationalists believe their way is the right way.
For those of us who grew up Southern Baptist, we will recognize white Christian nationalism as the grandchild of the fundamentalist or Moral Majority movement in the 1980s. Both are steeped in a literalist interpretation of the Christian Bible; both movements lambast the “evils” of America as crime (aka African Americans), moral debauchery (aka LGBTQ individuals and AIDS), and godlessness (aka those of different and no faith). The Moral Majority was married to politics in a way that implemented their agenda to demonize and undermine those of other sexual and gender identities, races and religions, which is exactly what white Christian nationalism is doing today.
What the January 6 insurrection showed us is that unlike the Moral Majority in the 1980s, we are on the precipice of losing our democracy because white Christian nationalists are better funded (by West Texas oil billionaires), better organized (targeting local and state elections rather than federal legislation), and more violent (instigated by our former president).
Help wanted: Christians to fight back
Before you curl into a ball feeling helpless at the anti-LGBTQ discrimination in the name of white Christian nationalism, join me in fighting back. We must leverage our comfort and safety to change the course of fear led by white Christian nationalists in our local communities.
I saw this in Texas when a legislative hearing was called for an anti-trans bill in May. Our faith communities came out in droves: clergy wearing their collars, church members testifying against transphobic legislation, lawmakers providing their offices as safe spaces for those feeling overwhelmed by the abusive words spoken.
“When Scripture is used to defend banning LGBTQ books at local school board meetings, you and I must call their anti-LGBTQ discrimination a sin.”
This is what we must do as followers of Jesus to fight back against white Christian nationalism in our communities. When Scripture is used to defend banning LGBTQ books at local school board meetings, you and I must call their anti-LGBTQ discrimination a sin. When local businesses with Pride displays are boycotted, you and I must show up with our wallets and support these welcoming businesses. When elected officials make homophobic comments, you and I must write letters to the local paper condemning their hateful words as unlawful.
Banning books, bathrooms and medical care in the name of Jesus is a sin. And those of us who follow Jesus’ teachings to advocate for the rights of the marginalized are the only ones who can call out white Christian nationalists’ bigotry and idolatry for what it is — a sinful act of doing Pharoah’s work rather than widening the table of God’s Beloved Community.
So, happy Pride, my friends! Enjoy the festivities and celebrations Pride month has to offer. And then, let’s roll up our sleeves and get to the work of fighting white Christian nationalism with our wonderful LGBTQ siblings.
Ginny Brown Daniel is an ordained minister who is a keynote speaker and writes on faith and politics in Texas. Visit her website at www.ginnybd.com.
Related articles:
I’m relearning how to take Pride | Opinion by Patrick Wilson
The right’s zero-tolerance policy on Pride | Opinion by Mark Wingfield
Dear closeted queer one, Pride is for you | Opinion by Amber Wylde
Pride month and the unhindered gospel | Opinion by Stephen Shoemaker