Amid this spring’s wave of anti-transgender bills in state legislatures, United Methodists across the United States are actively advocating on behalf of transgender children and youth. For some of them like Debbie Mallis of Boise, Idaho, and Heather Gee-Thomas of…
Tennessee and Arkansas top the list of anti-trans legislation but many bills die in other states
While the 2021 state legislative session has produced more anti-LGBTQ legislation than any previous year — often supported by evangelical Christians — many of the anti-transgender bills have failed in statehouses. The latest setback for anti-transgender bills came in Texas…
It’s not just the SBC banning Critical Race Theory; now state legislatures are joining the fight
Southern Baptist seminary presidents aren’t the only ones up in arms about Critical Race Theory. Their affirmation that the six SBC seminaries will not teach about systemic racism and inherent injustices is sweeping Republican-led state legislatures this year. Bills in…
As state legislative sessions come to an end, anti-abortion bills are rising to the top
Some of the most restrictive anti-abortion bills in recent history have made their way through state legislatures this session, with at least five states already passing bills considered near-total bans on abortion. Many of the bills already passed or on…
Baptist deacon is author of controversial anti-trans bills in Texas, joining wave of similar legislation pushed nationwide
A Baptist deacon is the author of an anti-transgender bill that has passed the Texas Senate and now awaits action in the House — a bill that has been called by critics one of the cruelest in a season of…
Voting rights and the ninth commandment
It shouldn’t feel so hard to write about voting rights in a way that will not offend partisan sensibilities. It didn’t used to be this way. In 2006, Congress reauthorized the 1965 Voting Rights Act with a unanimous vote in…
America 2021: ‘Illegalizing’ dissent?
In the year 1612, British Baptist/dissenter Thomas Helwys published A Short Declaration of the Mystery of Iniquity, the first English call for universal religious freedom. Addressed to King James I, it began: “Hear, O King, and despise not the counsel…
Texas takes the spotlight as statehouses across the nation seek to restrict trans teens and voter access
Some Texas legislators want to outdo Georgia and Arkansas with a combination of bills restricting transgender teens and voting access for poor and minority citizens. The Texas bills — four concerning transgender health care, six concerning transgender athletes and two…
In state legislatures, a push against trans teens, for churches as ‘essential’ and seeking to define ‘religious freedom’
Ensuring the absolute right of churches to meet during a global pandemic, amending religious freedom legislation and enacting legislation against transgender youth have emerged as key faith-based actions in state legislatures across the nation this year. All three issues are…