The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, known as the Mormon church, has taken one of the harshest formal positions against transgender identity of any faith group in America. Last month, LDS leaders rolled out new policies that bar…
‘Pro-family’ legislative groups add state-based legal centers to their culture war arsenals
Conservative Christian “pro-family” groups affiliated with Focus on the Family are adding state legal groups to their arsenal so they can combat old legislation they say violates their values and freedoms. Focus on the Family began creating a network of…
Trump warns of kids getting gender surgery at school and returns to anti-abortion stance
Donald Trump may be confused about what school nurses do, but he’s back on script opposing abortion. The Republican presidential nominee made waves within his own party last week when he appeared to support some level of abortion access and…
It’s harder to be trans in America today than it was eight years ago, Wingfield says
The United States is a much more hostile place for transgender people since 2016 when conservatives promoted bathroom bans to stoke fear against one of the most vulnerable populations in society, Baptist News Global Executive Director Mark Wingfield said. “It…
These Olympic boxers are not transgender but their experience illustrates transphobia
Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting went to Paris to box. Instead, the Olympic fighters unwittingly became punching bags in a fresh round of controversy over transgender athletes in sports. The fact that neither athlete is transgender — or, in fact,…
Texas school district gets its injunction against Title IX changes, for now
District Judge Reed O’Connor of the Northern District of Texas has issued a preliminary injunction against the U.S. Department of Education’s changes to Title IX in a lawsuit filed by Carroll Independent School District in Southlake, Texas. Carroll ISD, represented…
Purity culture is alive and well in the Christian nationalist agenda for public schools
Last week, I attended a school board meeting for the Southlake-Carroll Independent School District in North Texas which has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Education over its changes to Title IX. This is the school district in…
Americans growing more socially liberal but remain economically conservative, Gallup says
Americans continue to grow more liberal in their social views but remain more conservative on economic issues, according to Gallup. Since 2015 — coincidentally the year the U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage after a sea change of public opinion…
‘I am a fact … that does not yet have a name’
The Apple+ series Franklin — with Michael Douglas as Benjamin Franklin, one of America’s most influential founding fathers and the new Republic’s first ambassador to France — has historical significance. The story features the eight years, beginning in 1776, during…
Christianity Today considers gender in heaven
Evangelical obsession over gender is ascending to heaven now. In March, Christianity Today published a piece titled “Our Gender on Earth as In Heaven: Will Our Gender Be Removed or Renewed in the Resurrection?” The author, Fellipe do Vale, is…
Love, hate and Harry Potter
May 2 is International Harry Potter Day, the anniversary of the climactic Battle of Hogwarts in the final Potter book, when love overcomes hate and death. It’s a very Easter kind of occasion, and intentionally so, according to author J….
Speaker offers primer on LGBTQ words and how parents may affirm their kids
Parents can support the emotional and physical well-being of LGBTQ children by accepting the language and concepts they use to express their emerging gender identities, according to Hannah Edwards. Edwards — executive director of Transforming Families, a Minnesota-based, peer-led support…