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Don’t Fall For This Evangelical Con: Welcoming, Not Affirming

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anti-gay-to-affirming

Recently, The Christian Chronicle published an interview with Rubel Shelly, the author of “Male and Female God Created Them: A Biblical Review of LGBTQ+ Claims.” One question and answer stood out to me. Shelly is a Church of Christ preacher

B.T. Irwin asked:

Your book introduced me to a phrase I’ve never heard before in reference to Christian congregations, and that phrase is “welcoming, but not affirming.” Is that just a nicer way of saying hate the sin, love the sinner? How can congregations really be welcoming of people who identify as LGBTQ+ without affirming their behaviors?

Shelly replied:

I welcome my friends who are alcoholics. I welcome my friends who are drug addicts. I welcome my friends who have addictions of various sorts. In fact, a church that I served for 27 years here in Nashville at one point had 41 groups — accountability, reorientation sessions — going for people with all sorts of addictions, most of them around alcohol and drugs. 

We welcomed every one of them, but not in a single case did we ever affirm the addiction, the alcoholism, the meth, gambling, whatever it was that was their addiction. We welcomed them because that’s what the church is — the church is a recovering community of sinners. 

Here’s my point: If a church creates an atmosphere of redemption through the grace of God … we feel safe to admit, “Yes, I do need redemption, and I must throw myself on the grace of God for my gambling addiction, my alcohol addiction, my pathological lying, whatever it may be,” and that church welcomes them. Not to encourage them to continue the behavior, but they are welcomed into a penitent community where there is acceptance, accountability and nurture into spiritual health and recovery. 

Let’s follow that through with sexual issues in particular. Let’s talk about the teenager who is caught up in what now has the name “gender dysphoria.” 

Men have cooked and done needlework a long time. Women have been truck drivers and farmers. 

Gender dysphoria is one set of issues, but let’s suppose a teenager is dealing with what this culture is telling them: You may need to consider puberty blockers. You may need to consider dressing differently. You may need to consider surgery and changing your genitalia because you’re probably a woman trapped in the man’s body or vice versa.

Most teenagers — if they feel those things — don’t have a safe place to go to deal with it. 

Back in the 1980s, there was this new disease that was called AIDS. I had people asking me, “Do you think it’s safe to drink from a water fountain at church?” A neighbor warned my wife against going to a laundromat with some of the big bedding that she was going to dry in one of the big dryers. People were terrified.

So what Dr. Roy Hamley and I did was set up an accountability group, not for alcoholics or drug users or people caught up with gambling or pornography, but for people who were HIV-infected. We didn’t know if anybody would show up, but we had established a community of grace and healing. And sure enough, probably four or five the first night we met showed up, and before long the group grew large enough that we had to divide it into two different groups. 

We welcomed people who had AIDS. We welcomed people who were gay into the context of the call of Christ, to purity and repentance.

So this is not new territory for me. This is not abstract and academic. This is also pastoral for me. I think what people are looking for is not so much sex as intimacy, and by intimacy: safe people, safe places, acceptance, love. 

Where love is defined in the Christian sense, it’s the self-giving interest in one another. And yet in this culture, we don’t know how to do intimacy apart from groping or viewing or having intercourse with a woman, a man or both or a group. 

Intimacy doesn’t mean having sex. Intimacy means having a deep, meaningful connection within this male-female community that God has created to be the human race in his own image and likeness and, in that context, serving the kingdom of God. The point of life is not to have sex. The point of life is not romantic fulfillment. The point of life, if we are  Christian, is the kingdom of God. 

Our churches have to be welcoming, but not affirming, to people from all kinds of backgrounds, so that the church really is a Christ-focused place where acceptance with accountability — not simply acceptance to affirm, but acceptance with accountability to truth — can take place. We’re not centers to dispense judgment. We are centers to dispense grace within the context of the truth of the Gospel.

Shelly states: Our churches have to be welcoming, but not affirming. Many mainline Christian churches are welcome and affirming. Shelly will have none of that, saying that everyone is welcome, but they must conform to the church’s teachings to be truly accepted by the church. This is little more than a novel take on “loving the sinner, but hating the sin.” As readers of this site know, Evangelicals rarely hate sin without hating sinners too. Preachers are fond of saying that Christians should love what God loves and hate what God hates. God certainly hates sin, but the Bible says he hates sinners too. Thus, honesty demands that Evangelical preachers tell the truth to those whom they are “welcoming.”

LGBTQ people need to know before entering the doors of the church that they will be loved and welcomed, but an ulterior motive lies behind the kindness. LGBTQ people will be accepted for a time, but they will be expected to conform and change (by the grace of God, of course). These deviants will be permitted to attend services and fellowship with God’s chosen ones, but they will not be allowed to be members or serve in the church in any meaningful way. If LGBTQ attendees refuse to conform, pressure will be put on them to do so, and if they refuse to comply, they will be encouraged to move on. After all, you can’t paint LGBTQ people as perverts and pedophiles and be okay with them being around church children. Once word gets out that someone is gay, bisexual, or transgender, church members will not be comfortable having such people in their midst. LGBTQ people will be tolerated for a time, but only if they eventually repent of their sins, forsake their perversion, and live according to the teachings of the heterosexual Bible.

Churches are free to believe whatever they want regarding LGBTQ people. Churches are essentially membership clubs. They have every right to set membership rules. However, it is deceitful to feign love and kindness in the hope that the “mark” will repent of their sins and get saved. But, Bruce, we really do love LGBTQ people. We want what’s best for them. Sure, you do. Ask LGBTQ people if they feel your love, preacher. Maybe the LGBTQ people who read this blog will let you know what they think of your “welcoming, but not affirming” con.

Anthony Venn-Brown was right when he said:

Whilst some Christian leaders have preached hatred and the media given oxygen to the fringe lunatics of Christendom, many others hoped if they just closed their eyes or buried their head in the sand, eventually the issue would go away. I’ve often said that the problem is not so much homophobia but subjectaphobia; they would rather just not go into the volatile space of the faith and sexuality ‘debate’. It’s such a divisive issue.

But now churches are having to come to terms with the fact that in a growing number of western countries marriage equality has or is becoming a reality. This means that gay and lesbian couples may come into their churches who have a nationally or state recognised, legal marriage. Some will be parents. They are no longer gay, lesbians or “homosexuals” they are believers, committed church members and families.

The longer churches put this issue on the back burner the further behind they become. Considering the progress made in scientific research, changes in the law, acceptance of diversity in the corporate world and that since 1973 homosexuality has not been considered a mental disorder; some churches are 40 years out of date on the issue of homosexuality. Church, you must catch up and make this a priority. Every day delayed means that LGBT people are harmed and lives lost.

If churches continue to hold on to the outdated Christian belief that homosexuality is a sin then it makes them increasingly irrelevant to those who have gay and lesbian friends, family members and work colleagues. The previous Christian labels of unnatural, perverse, evil and even abomination not only do not fit, they are offensive to LGBT people and their friends and family.

My hope and prayer is that this will be an ongoing conversation that takes ALL churches to a place where LGBT people are treated with respect and equality. Not just welcoming churches, or accepting churches but truly affirming churches.

Welcoming = you’re welcome BUT…….

Accepting = we accept you BUT……..

Affirming = we love you FULL STOP.

It’s a journey we MUST go on if we profess to serve humanity with unconditional love.

People of colour were once told to go to the back of the bus. Women were once told their place was in the home.  The paradigm shift in understanding that happened in the western world regarding people of colour and women’s equality, is now happening in regard to sexual orientation and gender identity.

It’s important to remind churches that having a conversation about us without us will usually be nothing more than a recycling of preconceived ideas and misconceptions. Imagine a group of male church leaders discussing the role of women in the church without females present? We would call that misogyny. Or church leadership discussing indigenous issues without consulting indigenous people themselves. How could they have any insight into what their life experience is really all about? We would call that white supremacy/racism/elitism. The church has done a great deal of talking about us but rarely has spoken with us. So when church leaders discuss LGBT people, relationships and the community without speaking with or spending time getting to know LGBT people it does beg the question why. What is there to fear? Why the exclusion? Is this further evidence of homophobia that is regularly denied?

It’s time for the church to invite LGBT people into the conversation. For some this is a conversation about their thoughts and beliefs but for us it is about who we are.

My therapist asked me today how my view of LGBTQ changed over the years. I recounted to her the story I shared in the post Bruce, What was Your View on Homosexuality When You Were a Pastor?

My view of LGBTQ people began to change in 1995. I was between pastorates, so I took a job with Charley’s Steakery as the general manager of their Zanesville, Ohio location. Located in Colony Square Mall, we offered mall employees free refills on their soft drinks. Several times a week, a gay man would come to the restaurant to get a free refill. The first time he handed me his cup, I panicked, thinking, I am going to get AIDS! For the first few times, after I refilled his cup, I would vigorously wash my hands after doing so. Had to wash off the cooties, I thought at the time. After a few weeks of this, I began being more comfortable around this man. He and I would chat about all sorts of things. I found out that he was quite “normal.” This, of course, messed with my view of the world.

While I am sure numerous LGBTQ people came through my life before I refilled this man’s drink cup, he was the first gay man I had really engaged in friendly, meaningful discussion. And it was at this point in my life that my view about homosexuality began to change. I didn’t stop being a homophobe overnight, but step by step over the next decade, I stumbled away from the homophobic rhetoric that had dominated my life for many years.

Accepting LGBTQ people as they are is the first step in changing our minds about them. They are not the problem, we are.

Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.

Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

The Rise of Conservative Atheists

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atheist dan piraro

Most atheists tend to skew to the left socially and politically. However, that doesn’t mean all atheists are liberals/progressives. Atheists are not a homogenous group. There’s a diversity of opinions on all sorts of things. Some atheists voted for Donald Trump and think his present legal troubles are a witch hunt. Other atheists are hardcore libertarians. Atheists as a demographic comprises all sorts of people with diverse beliefs.

In recent years, I have noticed a rise in conservatism among atheists. Just today I read a rant by an atheist who attacked “wokeism,” particularly transgender ideology and people who refuse to stand for the playing of the National Anthem. This particular atheist believes that there’s no such thing as transgender people. Another atheist was glad the U.S. women’s team lost their World Cup match. Why? Many of them refused to participate in singing the national anthem. Jesus, some of them didn’t put their hands over their hearts!

Many atheists have had to deal with Evangelicals who deny that they are atheists; that atheists don’t really exist. Want to piss an atheist off? Just tell her you deny and reject her self-identification. When someone tells me she is an atheist, agnostic, Christian, Buddhist, or some other self-identifying label, I believe her. If someone tells me he is gay, bisexual, pansexual, heterosexual, asexual, or transgender, I believe him. How someone identifies himself doesn’t materially affect me in any way.

Yet, some atheists refuse to live and let live. They revere Richard Dawkins, Bill Maher, and J.K. Rowling for their stands against “transgender ideology.” While it is certainly true that transgender people are more visible now in the United States, this does not mean this is something new. Transgender people have always lived among us. Much like the other letters in the LGBTQ acronym, transgender people have long had to live in the shadows. It seems some atheists don’t like the fact that transgender people are no longer willing to suffer in silence, locked in a prison not of their own making. I am sixty-six years old. Throughout my lifetime, various people groups have rebelled against being marginalized and being treated as less than or inferior. Once they gain some semblance of justice and equal protection under the law, these marginalized people have no intention of returning to their closets. And that’s exactly what some atheists advocate. They want icky transgender people to voluntarily return to their closets — out of sight, out of mind. And if transgenders refuse to do so? Conservative atheists support politicians, policies, and laws that will force them to do so.

It seems that these anti-trans atheists don’t care if their words and actions cause harm to transgender people (and their families). No longer interested in thoughtful discussions around the intersection of transgender people and sports/medicine, these atheists call names and post memes. One atheist said that anyone who thinks biological sex and gender are not one and the same is anti-science.

Other atheists view themselves as flag-waving patriots, not much different from the faux patriots found among Trump supporters. Some of these atheist patriots voted for Trump twice — an action I will never understand. These atheists demand all Americans stand and sing the Star Spangled Banner — that people who refuse to do so are unAmerican. Some of them even think everyone should put their right hands over their hearts and say the Pledge of Allegiance — maybe skipping the mention of God. Evidently, freedom of expression and free speech doesn’t apply when it comes to masturbating to American imperialism.

I don’t say the Pledge of Allegiance, nor do I sing the Star Spangled Banner. Often, I don’t stand for either. The reasons for this are many (and not the primary focus of this post), but to suggest that my refusal to mouth a Christian nationalist pledge and sing a War of 1812 song means I am unpatriotic is laughable.

One atheist suggested that the women’s soccer team “embarrassed” the United States on a world stage by refusing to fully participate in the national anthem ritual. I didn’t feel embarrassed one bit, and I suspect many other Americans didn’t either. How about we have serious discussions about a plethora of embarrassing American actions and inactions that should cause thoughtful people to hang their heads in shame? Quite frankly, there’s not a lot to cheer about these days. Maybe you disagree. Fine, but suggesting that I am not patriotic or that I am not a loyal American if I don’t support your political and social agenda is not only absurd, it is un-American.

I have lost readers over the years due to my politics. Not much I can do about that. I am not going to change what I believe. I am a committed liberal/progressive/socialist/pacifist. I’m convinced that these political views best fit with my humanist beliefs. I am sure some readers will disagree with me. That’s fine. What pisses me off is when these disagreements are turned into attacks on my character. The same goes for my support of transgender people. If I dare suggest that they have the same rights and freedoms as other Americans, I am somehow supporting an immoral agenda. That these attacks come from atheists is troubling, but not surprising. There’s a rightward drift among some atheists and that will bring me into increasing conflict with them. This is unavoidable. Atheists are growing into a diverse cohort, and that will bring disagreement and conflict. What matters is how we interact and engage with people with whom we have political and social disagreements. Unfortunately, we live in the era of memes, and not friendly, thoughtful discussion.

Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.

Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Evangelicals Say They Love LGBTQ People, But Do They Really?

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love gay people

Evangelicals often tout their love for those who are different from them. I love everyone, Evangelicals say. I love unconditionally, just as Jesus does. I hate the sin, but love the sinner! On and on the cheap, worn-out cliches go, with nary a thought given to their truthfulness.

Evangelicals are universally panned as people of hate, people who loathe anyone who fucks in any way or manner other than that which has been approved by God. Much like their God, Evangelicals are obsessed with who does what with whom, where, why, and how, sexually. Violations of “Biblical” morality are met with cease-and-desist orders, and when that fails, people not practicing Evangelical-approved sex are threatened with God’s judgment and eternal punishment in the fire and brimstone of the Lake of Fire. Yet, Evangelicals will still, with a clueless straight face, profess to love everyone. Funny kind of love, I say, a love foreign to those of us who know what it is to love and be loved without strings attached.

evangelicals love LGBTQ people

Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.

Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Dr. David Tee Goes on a Rant About Transgender Women — Part Three

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david thiessen
David Thiessen is the tall man in the back

Over the past week, Dr. David Tee, a Fundamentalist preacher whose real name is Derrick Thomas Thiessen, unleashed two vitriolic rants about transgender women on his blog. You can read his posts and my response here and here. Showing his inability to feel shame, Thiessen unleashed yet another post today about transgender women.

Here’s what he had to say:

The Netherlands just happens to be the most recent country to say: The best-looking woman is…. a MAN.[Subjectively, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. There is no objective standard for “best-looking woman (or man.) ]

If this problem was not so serious [It’s not, but Tee is convinced, despite evidence to the contrary, that transgender women (and LGBTQ people in general) are an existential threat to Western civilization Transgender demographics], we [I] would be laughing not only at this contestant but all those who support it. What partial;y [sic] bothers [how is someone partially bothered?] us [me] is that the real women [heterosexual] in this and other contests are not feeling insulted by this decision. [Maybe because they aren’t homophobic bigots as Tee is?] Nor are the rest of the women in the world.

This is a very serious insult [No, I suspect most women think being called a bitch or cunt to their face is a serious insult.] made against [heterosexual] women. To think that a man pretending to be a woman is declared the most beautiful [beauty is not the only criterion for winning a beauty contest.] in the Netherlands or other countries that allow fake [transgender] women to enter these contests.

We [I] saw the 1st runner-up and there is no way [again, beauty is in the eye of the beholder] that the ‘winner’ was more beautiful than her. [Why is Tee watching beauty pageants to start with? Personally, I am not a fan. Is not Tee lusting by looking at other women in this matter? Besides, I thought inner beauty is what Evangelicals valued most?] It is a travesty and a tragic turn of events to allow a pretender [transgender woman] to get the throne [crown]. However, we [I] cannot laugh because [I get a boner every time I watch a beauty pageant] this [transgender] person and many like him [her] as well as their [her] supporters are just thinking about evil and doing evil just like it was in the days of Noah. [Evidently, Tee is a mind reader. He is usurping God, is he not, when he says he knows what is in the hearts of transgender women and their supporters? Of course, there was no such thing as the “days of Noah.” Genesis is fiction, David. How many times do I need to tell you this?]

They [Transgender women] are also not getting the mental health therapy [because many of them don’t need it. And those who do have a hard time paying for it or finding a therapist trained in their specific needs.] Because the liberals, democrats, and others on the left champion the so-called [actual, constitutional] rights of these mentally ill [everyday, ordinary people], they are barred from receiving the proper help [Biblical counseling, reparative therapy, casting out of demons].

No [bigoted, homophobic] Christian should be happy with this situation as these contests insult your wives, daughters, mothers, and sisters. They also rob those and other women of opportunities and awards that are rightfully theirs. [What, to win a fucking crown or get their 15 minutes of fame? I have a wife, sister, daughters, and daughters-in-law. Not one of them thinks a beauty pageant-winning transgender woman has robbed them of anything. Tee is projecting his homophobic bigotry on heterosexual women.]

It is not Christian love, loving your neighbor, or loving others as Jesus loved [Jesus had absolutely nothing to say about LGBTQ people. Tee knows this, but he projects his homophobic bigotry on Jesus too.] when you support these mentally ill people [transgender women]. Then allow them to practice their delusions in public as well as include them in events they have no right entering.

Supporting these people is not making a healthy society but destroying it.

“They treat us as monsters.” They are monsters for only a monster would mutilate their bodies [gender reassignment surgery] and let their delusions rule their lives. [Many transgender people never have gender reassignment surgery.] Only monsters would ruin events for innocent real women and erase women from society. [OMG! Transgender women are “erasing” heterosexual women from society? Compare the number of transgender women in America — less than one percent — to the number of heterosexual, lesbian, and bisexual women. Why, this is akin to saying Mauritius is an existential threat to the United States.]

But as Christians, we are to treat them like we want to be treated thus these people need to be sent to therapy [forced reeducation camps], and barred [locked up in prison] from entering mainstream society until they are cured of their delusions. They are not to be supported in this manner but housed, fed, and treated like human beings who are sick and in need of a doctor.

At no time can we support their desires because those desires are sinful, wrong, and not biblical [The United States and Western society, for the most part, are secular. What the Bible says plays no part in law and governance.] They harm innocent women through their inclusion and demands to be included and seen as women [the record is skipping, David. Bump the record player]. There is nothing Christian in them that can be supported. [Of course, the same can be said about Tee; a man who abandoned his family; a man who fled the United States to avoid legal problems; a man who didn’t pay child support for his child; a man who routinely shows no evidence of the fruit of the Spirt and daily ignores and disobeys Jesus’ teachings on how to treat transgender women.]

They need proper spiritual help to overcome these fantasies. They also need to be banned from all things related to women. [Jesus, talk about being all Hitler-like about transgender women.] The reverse is true if there are women pretending to be men. [Tee wants all transgender people to be incarcerated until they are “cured.”]

While we [I] do not condone hate messages or threats [liar, liar, pants on fire], we [I] also do not like these people forcing their delusions on society. [Using Tee’s illogical logic, how are transgender women any different from Evangelicals who try to force their delusions on society? Should we have them arrested and incarcerated until they are cured of their delusions?] Or forcing society to accept their pretend identities are normal. They are not normal but deep cries for help.

Including them in these and other female events is NOT providing the help they need. We need to protect our women from this psychological invasion of those who cannot accept themselves for who they are and how God made them.

The LGBTQ preferences are sinful, not normal, not biblical and not to be supported or accepted. The only thing we can do with and for these people is to treat them as Jesus would and get them the correct help they need [and arrest and incarcerate them until they see the “light.”]

— end of quote —

Please share your thoughts in the comment section. This should be fun! 🙂

Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.

Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Personal Identity: My Response to Alan Schlemon

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I am who I am

Alan Schlemon is a Biola University-trained Evangelical apologist; a man who allegedly “train[s] Christians to persuasively, yet graciously share their convictions.”

Recently, Schlemon wrote an article for the Stand to Reason website titled Rejecting Your Creator Means Rejecting Your True Identity.

Here’s what he had to say:

Baskin-Robbins was my go-to place for ice cream when I was a kid. At the time, they boasted “31 flavors.” With that many options, I was sure to find one that would satisfy my craving.

Though it makes sense to choose your favorite flavor of ice cream, it seems strange to take this approach when figuring out whether you’re a man or a woman. Not long ago, that aspect of who you are wasn’t decided, but discovered. You were born either male or female and grew up to be either a man or a woman.

Not so today.

….

Although many factors probably play a role, the emergence of these “identities” is not surprising. Society has jettisoned belief in God. When you reject your Maker, you reject the one who establishes your identity. People, though, naturally want to belong. They crave to connect with a community of people who share their values and feelings. With the Maker gone, there’s an identity vacuum that begs for a new way to view oneself. It makes sense that the concept of gender identity was born. There’s a potentially endless offering of identities.

With no external Maker to tell them who they are, people look internally. Often, they tap into their inner thoughts and feelings in an attempt to create their own identity. They’re basing their identity on their internal experience, an approach that is fraught with problems.

First, it presumes your inner thoughts are a reliable source for determining your identity. Everyone knows that thoughts and feelings change. What you experience one day can differ tomorrow, next month, or next year. If you base your identity on your internal experience, your identity will change on a regular basis.

But why think your internal states determine your identity? Of all the aspects of a person, why ground identity in an abstract and ever-changing component? That’s why the body is meant to signal one’s identity. After all, if you ground identity in your body, then it’s hard to mistake what sex you are and impossible for it to change over time. This allows your identity to endure. You remain the same no matter how you feel or how you express yourself.

Second, it presumes your identity is a matter of choice, not an objective reality. Choosing an ice cream flavor is a matter of preference—just pick what you like. Today you might want Oreo cookie ice cream, but next month it might be mint chocolate chip. There’s no problem with changing your favorite flavor because it is your prerogative to choose what ice cream you eat.

….

If identity is an enduring part of who you are, then leaving it up to a personal decision is problematic. People end up identifying as one or more of dozens of possible identities based on how they feel inside. It becomes a subjective exercise. We allow children to do that when they role-play. They might pretend to be a pirate, prince, or princess. We recognize they might feel the internal bravery of a prince, but everyone knows they are not objectively a prince.

Third, it presumes you are like God. You’re not the Creator, though. You didn’t make you. Determining who you are is, frankly, above your pay grade. If you create something yourself, you have full knowledge of the process, the materials, and the purpose of what you made. That’s when you can decide its identity.

….

Mere mortals shouldn’t take the role of the divine. Since the Creator creates the creature, it’s his prerogative to decide his creation’s identity. Transgender ideology subverts the role of the Maker by allowing the creature to determine its identity.

….

Our Maker, though, knows best. He not only made us; he loves us. That’s why we can trust him and ground our identity in him.

There are eight billion people in the world, yet Schlemon believes most of them are living in denial of or are rejecting their “true identity.” Schlemon, a presuppositionalist, lives in a black-and-white world. People are saved or lost; in or out; headed for Heaven or Hell. Either we accept our true identity or we live in denial of our identity. Of course, the world is far messier than Schlemon would like it to be. It seems the Christian God lacks competence when creating human beings and the world they live in.

There’s much I could say about Schlemon’s post, but I want to focus on a fatal flaw in his thinking. Schelmon says our true identity comes from God. Fine, when we are born, what is our true identity? Evangelicals believe that all humans at birth are sinners; enemies of God. We don’t become sinners, we are sinners. That’s our identity. Yet, if people want their sins forgiven and want to go to Heaven after they die, they must change their original identity (whether by regeneration, an act of volition, or both). So, people can and do change their identities. In fact, the Bible says newly saved sinners become new creations in Christ, old things pass away, and all things become new.

Further, Evangelical Christians identify with a plethora of sects, beliefs, and identities. They have peculiar traits by which we can identify them as Baptists, Charismatics, Pentecostals, Calvinists, Arminians, Independent Fundamentalist Baptists, etc. These religious traits are very much a part of their identity, are they not? And don’t Evangelicals change identities? I know I did.

People personally choose whether to believe (or not) and, after believing, they choose which sect they want to identify with. Surely, Schlemon would agree that these are individual and personal decisions. How are these decisions any different from people choosing their gender? Of course, Schlemon, much like the homophobe Dr. David Tee, denies that there are multiple genders; that there are more than two sexes. He can deny these scientific facts all he wants, but the fact remains that there are more than two sexes and there are more than two genders. Certainly, we need to discuss how gender is chosen and how people identify with a particular gender. But, people change their minds, Schlemon says. Yep, what is his point? I am sixty-six years old. My life has been one of frequent movement and change. My identity has changed dramatically over the years. Why this is so can be explained from a sociological perspective — no deity needed (though certainly the fifty years I spent in the Evangelical church influenced and affected my identity).

I will leave it to you, the reader, to further challenge Schlemon’s assertions. Enjoy!

Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.

Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Christians Say the Darnedest Things: Christine Geiger Says Transgender People Should Get Their Hair Cut by Pet Groomers

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Christine Geiger, the Christian owner of Studio 8 Hair Lab in Traverse City, Michigan, had this to say about cutting the hair of transgender people.

studio-8-hair-lab
christine geiger studio8

I wonder if this is what Jesus would do (WWJD)? I doubt it. Ugly, hateful Christianity at its best. I hear Dr. David Tee gets his hair cut at Geiger’s salon.

Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.

Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Dr. David Tee Goes on a Rant About Transgender Women — Part Two

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david thiessen
David Thiessen is the tall man in the back

Yesterday, Dr. David Tee, a Fundamentalist preacher whose real name is Derrick Thomas Thiessen, unleashed a vitriolic rant about transgender women on his blog. You can read his post and my response here. Showing his inability to feel shame, Thiessen unleashed yet another post about transgender women — one more awful than the first.

Here’s what he had to say:

Two days ago we wrote an article called ‘Let’s Cut the Bull’ and as usual we got a response from one of the two people [Bruce Gerencser and Ben Berwick] we use as examples. But we are not going to deal with his complete response [because we have no defense for our hateful words], just one sentence.

That sentence tells everyone that he and the other guy do not do research, listen to the news, or in any way pull their heads out of the sand to see what is going on in the real world. We include both here because we have had to deal with the same problem from both of them– they do not do any real or honest research before speaking. [Please read Thiessen’s complete post if you want to see his “research.” What you will find is a list of anecdotes.]

please provide empirical evidence for the claim that transgender women are materially hurting heterosexual women and girls (BG website)

Those words were placed in brackets or parenthesis if you like the more technical term, behind these words- We cannot sit on the sidelines on this issue as they are hurting you if they hurt your wife or your female children [Thiessen provided no empirical evidence that this is systemically happening — just a handful of anecdotes].

There is a deep cost to women [please provide empirical evidence for this claim] by allowing men pretending to be women to exist in normal society. We will have to deal with this in two parts as one is physical harm which has reached the news frequently.

The other is more psychological as fake [transgender] women continue to do damage to real [heterosexual] women and girls.

….

We do not want to use the word transgender here because these men are not real women and should not be identified as being able to make a transition that is impossible to make. [Picture Thiessen standing on a corner, ears stopped up and hands over his eyes, saying, “I don’t see any transgender people. He is deliberately ignorant of what is right in front of him. Transgender people have always existed, going as far back as the third century. Some scholars argue that eunuchs in the Bible are intersex people. I wonder if Thiessen read Transgender History and What Does the Bible Say About Transgender People? My money is on NO! Thiessen’s typical “research” is seeking out articles that prove his point or agree with him. Fundamentalists don’t do actual scholarly research. Their minds are already made up. Certainty breeds arrogance, and the result is Thiessen’s anti-transgender posts.]

….

Men are stronger than [some] women no matter what changes they have made to their bodies. it is not Christian [Bible verse, please] to support this inclusion in female athletics. [I agree. Let’s have an actual discussion about transgender women participating in athletics with biological women. Of course, Thiessen doesn’t want to have a discussion. All he wants to do is preach. If he would bother to pay attention, he would find out that many transgender women have their own misgivings about participating in sports with biological women. Thiessen can’t know this because he’s never spoken to an actual transgender person.]

….

This damage can be as devastating [please provide empirical evidence for your claim] as physical damage done by fake [transgender] women. Women have had it rough since the beginning of time [thanks to misogynistic men such as Thiessen] and this so-called better modern era [Derrick pines for the good old days of the 1950s] where equal rights [evidently, Thiessen thinks women shouldn’t have equal rights] have been established is not doing any better than when women were considered property. [Did Thiessen really say women are no better off today than when they were chattel property? Really? I mean, really?]

The effort to be ‘inclusive’ has only succeeded in proving that [some] biological men are biologically stronger than [some] women. It has done nothing but harm women in a variety of ways [which are? Come on, Derrick, unleash your inner bigot]. You will not find one Bible verse condoning or giving permission for this type of inclusion [and we won’t find Bible verses for all sorts of human behaviors].

….

Other psychological abuses that fake women do to real women come through bullying [bullying takes place in every cohort].

….

They [biological women] are outcasts and pariahs [I am rolling on the floor laughing at this absurd statement] as the fake [transgender] men and women have chosen an abnormal path that cannot be accepted as normal or right. The only reason the fake [transgender] women and their supporters fear real [heterosexual] men and women is because the truth of the latter destroys the delusions of the former and makes them realize that they have been deceived.

….

The fake [transgender] men and women are forced to see that they are not who they pretend to be and then must deal with the truth. The author of that quote was deceived by the outward appearance of the fake [transgender] men and women she met in San Francisco.

We [I] say deceived because even bad people can be nice. One guy, and we [I] forget where we [I] read this account but it is not original with us [me], said that when he got a job as a corrections officer in one prison one of his thoughts was he would be able to tell child molesters from regular criminals and people.

He was surprised at how nice and polite those child molesters were and how easy it was for them to be accepted as normal men and fit into regular society. Being nice and kind is not always a sign of a Christian as evil does masquerade as angels of light as the Bible says. [In other words, transgender people might be nice and kind, but in their hearts, they are like child molesters.]

….

This issue is not about a threat to one’s identity but about how completely wrong it is to allow these fake [transgender] men and women to think the way they do and then let them into normal society like nothing is wrong. [Thiessen believes transgender people should be arrested and incarcerated (and perhaps, executed). He does not believe the same about heterosexual rapists and child molesters. He thinks all they need to do is repent and get right with God.]

….

Sure, a woman can take chemicals to boost their testosterone and strength, as well as mutilate their bodies to look like a man. BUT that act does not change the truth or reality.

There are only 2 genders and only 2 gender identities. [Again, Thiessen deliberately confuses biological sex and gender. This is what happens when the Bible is your science textbook.] You are either a man or a woman and neither can change that fact. Not only is this biblical as the Bible tells us God made male and female only, but it is also proven scientifically [this is a lie].

Science backs the Bible in this case. Those who think they can change their gender and those that support this delusion are the ones with the problem. They need help [Jesus] and it is up to the Christians to not only provide the truth but also provide the correct spiritual help to lead these deceived people back to reality.

It is not Christian to allow these [transgender] people to harm women, invade women’s athletics and other events and it is definitely not Christian to go along with this deception. Christians should recognize this as a spiritual problem [please provide Bible verse that says being transgender is a “spiritual” problem. I can provide Bible verses, Derrick, that say divorce, failing to provide for your children, and abandoning one’s family are sins. I will be glad to share them with you if they are not in your Bible.] that needs the correct spiritual effort to heal these deceived groups of people.

….

Telling someone they are deceived and wrong, as well as doing the wrong thing is not a phobia or fear of something. Nor is it bigotry. It is trying to get those who adopt this trend to see the truth about themselves and what God has done at creation. [Thiessen is responding to me calling him a homophobe and a bigot. I stand by my words.]

Just as a side note, the lead-in that caught our attention is wrong. trans women are not real women. They are fake women who have a mental illness that is spiritual in nature and they are in need of help.

….

The so-called trans women do not have one body part [come on, Derrick, say it: penis or vagina] or process [what is a process?] that a real woman has. They [transgender women] are never going to be woman no matter how much money they spend on cosmetics and surgery. The reverse is true for those women trying to be men through this trend.

— end of quote —

Please share your thoughts in the comment section. This should be fun! 🙂

Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.

Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Dr. David Tee Goes on a Rant About Transgender Women — Part One

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david thiessen
David Thiessen is the tall man in the back

Over the weekend, Fundamentalist preacher Dr. David Tee, whose real name is Derrick Thomas Thiessen, unleashed a rant about transgender women. I will leave it to readers to respond to his homophobic rant.

Here’s what Thiessen had to say in a post titled Let’s Cut the Bull [I can’t believe Thiessen cursed] :

Why are feminists, who fought for equal rights for decades, not saying anything? This is one of the major comments we see when we read the comment section under different articles about transgender activity in women’s athletics and other events.

Maybe like those women whose rights have been trampled by the rush to support mentally ill transgender its [catch that? “its], they are afraid to speak out against a minute minority because of the harmful backlash that occurs.

What has brought us [me] to this point of being so blunt? This article – Transwoman model wins Miss Universe Netherlands in historic moment: ‘I DID IT’

What is this ‘historic moment’ telling everyone else in the world? That the Netherlands beauty pageant officials feel that the prettiest woman in their country is a man disguised as a woman [yes, and Thiessen is an asshole disguised as a Christian].

If we [I] were women [a woman], we [I] would be highly insulted by this decision as well as protesting the win. Yet, we [I] have not read or heard any woman’s group speaking out against this travesty. It is their competition and their prizes that are being taken by this IT and those that support it.

Are these women groups so flabbergasted that they cannot speak? The audacity of this decision to let a man win a woman’s competition deserves more vocal outrage than what we have seen.

This is not a new insult. In the article, it has been recorded as happening in other countries and at least one state in America. Those decisions came a few years ago giving the women’s groups ample opportunity to frame their arguments and build a strong protest against these moves.

Allowing a transgender to compete is NOT loving your neighbor because only 1 neighbor seems to be loved while the many other contestants and all the women of the world are harmed.

If you want to love your transgender neighbor, then get them mental health counseling and refuse to enroll them in different sports and events reserved for real women. [I agree, Derrick. PLEASE get professional help.]

There will be supporters of the transgender crowd that will talk about the rights of the transgendered person. However, the transgendered person already had rights under their biological birth gender.

This is called special rights because it is allowing men to pretend to be women and gives them access to rewards and benefits many real women get access to. This is like the same-sex marriage issue.

People were saying that lesbian and male homosexuals have a right to marry the person they love. They already had that right to marry but the LG part of the LGBTQ community refused to follow the rules and demanded special rights [what special rights? Justice and equal protection under the law is the standard].

No, transgenders do not have the right to participate in women’s athletics or events. They are NOT women. To allow them to participate in such activities or even dress in women’s changing rooms, use women’s bathrooms, etc., is not only special rights but is also wrong.

We cannot afford to allow the unbelieving world to wipe out the lines between good and evil, right and wrong, moral and immorality. The latter they have been doing for decades as well by accepting adultery and pre-marital sex as normal behavior [says a man who has a few secrets in his closet].

….

This is the excuse and one of the verses many sympathizers to the LGBTQ community use to support these perverted sexual practices. They use a few other verses as well. But they are misapplying and misunderstanding what those verses mean.

Loving your neighbor does not mean you trample the rights and privacy of the majority in favor of the minute minority or other wrongdoers. Loving your neighbor is not allowing perversions to enter the marriage institute, the church, or women’s events. [Derrick, how do transgender women harm you in any way? None that I can think of.]

Loving your neighbor is not affirming, accepting, or supporting that which is wrong. [Jesus said it was, Derrick. Read the Sermon on the Mount.] True loving your neighbor would be to stand firm and not let the boundaries between right and wrong, etc., be wiped out.

It means getting the proper help to the parents of and the actual child who thinks they are not the gender they were born as. Loving your neighbor means stopping people from sinning by their accepting, affirming, supporting, and encouraging sinful behavior. [Who the fuck are you, Derrick, to stop anyone from “sinning?” Mind your own damn business.]

Loving your neighbor does not mean leading people to sin and then calling it good. Loving your neighbor does not allow pretend men and women to expose themselves to those of the gender they pretend to be.

Loving your neighbor means protecting all your neighbors, not a select few who refuse to accept who they are and take great strides to lose themselves in the deception that plagues them.

If you want to help these people, get them to the right therapists [says a man who desperately needs therapy] who will not encourage this deception and seek to cure it. These people do have rights but it is not the rights they think they have. The rights they have belong to their biological gender not the mentally ill perception they have of themselves. [According to Thiessen, transgender are mentally ill.]

….

Intersex is not an indication that there are more than 2 genders [Yes, it is]. Genesis reminds us that there are only 2 genders when it says that God made them MALE & FEMALE [It also reminds us that there are multiple gods. Checkmate]. No mistakes were made at birth, and no misassignment was done at birth.

It is up to the person to accept who they were born as and fight off the deception used on people to confuse them about their gender. Let’s get this straight as well. DO NOT blame God for this condition or for your assumed gender identity. [God is sovereign, is he not?]

God did NOT create this condition. He may know who was going to be intersex or think that they were assigned the wrong gender at birth. If you want to be mad at anyone, be mad at evil who DID cause this problem. [Isaiah 45:7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things.]

God HAS provided a cure but a lot of the time the cure is lost due to the unbelief of doctors, psychiatrists, therapists, and other adults or the unbelief of the parents. We cannot fail to mention those Christians who listen to unbelievers on this issue.

….

Your gender and gender identity are decided from the moment of conception. The DNA inside the fertilized egg creates the baby that is to be born. There is nothing in the reproduction process that manipulates the DNA and changes the gender from a male to a female or vice versa. [Thiessen doesn’t understand the difference between sex and gender.]

Since God does not make mistakes [yet he drowned millions of mistakes in the flood], you were given the gender [sex] at birth you are supposed to be. While humans have free choice [not according to the Bible], that does not mean that their gender choices are free from being sinful and that includes gender identity.

Changing your gender or gender identity is not a biblical choice. It is a failure to accept who you truly are and exposes your rejection of that identity and desire to be something else [says a man who moved from the United States/Canada to South Korea/Philippines to be someone else]. Unfortunately, you cannot change your gender or gender identity [exactly, and that’s why some people are transgender].

You are either a male or a female and the serenity prayer [egads! Extra-Biblical source!] helps you understand what you are to do- accept the things you cannot change. The Bible is there to help you see the truth and help you accept who you are [slave owner and polygamist].

….

We bring this theory [evolution] into the conversation because it is important to know something about it. If you are honest in your studies of this theory, you will notice one very glaring omission in all the lessons taught about this ‘life development process.’

There is no mechanism or source in the theory of evolution for gender development. There is also no source for corruption to take place if evolution were true. In other words, the existence of intersex, transgender thinking, etc., proves evolution false.

There is no source for corruption, death, illness, and other issues in the theory of evolution. No scientist has identified the origin location for these issues either. In other words, these things should not exist if evolution were true.

If evolution were true, there would be no sin or evil and we would be living with Noah and Moses right now with no fear of dying. An evolutionary scientist may claim that these issues came from animals but where did the animals get it?

There is absolutely no source for these issues in an evolutionary developed world. Evolution does not explain anything about this world. [These five paragraphs are the stupidest things Thiessen has ever written.]

….

Men, we are charged with looking after women [you might want to ask women if they want looking after] and if the real women of this world are too afraid to speak out [something tells me Thiessen will learn that women are not afraid to respond to his nonsense] against this travesty and violation of their rights, etc., then we must do it for them [thank you, Derrick, for helping these poor, helpless women out].

We must lead the way and build strong arguments, and find real solutions to protect the women we love. We cannot place this ball in their court and have them go it alone. [Oh my, women would be helpless without men.] It is time, especially for Christian men, for men to stand up and do something about this attack on women. [Do what, Derrick? Come on, speak what is really on your mind. Tell us what you really want to do to transgender people. Arrest? Incarceration? Execution? Own your vile beliefs, Derrick. You know the Bible says fornicators, adulterers, and homosexuals should be executed. Oh wait, that means you would be executed too.]

….

We cannot sit on the sidelines on this issue as they are hurting you if they hurt your wife or your female children [please provide empirical evidence for the claim that transgender women are materially hurting heterosexual women and girls], even in letting fake women ruin women’s athletics and other events. Take the leadership in this so that women do not lose their freedoms, their rights, and their identity. Make sure to lead them in the right way to go. [Yes, put bridles on these fillies and lead them in paths of righteousness. Let me know if you get kicked in the head.]

— end of quote —

Please share your thoughts in the comment section. This should be fun! 🙂

Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.

Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

From Segregation Academy to Parents’ Rights

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Guest Post by MJ Lisbeth

When I was verging on thirteen, my family moved from Brooklyn, New York to a small New Jersey town that was turning into a bedroom community for New York commuters.

I forgave my parents for that move when I turned 40.

Seriously, any sort of disruption is difficult for someone entering puberty. In previous posts, I discussed how conservative my old neighborhood—blue-collar, white, and Roman Catholic—was. While our new community was more middle-class and not as Catholic, it was, in some ways even more conservative—and religious. Or, at least, the prevailing attitude is perhaps more influenced by religion. 

Some of that, I believe, had to do with the light and physical space. In Brooklyn, we lived in apartments until I was eight. Then my parents bought a row house, where we lived until we moved to New Jersey.  That house, the apartment buildings, and most other structures in the neighborhood were constructed from bricks flaked and bubbled but somehow held together and insulated the people within them like the worn coats of old people. Those bricks, those houses, simmered softly in summer heat and glowed like embers at sunset, and echoed stories shared on stoops and over hearty meals. 

There were no bricks on our block in New Jersey. In fact, there were few anywhere in the town, except in one of its older sections. Oh, and I was older than the house we moved into, or any of the others on our street. They were single-story or split-level, with no basements—or stoops. So neighbors couldn’t sit outside and chat unless one invited the other into their yard or house. The fronts of those houses were flat, painted in flat shades of white and beige. 

Almost everybody I knew in my Brooklyn neighborhood attended the same church, in the middle of our neighborhood. Many of us also attended its Catholic school. Ironically, as much as we talked, and kids played with each other, we interacted very little, if at all,  during Mass. If anything, the church served a purpose that, I would learn much later, Elizabeth I envisioned for the then-new Church of England: It wasn’t so much a unifying faith as much as a social glue. In other words, she cared more about attendance than belief.  Likewise, we—even those of us who attended the church’s school– didn’t talk much, if at all, about our notions of the triune God but we all knew enough to attend or “assist” at mass on days of obligation.

The New Jersey town had a Roman Catholic parish, which I attended, as well as churches and chapels of the mainline Protestant denominations. If I recall correctly, there was also an Evangelical church, but I (and, I suspect, almost anybody who didn’t attend it) didn’t know what it was. On Sunday morning, the streets—quiet except when people were on their way to work or school—were all but deserted, as most people were in one of those churches. I don’t recall any open hostility or even debates between members of different churches, but there didn’t seem to be much communication between the leaders of those churches, or between members of churches about matters related to their institutions and faith.

As I described in an earlier post, my Catholic school in Brooklyn was, in essence, a Northern segregation academy.  It opened around the time courts ordered the busing of Black and brown kids from other neighborhoods–”trouble,” as some called them—into public schools in white neighborhoods like ours. Our New Jersey enclave was “spared” such a fate because, well, there weren’t Black or Brown kids to bus to the school. I recall only one Black classmate: an extremely intelligent and talented girl whose family had a farm on the outskirts of town and, I would learn later, were descendants of a community of free Blacks and escaped slaves that once lived in the area. I would love to know how many times that girl and her family heard “we don’t mean you” from white people talking about the race “problem.”

 I knew only one kid who attended the Catholic high school: an athlete whom the public high school (from which I graduated) barred from its football and track teams because of a medical condition. My guess is that other kids went to that school because their parents really wanted a Catholic education for their kids—or, perhaps, they wanted to protect their progeny from lowlifes like me!

So, that school didn’t have to be a segregation academy. But, in a sense, the town itself was one. I don’t know whether the local shade of skin has darkened any since I left, more than four decades ago, but it seems that some members of the local Board of Education are trying to “shield” kids from “unsavory” influences, just as they moved to the town to forget, and to keep their kids from knowing about, the darkness and rough edges in the bricks of the cities they left.

Lest you thought that only the likes of Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott are trying to eradicate the existence of LGBTQ kids in the name of “parental rights,” consider this: the town I’m talking about—Middletown Township (ironically, the home of Governor Phil Murphy) has just mandated the “outing” of transgender and other gender-variant kids. Under the new policy, if, students ask to be called a different name or identified by a different gender from the one on their birth certificates, ask to use the bathroom, or participate on a sports team or other activity designated for the “opposite” gender, teachers must notify those kids’ parents.

(Three other New Jersey municipalities, including one that borders Middletown and another in the same county, have proposed policies with nearly identical language.)

Now, I understand parents wanting to know what their children are doing, in school or elsewhere. But I also know how vulnerable such kids are: After all, I was one, though I didn’t “come out” and begin my gender affirmation process until I was in my 40s. Moreover, from other experiences, I know of the perils some young people face. When I taught in a yeshiva, boys confided questions about their sexual orientation, or simply their wish to know what life was like outside the Orthodox bubble, to me. (One also talked about sexual abuse from a rabbi.) Later, as a college instructor—both before and after my gender affirmation—students came to me with questions and fears they couldn’t express to members of their families and communities. And, when I co-facilitated an LGBTQ youth group, I worked with 14 and 15-year-olds who were kicked out of their homes or bullied out of their schools when they “came out.”

Some of those parents who disowned their gay, trans, or genderqueer students, no doubt, thought they could “protect”–segregate– them from the “influences” of people like me. And, by getting rid of the “bad apple,” they can keep the rest from “spoiling.” 

It’s hard for me not to think that the same kinds of people who supported Catholic Northern segregation academies like the one I attended in Brooklyn are also behind the proposals to out kids in the name of “parents’ rights”– in order to segregate other children from the ungodly influences of kids like the one I might’ve been had I the language or awareness to define myself, and those teachers and other adults who might’ve been my allies.

Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.

Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Ohio Republicans Marginalize and Demonize Transgender People

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By Marilou Johanek, Ohio Capital Journal, Used by Permission

The right to exist is being erased for transgender kids and adults. You know it. There is always another bill or law being passed in dozens of Republican-controlled state legislatures, including Ohio’s, targeting the transgender community. It’s a vulnerable community. No match for the aggressive national campaign launched against it by the GOP and an unholy army of fanatical Christian haters. 

Trans-Americans are being nullified as people ahead of 2024 to stick it to the “woke left” and ensure right-wing evangelicals vote Republican. A political wedge used to win elections by pulverizing a population of nonconformists into nothingness. Calculated cruelty to destroy lives for power.   

Transgender adolescents are most at-risk of being rubbed out by the unsparing hostility of anti-trans rhetoric and lawmaking. They’ve been made to feel like a freak show, aberrations to be pushed into the shadows, and potentially suicide just to score cheap political points. It is so wrong and so unchristian.

But the Republican abuse heaped on trans youth, already stigmatized and mistreated, is unrelenting. Right-wingers have unleashed a torrent of unjustified bills to purge the trans community from public life. It is hateful, hollow legislating to curb the life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness of LGBTQ+ people. 

When the messaging by high-profile Republicans day in and day out is that those people are ungodly deviants destroying all that’s right and wholesome, hate crimes follow. Violence answers the toxic attacks against a group portrayed as perverts. Their freedom to live the way they choose must be stopped.

Last week, Ohio House Republicans passed a slate of bans and restrictions on trans sports, medical care, and speech. The legislation doesn’t solve any pressing problem in Ohio or respond to any pressing constituent ultimatum for change. 

Mainstream Ohio is consumed with real problems like the economy, affordable housing, and day care, not with banning trans girls from female sports or blocking parents from providing medical care for their trans kid. There is no public outcry for pre-clearance of LGBTQ topics in school classrooms or for teachers to out their students. 

That’s mean and muzzling. Who would go out of their way to harm transgender youngsters who are just trying to survive? Not a majority of Americans. But a vocal minority of far-right politicians and religious zealots is on crusade to crush young lives without mercy.   

Theirs is a politically expedient partnership, deceptively cloaked in concern for children, girls sports, and parental rights. It is an ugly charade with real-life consequences. A record number of statehouse bills nationwide have been submitted this year (560 and counting).

They are uniformly steeped in misinformation and disinformation to scare people who don’t know any trans or queer people. It’s a coordinated enterprise to scapegoat a group of human beings into oblivion with a thousand legislative cuts.

The Christian right movement is on a heartless mission, aided and abetted by state and federal Republicans, to cancel trans people entirely: Laws must be enacted to erase the transgender footprint until it is gone. Ruthless edicts must purify a morally homogeneous culture of undesirables.

We are on a dark road. History has gone there before. In Nazi Germany groups of people deemed incompatible with regime purists disappeared. Isolated. Demonized. Gone. For the good of the master race. 

A speaker at this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference told the crowd, “For the good of society…transgenderism must be eradicated.” An open call for the annihilation of human beings who happen to be trans. People applauded. It wasn’t them being torn down. 

That’s how it starts. The moral connectedness that holds humanity together breaks apart. Suddenly some people are not deserving of care and compassion. Like those instinctively disliked or dismissed as different. Anyone in another tribe. The marginalized. Not your concern.

They can be bludgeoned by unjust laws or dehumanizing oppression. Persecuted for existing. As a transgender child. As a Jew. “We preferred to keep silent,” wrote an anguished German pastor in 1946. “All of that was not our affair” — the persecutions of fellow Germans, the purges of neighbors and friends, the camps, the deaths. In his powerful postwar confession of unforgivable passivity and indifference, Martin Niemoller spoke for the ages.

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out — because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out — because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out — because I am not a Jew.

Then they came for me — and there was no one left to speak for me.

Then they came for trans youth. With Ohio House Bills 68 [introduced by infamous IFB pastor and transphobe Gary Click] and HB 8 [Gary Click is a cosponsor of this bill]. One bans trans athletes and trans medical care for minors. The other is a political dog whistle (modeled after Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill) with vague curriculum censorship and mandates for outing students to their parents who question their gender identity. 

The anti-trans narrative is the Ohio Senate now. The cost of not speaking out is life itself. 

Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.

Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.