Can We Trust Christians? A Question For LGBT People And Straight Allies
We all have complicated relationships with faith. Last week when President Obama made the announcement that he supported marriage equality, the LGBT civil rights movement was electrified. Progressives across the country and others in favor of LGBT equality issues joined in a thunderous applause of solidarity.
President Obama made history when he became the first sitting President of the United States to support marriage equality. What’s more, he cited his Christian faith as a motivating factor in his decision. The latter of which brings me to my question: can the LGBT community and straight allies trust Christians?
Homophobic Christianity is rampant in our culture and made even more virulent by a media culture that over-emphasizes conservative Christianity. It also understates (or all out ignores) its moderate and progressive Christian counterparts.
There are over 5,000 congregations in the U.S. that have declared their unequivocal affirmation of LGBT equality. Four of the seven largest mainline Protestant denominations have institutionalized LGBT equality measures – ranging from ordination of LGBT pastors to embrace of same-sex marriage.
These churches and hundreds of thousands of individuals, both LGBT and straight, are compelled by their faith to fully support LGBT equality. Don’t take my word for it. Take a look for yourself at some of the compassionate individual Christian voices from around the country who have responded to President Obama, with gratitude and thanks.
The shared stories are powerful. These faithful Christians, straight and LGBT alike, are thankful not only because the President has come out in support of LGBT equality, but because his statement—as a person of faith—is so important in the context of a society whose elevated religious figures are rabidly homophobic. In President Obama’s declaration they finally see writ large the intersection they embody – of faithful Christian and LGBT advocate. But what they typically fail to receive is respect from either camp. Battered by the LGBT community for their choice to be Christian and battered by other Christians for their support of LGBT equality. Isn’t there a way to end this false dichotomy and unite as allies?
We—lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people—are sometimes those who make these over-simplified generalizations. I’ve been on the receiving end of both sides: I’ve been told my faith is “garbage†by some LGBT people and told I’m a sinner and an abomination by some Christians. Surely everyone is entitled to his or her opinion, but nobody is entitled to be intolerant.
Faith is not the problem here. It’s not Christianity, or Islam, or Judaism. The holy books of all these religious traditions can in no way, shape or form be fully and literally followed in today’s world. They simply do not comply with acceptable ways to treat our legal system, nor do they afford acceptable human rights standards around the world. Many people of faith know this, but still make a personal decision “to believe†as they choose. The fact that over 90% of the United States Congress is Christian, yet it is not federal policy to ban the consumption of shellfish (Leviticus 11:10) speaks to this point.
Homophobic Christian culture is fueled by two sources: homophobic and conflicted people. But both of these groups can change. Rather than discount out of hand people who are either quietly conflicted or loudly hateful, we need to continue to challenge them on spiritual and moral terms, but terms that support faith and LGBT equality going hand-in-hand.
Conflicted people of faith along with already LGBT-supportive Christians have the power to eradicate homophobic Christianity. If for no other reason, this is why we must support “conflicted†individuals as they journey towards LGBT equality. Just as President Obama needed to “evolve†on this issue, so will countless others. Our support of this process is essential for true change to occur.
A few weeks ago I attended a conference called “Circling The Wagons,†organized by members of the Mormon community in Washington, D.C. I am not a Mormon, but I respect the opinions and theology of anyone (including these LGBT affirming Mormons) who are causing no harm to anyone because of their beliefs. Towards the beginning of the conference, I attended a breakout session where a powerful experience was shared by a straight woman named Katy Adams. All her life she was Mormon. She grew up in the Mormon church, with Mormon parents, and Mormon siblings who all attended the largest religious University in our country, Brigham Young University (BYU), owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
She and her family were not affirming until Katy’s brother put a human face on “homosexual†when he came out, sharing with them the pain, the grief, the emotional abuse he endured for being gay. Initially rejected by his family, school and others, he was driven to multiple suicide attempts. And it was homophobia’s devastating effect on Katy’s brother that eventually led her family to change their mind and embrace LGBT equality.
Now, as Mormons, they are advocates for LGBT equality and critical of so many in their lives—church leaders, youth leaders, their Book of Mormon, family—who “lied and betrayed†them about LGBT equality.
She tells her girlfriends in Utah, straight and gay, to make sure that they know, and their kids know, “that there is nothing wrong with anyone.†Her father, a professor at BYU, began teaching about LGBT issues from a faith perspective, and provided a safe haven for gay and transgender students whose “LDS families abandon them.†This is the change and awareness that’s happening across the country. And it’s the change that’s needed to create a Christian culture that supports LGBT equality.
No matter what your faith, no matter what you believe, supportive Christian voices are necessary to win full LGBT equality. So today, let’s stand shoulder to shoulder with our fellow LGBT advocates-even those who are Christian.
Joseph Ward is the Director of Believe Out Loud, an online network that empowers Christians to work for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality, and a writer on religion and LGBT equality issues. Follow him on Twitter @JosephWardIII.
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Maine Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Graham Platner is under fire after releasing a video declaring that new allegations against him are false, yet he is “taking time to reflect” on a path forward.
Politico on Monday afternoon reported that a woman who dated Platner, Jenny Racicot, “says he forced her to have sex with him nearly five years ago despite her repeated objections, an allegation Platner denies.”
“Racicot said she had an on-and-off relationship with Platner,” Politico reported, “for more than two years before he entered her rural Maine home uninvited one night in late 2021, deeply intoxicated, and forced himself on her while she repeatedly told him to stop. She said she cut off contact with him after telling him the encounter was not consensual.”
In a video posted to social media eleven minutes after the Politico story dropped, Platner says, “I wanted to directly address the troubling, serious, and false allegations against me. Any accusation of nonconsensual behavior is categorically false.”
He said he and his supporters “were united in a love of Maine, a belief that our politics must change, in a focus on defeating Susan Collins.”
“So, regardless of the inaccuracy of the reporting, but mindful the political reality will inflict, we are taking the time to reflect on the best path forward for the state that I love, the people that I love, the movement I belong to, and the goal of defeating Susan Collins.”
“Those were the goals when we launched this campaign. And they remain my goals today.”
“Throughout it all, you never turned your back on me. And I will not turn my back on you now. Every one of you deserves to see that vision come to fruition and see Susan Collins defeated. And we will use every tool at our disposal to do so.”
The Bulwark’s Tim Miller, a political commentator who served as the communications director for the Jeb Bush 2016 presidential campaign, blasted Platner.
“I’m sorry but ‘we are taking time to reflect on the best path forward’ is not an option on the table,” Miller wrote. “Either it’s false and you campaign with vigor or it’s true and you get out / apologize to everyone you let down.”
Journalist Ryan Grim, commenting on Platner’s video, noted that Platner “strongly suggests he is considering dropping out. Already Troy Jackson and Chellie Pingree, both gubernatorial candidates, are being kicked around in Maine circles as potential replacements.”
Several others, including Puck News’ Peter Hamby, predicted Platner will be dropping out.
Platner had postponed several campaign events before the Politico story was published.
— Graham Platner for Senate (@grahamformaine) July 6, 2026
President Donald Trump is facing backlash after posting a video of children — including showing their unblurred faces — graduating from kindergarten, with some of the girls purportedly wearing hijabs.
“President Trump posted a captionless video of graduating kindergarteners on Truth Social on Monday, goading his supporters into verbally attacking little children simply for being Muslim,” The New Republic reported. “The clip is from Gateway STEM Academy, a majority-Black K-8 public charter school in St. Paul, Minnesota. It shows about 21 children in caps and gowns on stage singing a song together. Most of the girls are wearing hijabs.”
The original post of the video which Trump reposted reads: “Public school in St. Paul, Minnesota. Every girl is in a hijab … in kindergarten.”
Trump did not add any comments. TNR called the post “Islamophobic, weird, and creepy,” while noting that the comments section of Trump’s post was filled with calls “by racist, xenophobic MAGA supporters” to “deport the children and ban hijabs.”
TNR also noted that it “should come as no surprise that Trump isn’t above attacking children who just learned how to read, but this post is still particularly discomforting—and will certainly contribute to the already potent level of anti-Muslim sentiment in the U.S. and in Minnesota.”
Critics blasted Trump.
“There is something deeply unsettling about the president of the United States—the most powerful person in the world—going after kindergarten schoolchildren in Minnesota because they wore hijabs, as Trump has done this morning on his website,” The Bulwark’s Sam Stein wrote.
One social media commentator wrote, “Trump posted an unblurred video of more than a dozen Muslim kindergartners to Truth Social, exposing the children’s faces while targeting them for their religion.”
Another added, “Trump is a bigot. The president took to Truth Social to attack kindergarteners in hijabs. These are little kids. The president isn’t just a bigot, he’s also a coward.”
The original video was posted to the X social media platform in June.
U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) at the time commented, “If you are in a public school in America, you should be speaking english.”
Image via Reuters
President Donald Trump’s apparent efforts to delay releasing the $5.8 million civil judgment to E. Jean Carroll are being met with a warning by the journalist’s legal team, who suggest there could be a legal maneuver for Trump to employ to forgo paying the judgment in either of the two cases he lost.
According to The Guardian, on July 4, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan ordered Trump to release the $5.8 million judgment, which is in escrow, to Carroll by this coming Tuesday — or explain why he would not do so.
Carroll’s attorneys think Trump may be trying to buy time to mount another legal strategy, telling the judge that Trump’s request for an extension “appears to be little more than yet another play for time.”
“The case is separate from Trump’s appeal of a Manhattan civil jury’s 2024 award of $83.3m to Carroll for defamation,” The Guardian explains. “But her lawyers have suggested a legal scenario in which the president might seek to conjoin the cases and further delay payment of both.”
Carroll’s attorney Roberta Kaplan (no relation to the judge) wrote, “We can only assume that defendant is seeking … to buy time so he can try to concoct some new basis to put off paying plaintiff presumably in connection with his forthcoming petition and motion for a rehearing.”
Trump’s former attorney, Justin Smith, in one of his final acts, wrote to the Supreme Court suggesting that his client would be appealing the $83.3 million civil judgment.
Smith argued that the Supreme Court “may wish to consider the petitions together,” given they involve the same parties.
The larger judgment case involves possible questions of presidential immunity, and that has Carroll’s attorneys concerned.
“A conjoined case, Carroll’s lawyers fear, could result in both judgments being wiped out,” The Guardian reports.
The president has also made clear he is no fan of Judge Kaplan, after the jurist made several rulings that “angered” Trump.
“What else can you expect from a Trump Hating, Clinton appointed judge, who went out of his way to make sure that the result was as negative as it could possible be,” Trump wrote on Truth Social in 2023, “speaking to, and in control of, a jury from an anti-Trump area which is probably the worst place in the US for me to get a fair ‘trial’.”
Image via Reuters
Platner Scorched Over ‘Taking Time’ Video After New Accusation
Trump Sparks Fury Online After Posting Unblurred Video of Muslim Kindergartners in Hijabs
One Legal Maneuver Threatens to Undo Everything E. Jean Carroll Won
Inside the Group Helping MAGA Voters Walk Away — And What Finally Pushed Them
