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Can We Trust Christians? A Question For LGBT People And Straight Allies

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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.

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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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‘On Day One’: Trump Vows to End Protections for LGBTQ Students

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May 10, 2024

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Donald Trump says the day he enters the Oval Office for a second term he will end anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQ+ students implemented by the Biden administration.

Serving up a scattershot series of complaints with the hosts from the Philadelphia-based right-wing talk radio show “Kayal and Company” on Friday, Trump compared LGBTQ+ protections to a “cuckoo’s nest.”

“A lot of things don’t make sense, having to do with what they’re doing, from the border to all of the men playing in women’s sports. I mean, the world is like a cuckoo’s nest right now with what they do,” Trump declared.

One of the hosts alleged President Joe Biden has engaged in “manipulation” of Title IX, the federal civil rights law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in schools that receive federal funding. She claimed parents now have to “pinch some pennies” to be able to afford private Christian schools for their children, to remove them from the enhancements that go into effect this summer.

“Many schools are grappling with what they’re going to do,” she said, “because as of August 1, as you know, because of Biden’s manipulation of Title IX, these kids, the school boards, have no choice, they’re meeting right now they, many of them perplexed, and they don’t know what to do, Mr. President, because they’re so upset over this that at August 1 a biological boy can change in a locker room.”

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Trump replied, “It’s crazy. Crazy.”

“We’re going to end it on day one,” Trump vowed. “We’re going to change it on day one. It’s going to be changed. We’re going to end it. That’s right.”

“The whole thing is crazy. Look, it’s like men playing in women’s sports. It’s like open borders for the world to come in. Send all their prisoners. We’ll take as many as you can give us. Send all their people from mental institutions.”

“We’ll get that changed. Tell your people not to worry about it. It’ll be signed on day one. It will be terminated,” Trump promised, vowing to end the LGBTQ+ protections which include protections for sexual orientation and gender identity.

On his first day in office, President Biden implemented “the most far-reaching of any federal protections yet” for LGBTQ+ people, according to NPR.

In an explainer on the new expanded rules, Ms. Magazine reports “The 2024 regulations prohibit discrimination not only on the basis of sex, but also on the basis of sex characteristics, pregnancy or related conditions, sexual orientation, and gender identity.”

According to GLAAD, which is tracking “the Biden administration’s executive orders, legislative support, speeches and nominations that affect LGBTQ people and rights,” President Biden has made 337 “moves” in 1206 days.

Listen to a short clip below or at this link.

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Ari Fleischer Offers Donald Trump Advice Attorney Says ‘Effectively’ Violates Gag Order

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May 10, 2024

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A Fox News panel discussing the Trump New York criminal trial debated whether or not the indicted ex-president could attack the judge’s daughter, with former Bush 43 press secretary Ari Fleischer insisting he should, and claiming doing so would not violate the terms of the gag order.

“President Trump needs to stop calling the judge ‘conflicted.’ He needs to explain why he’s conflicted,” Fleischer said Friday to a panel that included former Trump press secretary Kayleigh McEnany. “Every day of the trial he goes in there, he says, ‘the judge is conflicted, conflicted bigger than I’ve ever seen anywhere in my life.’ He doesn’t explain how or why. He needs to say that the judge’s daughter works for a Democratic political consulting firm that does anti-Trump business. He needs to explain it. Otherwise, it’s just an assertion with no proof. And the President if he’s going to say it, back it up. Explain.”

“I think that’s a violation of the gag order, is it not?” a Fox panelist replied.

“No, he can criticize the judge,” McEnany responded.

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“Not the judge but the family,” the panelist added.

“But when he says the judge is conflicted, you can still explain how and why, and I think comply with a gag,” Fleischer insisted.

The panelists then agreed Donald Trump has been “measured” in his remarks.

National security attorney Brad Moss weighed in on social media, posting the relevant portion of the gag order and writing that Fleischer “effectively recommends Trump violate the terms of the gag order.”

The gag order in part reads: “Defendant is directed to refrain from” … “Making or directing others to make public statements about (1) counsel in the case other than the District Attorney, (2) members of the court’s staff and the District Attorney’s staff, or (3) the family members of any counsel, staff member, the Court or the District Attorney, if those statements are made with the intent to materially interfere with, or to cause others to materially interfere with, counsel’s or staffs work in this criminal case, or with the knowledge that such interference is likely to result.”

Despite Trump’s repeated attacks, an ethics panel last year cleared Judge Juan Merchan of any issues surrounding his daughter’s work.

On Monday, Judge Merchan warned Trump he may throw him in jail if he violates the gag order again.

Watch below or at this link.

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Bannon Will Be ‘Going to Prison’ After Criminal Contempt Conviction Upheld, Experts Predict

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May 10, 2024

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A federal appeals court panel of three judges has upheld the criminal contempt of Congress conviction of Steve Bannon, the far-right provocateur and former Trump chief strategist and senior White House advisor. Legal experts say he can appeal but ultimately he will he headed to prison.

Bannon had refused to comply with a subpoena lawfully-issued by the U.S. House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack.

“Bannon was sentenced to four months in jail in 2022 by U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols after a jury convicted him of two counts of contempt of Congress,” Politico reports Friday. “But Nichols, a Trump appointee, agreed to postpone the jail term while Bannon appealed the decision, agreeing that the complex mix of laws that govern executive privilege and testimonial immunity for White House aides could be overturned by higher courts.”

The appeals court panel includes judges appointed by President Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and Joe Biden, according to CNN’s Zachary Cohen.

In their ruling the judges wrote: “Public accounts indicated that Bannon had predicted on a January 5, 2021 podcast that ‘all hell [wa]s going to break loose’ the next day,” and noted, “In addition to the podcast prediction, Bannon had reportedly participated in discussions in late 2020 and early 2021 about efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.”

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Politico noted the “three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Bannon’s argument, saying the former aide and prominent podcaster had no legal rationale for his blanket refusal to appeal before the Jan. 6 committee — and that long-standing case law.”

Bannon is a peddler of conspiracy theories whose podcast “was crowned the top peddler of false, misleading and unsubstantiated statements among political podcasts,” according to The New York Times, citing a Brookings study.

“Bannon is unlikely to have to report to prison immediately,” NBC News reports.

Legal experts weighed in on the question of prison for Bannon.

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“And now it’s time for Bannon to be given a date to report to the federal Bureau of Prisons to begin serving his sentence,” remarked MSNBC and NBC News legal analyst Glenn Kirschner, a former federal prosecutor.

“Bannon is effectively out of appeals,” observed professor of law and MSNBC legal analyst Joyce Vance, former U.S. Attorney. “He can delay a little bit longer, asking for the full court to review the decision en banc & asking SCOTUS to hear his case on cert, but neither one of those things will happen. Bannon is going to prison.”

Professor of law and former chief White House ethics lawyer Richard Painter remarked, “it’s slammer time.”

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