Why Christians Will Lose the Transgender Debate.


Image courtesy of Dennis Hlynsky via Flickr creative commons - http://bit.ly/1VWTOaW

Image courtesy of Dennis Hlynsky via Flickr creative commons – http://bit.ly/1VWTOaW

This is a very good article, with a Christian take on why Christians will be losing when it comes to transgender politics and law.

When LGBT rights first became a national issue following the Stonewall Riot of 1969, conservative Christians responded with a disastrous campaign against gay and lesbian causes. Christian leaders cited pseudo-science claiming homosexuality was a “choice,” or worse, a mental disorder. Preachers regularly promoted the idea that AIDS was God’s judgment on LGBT people. And money began to flow into “ex-gay” Christian ministries that promised to make LGBT people straight, but ended up making them suicidal instead.

When it comes to conservative Christianity, it seems the more things change, the more things stay the same. A national debate on transgender rights has rapidly progressed in America, and predictably, conservative Christians have once again elbowed their way to the front lines. Christian leaders make speeches, pastors preach sermons, and political activists make cable news network appearances–each armed with rhetoric intended to incite panic and stir up fear.

Sadly, their messages are just as disconnected from reality as their response to the LGBT rights movement decades ago. By recycling old tactics, conservative Christians are poised to lose the transgender debate in America.

The full article is here. I’m very appreciative of progressive Christians who are actively working to make a difference, and recognizing that conservative Christianity isn’t good for anyone, including other Christians.

Comments

  1. Ichthyic says

    When it comes to conservative Christianity, it seems the more things change, the more things stay the same.

    ummm… that IS rather the point of being “conservative”, yes?

  2. Ichthyic says

    btw, if you want to know why I NEVER consider xians on the side of reason?

    here’s an example, from the writer you just promoted:

    These arguments are based on stereotypes claiming transgender people are unstable and dangerous perverts. They drum up fear by portending imminent danger to vulnerable family members and friends. But, worst of all, they are false.

    the “worst” thing is that they are false? not the harm they cause, not the irrational fear they promote… but that they are simply false.

    yeah… this is how the xian mindset operates. Even when they talk of compassion, their heads are simply filled with binary “right or not right is most important”.

    you see this throughout the article, btw, not just in this snippet.

    and I see it in so called “progressive” xians all the time.

    religion. poisons. everything.

    end of.

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