Why Anti-Trans Legislation Exemplifies the Perversion of Christianity

The anti-trans legislation moving forward in multiple states across this country (here in Arkansas it’s already arrived at the desk of the governor) is predicated primarily on the notion that religious freedoms need to be protected.

These poor doctors and insurance companies: if we don’t pass laws to protect them, they might have to provide care or fund services they disagree with on religious grounds…

Poor souls.

So let’s talk about this.

I think we can start by simply pointing out that trans individuals are not a large percentage of the population. So obviously when conservatives forward this kind of legislation, they’re passing laws for a problem that largely doesn’t exist (laws around school sports) or laws that affect just a very small percentage of the population (health access).

Why would they do this? Well, the obvious answer is twofold: first, they’re bigots. Second, so are their constituents so the legislation is political grandstanding at the expense of a minority community.

But let’s focus on religious freedom itself, and in particular Christian religious freedom.

How should we think about the freedom of a Christian as they are called on to love and serve their trans neighbor?

Well, we can start with the great commandment. Jesus when asked said the greatest commandment is to love God, and love your neighbor as yourself.

Do you want to be excluded from sports because of your gender identity? Do you think it would be right to be denied medical care because of your identity?

Hold up the same standards for others you’d desire for yourself.

But let’s talk specifically about the case of trans people and Christian action. Our best example, obviously, is Jesus.

How did Jesus relate to trans people?

Well, we don’t think sexual orientation and gender identity were identical in Jesus’ era as they are today, so we can’t find perfect parallels. But we can find a lot of instructive examples.

Consider the following:

1. When Jesus encountered men or women who were very different from him, in particular in their gender or their sexual practices, he still always and consistently cared for them. The list is long. Think of the woman at the well who had many husbands, or woman who touches Jesus when she has a perpetual bleed like a menstrual flow, or the dozens of people Jesus healed whose health conditions pushed them to outside of normal human society. In each case, Jesus applies his religious freedom not to exclude or deny them, but to heal them.
2. In one famous case, when Jesus thought his healing was NOT for a woman and her daughter, the woman debated with Jesus, and Jesus was convinced by her argument (Matthew 15:21-28).
3. Jesus actually taught about some individuals whose gender expression was atypical for the time.  After chastising men for their hard-heartedness that results in the dismissal of wives, and immediately before Jesus teaches that they should allow little children to come to him, he says this, “For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let anyone accept this who can.” It’s an enigmatic passage, sure, but the obvious direction is a call for hearers to accept the diversity of eunuchs present in their community. And eunuchs are, as we know, at least one example of a group of humans whose gender presentation was definitely not binary.
4. Jesus taught many things, but as far as I can tell he never once instructed his disciples to identify a minority group of some sort, and then purposefully exclude them. Christians targeting trans humans would be anathema to Jesus. Christians using political power to do so would be even worse. Instead, Jesus encouraged the inclusion of those otherwise excluded: “But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous” (Luke 14:13–14, NIV)

Of course, these religious and political conservatives put forth all of this legislation specifically with the goal of ramping up partisan divisions. They’ll happily throw trans people under the bus because remember, they’re bigots.

They want division, not because they have any real understanding of the way of Jesus or of Christian faith, but precisely because they have perverted Christianity for their own trashy purposes.

We might remember, after all, that Jesus’ way was to recognize the whole body, not divide it. This becomes particularly poignant when we are advocating for trans rights, because of course the issue for trans people has to do with their bodily rights.

Paul writes, “For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility” (Ephesians 2:14–16, NIV).

A while back, Breitbart and the conservative press picked up on a blog post I wrote that I still stand by. It’s an intentional exploration of Jesus as non-binary. The conservatives said I believed that Jesus was a hermaphrodite, using a word I didn’t know people still even used, until I remember that yes, indeed, conservative news media is trash.

But if we are to actually be the people of God living in the way of Jesus, our real responsibility isn’t to pass more laws that harm trans humans, but rather to listen to trans humans and learn from them. Because in such learning, we might come to know Jesus much better.