Compelled to Choose Sides

While 2015 was certainly a watershed year for transgender awareness, the year 2016 is shaping-up to be a watershed year for transgender rights. The Pentagon has announced plans to lift the ban on transgender soldiers in 2016, while legislators argue over whether to enshrine trans rights into law.^[1] Within the first 10 weeks of the new year, the battle to define transgender rights, religious freedom, and personal privacy resulted in the introduction of nearly 200 legislative bills designed to protect religious organizations, businesses, and citizens from the demands of the LGBT community.^[2] Conversely, President Barack Obama’s administration has chosen to interpret laws preventing discrimination on the basis of sex to include all aspects of gender identity. Think Progress reports that on May 13, 2016:

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a new rule regarding the implementation of nondiscrimination protections under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). It guarantees that transgender people cannot be denied health care by professionals that receive federal funding, and also that it is discriminatory to refuse them access to transition-related services. … Notably, the rule does not include a blanket religious exemption for faith-based providers who would prefer not to provide such services because of their religious beliefs.^[3]

Religious organizations have repeatedly failed to find refuge from LGBT demands since the Obergefell v. Hodges Supreme Court ruling in favor of same-sex marriage. In March, the Washington Post reported:

Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal (R) on Monday vetoed a controversial religious liberties bill that had provoked outrage from Hollywood, sports leagues and corporations for what critics said was its discrimination against gay and transgender people. … Deal’s decision comes two weeks after the state legislature passed a bill aimed at shoring up the rights of religious organizations to refuse services that clash with their faith, particularly with regard to same-sex marriage. Deal, who had already expressed discomfort with the measure, came under enormous pressure to veto the bill after the National Football League suggested it might pass over Atlanta for future Super Bowls, and leading Hollywood figures threatened to pull production from the state.^[4]

On April 19, 2016, the Fourth Federal Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Evan Grimm, a Virginia transgender student who was born female but who desires to use the boys’ high school bathroom. According to the New York Times, “It is the first time that a federal appellate court has ruled that Title IX protects the rights of such students to use the bathroom that corresponds with their gender identity.” However, this ruling stands in conflict with a North Carolina state law prohibiting cities from enacting non-discrimination policies that allow people to use the bathroom corresponding with their gender identity. This law also requires that students in the state’s schools use the bathroom and locker room that matches the gender on their birth certificate.^[5]

The controversy over trans-rights has spread to every corner of our nation. Even the Pentagon has announced plans to lift its ban on transgender soldiers in 2016. As transgenderism becomes increasingly public, the trans-community is demanding increasing accommodations from society. For good or for ill, we are being compelled to choose sides, and nobody will be permitted to remain neutral.

This article comes from Transitioning: A Biblical Understanding of Transgenderism.

Download your free copy here.