An Assault upon Religious Liberty

Battlelines have been drawn over a North Carolina state law that prohibits 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.^[1] In response to the North Carolina law, PayPal and Deutsche Bank abandoned expansion plans in North Carolina, popular musicians cancelled performances, and the National Basketball Association threatened to move the 2017 All-Star Game from Charlotte if the law is not changed.^[2][3]

Unlike Georgia’s Governor Nathan Deal, North Carolina’s Governor Pat McCrory has refused to succumb to political and economic pressure. On May 5, 2016, the Department of Justice presented North Carolina with an ultimatum: Overturn the state law within three business days or lose billions of dollars in federal funding.^[4] According to the Obama administration’s interpretation of law, North Carolina’s state law violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination against workers on the basis of sex, race, color, national origin, and religion.^[5]

In response, the North Carolina’s university system announced its intention to defy the governor and state legislature, choosing to act “in compliance with federal law.” However, the State chose to file a lawsuit, accusing the federal government of “baseless and blatant overreach,” and calling the Department of Justice’s position a “radical reinterpretation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.”^[6] The Department of Justice then counter-sued North Carolina. According to CNN, “The federal suit also says the state is in violation of Title IX, the Education Acts Amendment of 1972 that bans gender discrimination in education, and the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act that outlaws discrimination on the basis of sex.”^[7]

What began as a state issue in North Carolina is now a national issue.^[8] The Obama administration is endeavoring to define the transgender community as a protected class. If the Department of Justice succeeds in forcing this interpretation of the Civil Rights Act, then every state in the nation will be required to open bathrooms and locker rooms to anyone who identifies with the gender of those facilities. Failure to comply will result in the withholding of federal funds, and there can be no exemptions for religious organizations.

However, defining the transgender community as a protected class would grant transgender people far more than mere access to bathrooms and locker rooms. As a protected class, Christian business owners and religious organizations would not be permitted to refuse to hire a transgender person based upon their lifestyle, refuse to officiate wedding ceremonies for transgender couples, refuse health coverage for sex changes, or a host of additional scenarios that would compromise their religious and moral convictions. As such, trans rights are fundamentally an assault upon religious freedom in America.

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

Download your free copy here.