Biden Wages LGBTQ “Battle” for “Soul of This Nation”

“We are in a battle for the very soul of this nation … it’s a battle I know we will win,” President Joe Biden announced, in June, when signing an executive order designed to combat a historic number of anti-LGBTQ+ bills introduced in state legislatures across the country.^[1] “The order will direct federal health and education agencies to expand access to gender affirming care and advance LGBTQ-inclusive learning environments at American schools,” reports NBC News. According to Biden, it is also the first time the American government has chosen to lead a coordinated response to “use the full force of the federal government to prevent inhumane practices of conversion therapy.”^[2]

At times, it can feel as though the LGBTQ+ movement is an unstoppable force in America. Because of the support it has received from the highest levels of our government, resistance seems futile. Indeed, President Biden signed one of the most comprehensive executive orders in history, affirming LGBTQ+ rights on his first day in office,^[3][4] and he has repeatedly declared, “Pride is back at the White House.”^[5] Furthermore, President Biden’s administration boasts a record number of LGBTQ+ officials. Speaking at a Pride event in 2021, Biden claimed that nearly 14% of his 1,500 federal agency appointees identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer.^[6] Most notably, these include:

• Pete Buttigieg, the first openly gay Secretary of Transportation
• Karine Jean-Pierre, the first openly gay, black, female press secretary
• Ned Price, the first openly gay State Department spokesperson
• Rachel Levine, the first openly transgender assistant secretary for health for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services^[7]

Moreover, we are inundated with reports that highlight the advances made by the LGBTQ+ community. California is poised to pass S.B. 107, which will effectively establish California as a sanctuary state for transgender children. According to the Washington Examiner, “SB107 gives a mechanism for doctors, insurance companies, and contractors to disregard subpoenas from other states pertaining to child custody or other court actions if the child is receiving transgender medical care. It also seals the records from outside view.”^[8] Likewise, the Michigan Supreme Court recently ruled that the state’s civil rights protections preventing discrimination on the basis of sex also apply to sexual orientation and gender identity—a major step toward trumping religious freedom.^[9]

Everywhere we look, it seems we are losing ground in our battle to preserve traditional family values and the integrity of God’s design for human sexuality. However, this does not mean we ought to despair. Indeed, it is a common quirk of history that the victors in war are often those who lose the most battles. For much of the war, American colonists were consistently losing their fight against the British. Similarly, the north was losing its fight against the south for much of the Civil War. In World War II, the Allies were losing to the Axis. In the Chinese civil war, Chairman Mao’s Communists were losing to the Nationalists. And the Taliban was losing to America in Afghanistan. Nevertheless, the determination of each of these forces managed to eventually turn the tides of war.

In truth, President Biden’s executive order is an act of desperation. It is an effort to override the will of the people so as to kneecap the more than 320 anti-LGBTQ+ bills that have been introduced in states across the nation.^[10] Moreover, it is a desperate attempt to double down on policies that are now unravelling in the European nations who were first to adopt them. Keep in mind that Europe has traditionally been about a decade ahead of the U.S. in its adoption of LGBTQ+ policies. Today, the United Kingdom,^[11] Sweden,^[12] Finland,^[13] and France^[14] are all reconsidering their use of puberty-blocking drugs as a means of affirming a child’s gender dysphoria.

What once seemed an impossible pipe dream is now becoming reality in Europe, providing hope to us who are weary in our resistance of LGBTQ+ policies in America. By the spring of 2023, Britain’s state-run transgender youth clinic will be permanently closed. National Review reports:

NHS England announced it was closing the Tavistock gender-identity clinic last month after an independent report concluded that it was ‘not a safe or viable long-term option’ for gender-confused young people. The report, conducted by the former president of the Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health, found that patients were “at considerable risk” from clinicians’ “unquestioning affirmative approach.”^[15]

Napoleon Bonaparte, one of history’s greatest military strategists, once said, “Victory belongs to the most persevering.” He added, “The most important qualification of a soldier is fortitude under fatigue and privation. Courage is only second.”^[16] This begs the question of God’s people, “Will we persevere in the face of apparent defeat? Do we have sufficient fortitude to overcome our fatigue in the battle over LGBTQ+ issues?”

Do not lose hope. Victory over the advances of the LGBTQ+ community may feel elusive, but it certainly remains attainable in America. We cannot adopt a defeatist mentality at such a pivotal point in our war (1 Cor. 16:13). Rather than become discouraged by setbacks, such as President Biden’s executive order, let us become emboldened by the realization that executive fiat is only necessary when the trust and goodwill of the people is lost. The enemy’s aggression is a bluff designed to make us think they are more formidable than they truly are. However, a bluff can quickly become a major victory if the other party allows doubt and fear to govern their decisions.

President Biden understands the significance of this moment, but do we? Biden was correct when he declared, “We’re in a battle for the very soul of this nation.” Like it or not, we are at war with a competing vision for America’s morality, and the fate of our nation likely rests upon the outcome of this fight. Unless we too understand this war to be for the soul of our nation, we will be unlikely to persevere to the end.

Across our nation, parents are rising up, legislators are pushing back, studies are being released, trust in the government’s “science” is wavering, and people are changing their minds. In short, the table is set for a tidal shift in this war against LGBTQ+ ideology if only God’s people will fully engage and reinforce these grassroot efforts with the transformative power of the Holy Spirit. It is time for those who have been hesitant to fully engage and for those who have been fully engaged to cling to Philippians 4:13: “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”