Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Denison Forum

Home
Evangelical
Religion News
GameStop and transgender rights: The privilege and cost of courageous compassion

GameStop and transgender rights: The privilege and cost of courageous compassion

Last updated on: February 1, 2021 at 5:01 am by Jim Denison

GameStop and transgender rights: The privilege and cost of courageous compassion 2021-02-01T05:01:12-06:00 Jim Denison

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Occasionally in The Daily Article I address an issue only because everyone else is. The GameStop furor is an example. Without getting into financial explanations about “shorting stocks” that I barely understand, I’ll point to the part of the controversy that is especially captivating interest: “little guy” investors are making huge sums of money while large hedge funds are losing huge sums of money.

You may not have a personal interest in the GameStop story, but this probably feels more relevant: According to CBS News, “US intelligence officials say Chinese government is collecting Americans’ DNA.” A Chinese company called the BGI Group is the largest biotech firm in the world. It has offered to provide COVID testing services in the US. However, they would collect DNA from us as part of the testing protocol. According to one counterintelligence officer, they wish to do so in “a race to control the world’s biodata.”

From the frightening to the tragic: nursing home deaths from COVID-19 in New York state may have been undercounted by as much as 50 percent, prompting widespread criticism of the state’s handling of the issue.

Here’s what these stories have in common: they point to our God-given passion and compassion for the individual, especially those who are marginalized and mistreated by those in power.

The Biden administration and transgender soldiers

Such compassion forms a backdrop for one of the more controversial decisions by the new Biden administration.

Ahead of his inauguration, President-elect Biden made sweeping promises to LGBTQ activists, among them:

Lifting the Trump administration’s ban on military service for transgender people.
Barring federal contractors from anti-LGBTQ job discrimination.
Creating high-level LGBTQ-rights positions at the State Department, the National Security Council, and other federal agencies.
Reinstating Obama administration guidance directing public schools to allow transgender students to access bathrooms, locker rooms, and sports teams according to their gender identity. President Biden has stated that “transgender equality is the civil rights issue of our time.”
Supporting legislative efforts to ban so-called conversion therapy for LGBTQ minors.
Ensuring that LGBTQ rights are a priority for US foreign policy by using pressure tactics, including sanctions, against foreign governments that violate such rights.
Providing health care coverage for “gender confirmation surgery.”

He has begun acting on several of these pledges, among them lifting restrictions on transgender Americans who wish to serve in the US military. He has also nominated Pennsylvania Department of Health Secretary Rachel Levine as assistant health secretary despite criticisms of Pennsylvania’s “failed COVID performance.” Dr. Levine would become the first openly transgender federal official to be confirmed by the US Senate.

“We think this is an emergency”

For my book, 7 Critical Issues, I wrote a chapter-length examination of the transgender debate you can read here. For today, let’s focus on one reaction to the Biden administration’s actions.

Natasha Chart is executive director of the Women’s Liberation Front, which she describes as a “radical feminist organization.” She focuses on the government’s order giving biological males who identify as women a pathway to compete in female sports and enter women’s-only spaces such as bathrooms and showers.

I encourage you to read her interview in its entirety. She raises concerns about the risk of injuries to females competing with biological males and girls being forced to shower with biological boys, among other issues. Then she warns: “This is an emergency. We know parents are losing custody of their children for failing to affirm a gender identity. We know that minors are being sterilized. We know that girls and young women are losing out on athletic and college scholarship opportunities.

“We know that women in domestic violence shelters, in homeless shelters, in prisons are being terrorized by men who’ve been allowed to identify as women, and by officials who say, ‘Hey, it’s out of our hands. He says he’s a woman. He has to bunk with you.’

“We think this is an emergency, and we would hope that everyone in politics would support women’s side in this.”

The “great sin” of our day

I appreciate the American impulse to protect and support the rights of minorities, in this case the transgender population. And I want to state clearly that God loves all people, whatever their sexual orientation or gender identity (John 3:16). We are all broken people (Romans 3:23). We are all loved by the God who is love (1 John 4:8).

At the same time, transgender Americans constitute only 0.6 percent of our population. How do we also protect the rights of the majority?

Scripture is clear: God made both men and women in his image (Genesis 1:27; Matthew 19:4). Women and men are equally loved by our Lord (Galatians 3:28). Across Scripture we find women serving as prophets, judges, evangelists, and leaders. (For more, see my paper, “What should be the role of women in church?“) Children are loved and welcomed by God (cf. Psalm 127:3; Matthew 18:10; 19:14). Women and children must be protected from any who would harm them (cf. James 1:27).

It will take courage to stand for the rights of those at risk from the consequences of transgender legislation. In Rod Dreher’s latest book, Live Not by Lies, he states that in our secularized culture, “The great sin is to stand in the way of the freedom of others to find happiness as they wish.” As a result, we can expect to be labeled intolerant, bigoted, and worse.

The daily cost of following Jesus

Will we pay the price to declare biblical truth and to defend those victimized by our secular society? Dreher notes: “Relatively few contemporary Christians are prepared to suffer for the faith, because the therapeutic society that has formed them denies the purpose of suffering in the first place, and the idea of bearing pain for the sake of truth seems ridiculous.”

By contrast, Jesus was clear: “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23, my italics). There is a daily cost to following and serving our Lord.

For the sake of all who need our biblical witness and courageous compassion, let’s pay that price today.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

January 29, 2021

The death of my spiritual father: Is this “the greatest evangelistic hour” in history?

Next Post

February 2, 2021 Groundhog Day and an article every evangelical should read: An empowering and urgent prayer for our nation

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category america biblical-living Uncategorized

Select a Month March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

How did Nehemiah show concern for the poor in Jerusalem's community?

Select your answer to see how you score.

He canceled debts and returned land He doubled taxes He gave up rebuilding He expelled foreigners