Opinion: We Have to End Christian Calls for Violence Against the Transgender Community

Photo byWalter Rhein

One of the many problems in the United States is that people aren’t honest about who is inciting calls for violence in our country. There has been a lot of talk in the media about drag shows. Some states have even gone so far as to pass laws against these shows.

Legislation that is designed to place restrictions on what people choose to wear is an example of government overreach. Another problem is that many of these laws are overly vague. For example, Catholic priests often wear robes rather than traditionally masculine apparel. Does that mean that every religious gathering could be legally defined as a drag show?

It’s relevant to point the finger at the religious community because statistics show that child groomers are most often religious. For some reason, this fact is buried beneath a wave of anti-transgender hysteria.

Perhaps the reason the anti-transgender narrative is allowed to flourish is that it serves as a distraction from the true abusers. The transgender community is a convenient target because it is a small and marginalized group.

In truth, the transgender community is exactly the type of group Jesus urged his followers to assist.

In this instance, the Christian community is acting like a bunch of bullies. Some pastors have even gone so far as to issue calls for violence against the LGBTQ community.

I don’t understand why overt examples of hate speech are allowed to go unpunished. Our laws have to matter, and it’s ridiculous when pundits argue against arresting powerful people even when evidence emerges that they have broken the law.

We need to work towards a society that respects the rights of all individuals. Too often, our community is fixated on completely innocent people who are not inflicting harm on any other group.

At the same time, our community disregards the groups demonstrably guilty of engaging in lawlessness and violence against the innocent. Too many myths are believed and exploited to enable the actual abusers. Responsible people need to learn the facts about what’s happening in our society.

The narrative in this country is frequently skewed and factual evidence is disregarded.

One sad result that we can observe today is that children in the transgender community are targets of violent attacks and show an elevated risk of suicide. Our nation needs to adopt the philosophy that the lives of our children are important.

We should be protecting our children and making them feel welcome. We shouldn’t bully them into depression and suicide. The second option is barbaric. Unfortunately, that’s the reality of our country today.

One weapon we could use to combat the epidemic of mental health issues among children is education. Unfortunately, conservative groups throughout our country have declared war on topics that they don’t agree with.

Conservative cancel culture is devastating our schools.

The result is that teachers aren’t allowed to educate the general public. This results in the proliferation of unreasonable fears.

You don’t have to be a genius to comprehend that all of these tactics, launched under the guise of “protecting children,” can be used to divert attention away from the actual abusers.

We need to stop allowing members of the faith community to spread hate speech, groom our children, or commit acts of abuse.

The transgender community is innocent. If you want to protect your children, then keep them away from church.