ANTI-TRANSGENDER LANGUAGE IS REPULSIVE

You know a tree by its fruit.

On Wednesday, Jan. 25, I stood in the hallway outside the Santee City Council Chambers in prayer, wedged between a colleague and other East County residents. It’s likely that my rainbow stole, though coupled with a pastoral collar, betrayed the fact that I was there in support of both Christynne Wood and those who showed up in solidarity with her.

Despite Wood’s extraordinary example of peace and calm that night, the meeting became contentious. One citizen’s comments even led to what The San Diego Union-tribune reported as a “verbal altercation” in the hallway outside the chambers.

My colleague and I were among those waving for law enforcement’s help after a man exited the chambers, locking eyes with me and delivering what I perceived to be a masculine chest-thump in my direction, just before beelining towards others wearing transgender-affirming symbols. Thank goodness sheriff ’s deputies escorted him out before he hurt someone.

It was an uneasy moment for me as a cisgender, White, straight, married man, and I can’t begin to imagine how his threats landed among the others.

There’s an old idea that comes from the Gospel of Matthew, spoken by Jesus during the Sermon on the Mount, about speaking plainly about one sees: You know a tree by its fruit. It doesn’t matter what people say they’re doing or what they stand for. What matters is their actions.

The fruit of the Christian nationalist right, which I would characterize as the loudest voices we’ve heard speak in opposition to Lgbtq-affirming policies, is intimidation, discrimination and, ultimately, dominance.

Following another contentious meeting at the

Santee City Council chambers on Feb. 8, regarding the YMCA'S policies, The San Diego Union-tribune reporter Blake Nelson wrote that, “there is disagreement among churches on the issue.” That's putting it lightly. There is a strain of radical Christian thinking in North America that insists it speaks on behalf of all Christians, and that it holds ultimate sway over what counts as a valid

Christian perspective.

The words “Christian morals” and “Christian values” are thrown around by these groups in meetings like the ones we've seen in Santee as if they're monolithic ideas held uniformly by all those who identify as Christian. They're not.

What many outside Christian circles — or even inside — might not know is that there is a strong voice of faithful and critical thinking that considers anti-transgender language in the name of Jesus repulsive, and absolutely contrary

to the heart of the Christian tradition.

Speaking personally, my pastoral support of the LGBTQ community arises out of the depths of faithfulness, a lifetime of a churchgoing witness to the ministry of Jesus, and years of academic study of scripture and theology. It's not a willynilly idea that suits my political taste. Those experiences, calls and credentials have translated into a profession of God's wholehearted embrace of all, and, without exception, of all

LGBTQ folks.

I'm not alone.

The Faith Coalition of La Mesa circulated a letter to faith leaders last month in support of the YMCA'S trans-affirming policies. It gathered just over 70 signatures from prominent faith leaders of various traditions and backgrounds in San Diego County in less than 48 hours.

Yet it is unlikely that citing degrees, collegial concurrence, doctrine, denominational polity or professional experience will do anything to change the hearts and minds of those

who thump their chests outside City Hall meetings in the ludicrous defense of so-called Christian values.

Such belligerence reveals itself plainly as a weaponization of the Christian story in service of a narrow set of political, and ultimately violent, ends.

Yes, there is there is “disagreement among churches,” as Blake wrote. Strong disagreement. The Christian right does not hold a monopoly on Christian values, as much as it will threaten that it does.

It will continue to be my mission to tell the story of God's relentless love, a story I know to be rooted in faithfulness, testimony and scripture. This is a story that affirms God's love of LGBTQ persons alongside a myriad of other well-researched and important ideas I'm called to preach each Sunday. There are a number of other faith leaders in San Diego County who plan on doing likewise.

You know a tree by its fruit. Don't let the Christian right sour the story.