A manifesto from a group of evangelical leaders is causing controversy for its anti-LGBTQ content.
The “Nashville Statement,” a manifesto from the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (CBMW), outlines the group’s views on sexuality and gender in order to act as a guide of sorts for churches.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the results aren’t favourable towards LGBTQ people.
Comprising 14 articles, it opens with the declaration that “God has designed marriage to be a…union of one man and one woman, as husband and wife.” It adds, “We deny that God has designed marriage to be a homosexual, polygamous or polyamorous relationship.”
“We deny that adopting a homosexual or transgender self-conception is consistent with God’s holy purposes,” the statement continues, adding, “We deny that sexual attraction for the same sex is part of the natural goodness of God’s original creation.”
The statement also notes that transgender individuals should embrace religion to “forsake transgender self-conceptions” and accept the “God-ordained link” between sex and gender identity.
And there’s no hope for those who support the LGBTQ community, as the evangelical leaders consider it “sinful to approve of homosexual immorality or transgenderism.”
“The spirit of our age does not delight in God’s good design of male and female. Consequently, confusion reigns over some of the most basic questions of our humanity,” Council President Denny Burk said in a statement. “The aim of The Nashville Statement is to shine a light into the darkness — to declare the goodness of God’s design in our sexuality and in creating us as male and female.”
However, the use of Nashville in the name — due to a conference of the leaders in the city — has drawn fire from Nashville’s Democractic Mayor Megan Barry, who tweeted: “The [CBMW’s] so-called ‘Nashville Statement’ is poorly named and does not represent the inclusive values of the city and people of Nashville.”
And elsewhere on social media, users rallied against the views expressed in the manifesto. Comedian Kumail Nanjiani, who has spoken out against transphobic jokes, didn’t hold back in expressing his thoughts:
Fuck the #NashvilleStatement. Fuck the evil shit that people justify using religion.
Germany's Foreign Office is issuing warnings to transgender and nonbinary citizens traveling to the United States.
The warning is due to a recent executive order from President Donald Trump declaring that only passports with male or female gender markers will be accepted as valid. The order erases transgender identity from law, refusing to acknowledge a person's gender identity if it differs from their assigned sex at birth.
Under Trump's order, the U.S. will only recognize two sexes: male and female, based on biological characteristics at birth as a matter of policy. It declares that gender cannot be changed through medical interventions.
Muhsin Hendricks, the world's first imam to publicly come out as gay in 1996, was shot dead in South Africa on February 15 in what appears to be an ambush. Eastern Cape provincial police confirmed that the 58-year-old was killed in a possible targeted hate crime.
According to police, Hendricks and a driver were inside a gold Volkswagen T-Roc SUV in Bethelsdorp when a silver Hilux double cab stopped in front of the car, blocking its way. Two unknown suspects, their faces covered, exited the cab and fired multiple shots at the VW before fleeing the scene. The driver, who survived the attack, realized that Hendricks had been killed by gunfire.
West Virginia Republican Gov. Patrick Morrisey signed a bill that effectively erases the existence of transgender people from state law.
Surrounded by anti-trans advocates, Morrisey signed the "Riley Gaines Act" -- named after the former collegiate swimmer-turned-anti-LGBTQ activist -- into law.
The law defines the terms "man" and "woman" based on a person's biological anatomy at the time of birth in the state code.
For all legal purposes, the state will not recognize the gender of any person who identifies outside of the gender binary or identifies as a gender that does not align with their assigned sex at birth.
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