Nex Benedict – a nonbinary 16-year-old from Oklahoma who reportedly experienced relentless bullying for their gender identity – was involved in an altercation in the girls’ bathroom of their Owasso high school last month and suffered a blow to the head, requiring emergency care. The next day, they died.
Their death was essentially written into the law. Like many states, Oklahoma has instituted policy after policy to demonize transgender and nonbinary people. These nefarious actions have spurred a wave of violence and discrimination.
Make no mistake: None of these policies are about protecting people or bettering our nation. Undergirding these policies is a frighteningly righteous sense that some damning form of Christian justice is being upheld and enacted. And many policymakers hope to impose this far-right, twisted version of Christianity on every single person in this country.
But there is nothing in the Bible that would justify these laws and their violent consequences. That doesn’t require a graduate degree in Biblical studies to figure out; even a kindergarten Sunday School class could surmise as much.
Contrary to what far-right Christians might claim, the text never – I repeat, never – explicitly mentions transgender or nonbinary people. The passage most commonly used to justify such bigoted policies is Deuteronomy 22:5: “A woman must not wear men's clothing, and a man must not wear women's clothing.”
Really? That’s it? I wear pants to work as a seminary president almost every day, and no one has ever accused me of donning transgressive unscriptural attire.
Like this passage, the Bible says plenty of peculiar things to which people, even the Christian Right, pays no mind. For example, the Bible warns against wearing clothing with two different fabrics. Most of us engage in this prohibited behavior on a daily basis, but no law has been passed to punish us, no biblically supported deaths justified by them.
As a more general justification for their war against transgender and non-binary people, the religious right often claims that the very creation of “man and woman” indicates that there are strict gender boundaries we must uphold or be punished for violating.
But that’s extrapolation – It says nothing about strict gender boundaries or the reality of transgender existence.
To the contrary, gender identity in scripture is often fluid, even with reference to the Divine. God is generally referred to as “He,” yes. But, God is also described at various points with feminine terminology – for example, as a mother, a mother bear, and a mother eagle. God’s identity is expanded even beyond human images to include the world of the non-human. Why is this expansive understanding of the Divine not lifted up and celebrated?
In sum, it should be deeply troubling to all Christians that any person would read the entire Bible and come away with the message that they should pour their energy into attacking trans and nonbinary people.
And yet, that’s exactly what far-right Christians have decided to do. Some try to be covert – couching their policies under the guise of ‘parental rights’ or ‘protecting women.’ Others have made their intentions obvious.
Consider the situation in Oklahoma, for example. Back in 2021, Oklahoma Gov. Stitt clearly stated that “People are created by God to be male or female. Period. There is no such thing as non-binary sex.” Then, in 2022, he signed a law requiring students at schools to use restrooms and locker rooms that match the sex listed on their birth certificates – allegedly to protect children. And last year, Gov. Stitt signed a so-called ‘Women’s Bill of Rights’ defining an individual’s sex as one’s “biological sex” at birth – essentially eliminating the possibility of nonbinary people.
Similar far-right religious policies are popping up in state legislatures everywhere – and they’re getting a major boost from groups with deeply Christian roots.
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Moms for Liberty, for example, has staunchly advocated for strict gender binaries under the premise of defending parents’ rights. But their policies are grounded in far-right Christianity – and they have received significant funding from groups with Christian agendas, like the Heritage Foundation and the George Jenkins Foundation.
Meanwhile, the Alliance Defending Freedom – a self-proclaimed “alliance of Christian attorneys and like-minded organizations defending the right of people to freely live out their faith” – provides draft legislation and extensive parental resources to dismantle LGBTQ+ rights.
It is dangerous for us to obscure or in any way deny the truth behind Nex Benedict’s death. Far-right Christianity is at the heart of every single anti-trans and nonbinary policy – and empowered the violence that ended their life.
I often wonder: How can Christians honestly believe that their faith supports such hatred and violence?
Of this I am certain. The Jesus I follow and the God that loves all of humanity is not the God they conjure up. When Nex was being beaten, the God of love was not celebrating new hate-policies. She was weeping, aggrieved, and broken-hearted by the evil we do. To meet this God of love, just open the bible.
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