It appears our nation has passed a stress test. Last Tuesday brought hope, including the wonderful news that five more pastors or seminarians were elected to national office, all from mainline or post-evangelical churches. They join two other pastors of primarily Black churches already serving. All are supportive of gay rights.
It appears evangelicalism has lost its grip on elected positions at a national level. Christians, particularly younger Christians, are pushing back. When Donald Trump told Ross Douthat on Sixty Minutes that even standing before God he would not forgive his enemies, one has to be grateful that the spell might actually be broken that caused evangelicals to twist themselves into grotesque shapes to accommodate a narcissist.
It appears democracy has held, but there is collateral damage. The way Colorado’s laws are written, pretty much anyone with enough signatures can get a proposition placed on a ballot. They can also create language that obscures the intent of the proposition. Two anti-transgender laws were passed by very small majorities this past Tuesday, both couched in language that obscured the reality.
The estimate is that the first law, prohibiting trans kids from playing interscholastic sports, will affect fewer than ten trans children. That’s ten, as in one more than nine and one less than eleven. The second law, making it illegal to perform gender affirming surgeries on adolescents, is a complete albatross because no hospital or medical practice in the state performs or has performed such surgeries. Both propositions were tempests in teapots.
Thankfully the Colorado legislature will take up both up in the new year and drastically change or rescind the laws. But the right will trumpet the fact that the laws passed in the first place. They are not done targeting transgender rights.
Equally significant in the election was the silence of Democratic candidates across the nation on any and all transgender issues. Candidates distanced themselves from past statements in which they had supported the trans community, and refused to say anything in support of transgender people. If they did so, they were afraid they would lose. It might have been a legitimate concern. Some of that is because of the excesses of the left. I won’t belabor those here, since I have already done so numerous times.
While Democrats were silent on the subject of transgender rights, the Republicans still used anti-trans rhetoric. In the Iowa governor’s race, they used my visit to a church in Des Moines to attack Rob Sands. https://x.com/approject/status/2116352179241996447?a=qlMK1OIPuL19_B9TlaY&s=20
The attack didn’t work, because Sands won. I’d also note that the Des Moines church is one of the most dynamic mainline Protestant churches I’ve ever seen, a great example of speaking the truth in love.
In this election Americans showed they are not as concerned about social issues as they are about the cost of living, graft among politicians, the war in Iran, and other issues. While that is relatively good news for transgender Americans, it is not great news, because, as I said, pretty much no one stood up for our rights. After the attacks of the right and the excesses of the left, these newly elected folks just want the issue to go away.
The gay community won a great triumph with Marriage Equality. This past week multiple gay candidates won elections throughout the nation. In Delaware, trans congresswoman Sarah McBride won with 65 percent of the vote. That is wonderful. With a Democratic majority, she’ll finally be allowed to use the women’s restroom in the US Capitol building. Still, for the most part, trans people are worse off than we were ten years ago.
I would love it if the fact I am transgender could be incidental to who I am and what I do. Unfortunately, I am afraid that will not happen in my lifetime. I will not be Paula Stone Williams, mayor pro tem, TED speaker, counselor, pastor. I’ll be transgender mayor pro tem Paula Williams, or transgender TED speaker Paula Stone Williams. More than likely, for the remainder of my life, my name will be preceded by the word “transgender,” a term that half the nation views as an indictment.
Last week was good for the nation. It was good for the gay population. It was little more than neutral for those of us who are transgender. If the enthusiasm of trans people seems tempered these days, you might want to show us a little grace.
