One mission of CBMW is to help Christians think through secular and ecclesial trends on gender and sexuality. Through this work, we pore over a lot of different news reports and articles as we attempt to wade through the ceaseless flow of information on the web. In our weekly Gender and Sexuality News Roundups, we aim to distill some of the more pertinent information for you.

The articles below are from a wide variety of sectors and publications, organized generally into three categories. They are presented in aggregate, not necessarily endorsed.

If you see an article that you think should be featured in future CBMW News Roundups, you can send it to [email protected] with the subject “News Roundup.”

Ecclesial Trends on Gender and Sexuality

United Methodist Court Keeps Core of New LGBT Legislation, Christianity Today (Jeremy Steele)

“The council—a nine-member panel that essentially functions as the UMC’s Supreme Court—was tasked with reviewing the recently adopted legislation to ensure that it didn’t violate the denomination’s constitution, which contains guidelines about church structures and processes.”

The Next America, First Things (Josh Holdenried)

“The Lyceum, a classical school in South Euclid, Ohio, is challenging a city ordinance that would force the school to violate Catholic teaching on marriage and sexuality. The city’s measure, which passed one year ago this month, bans any ‘differential treatment’ in employment based on ‘gender identity or expression’ or ‘sexual orientation.’ But the Lyceum, simply by requiring its faculty and students to adhere to Catholic sexual teaching, and mandating that students use the restroom of their biological sex, runs afoul of this ordinance.”

America’s Largest Christian Adoption Agency Lets LGBT Couples Foster in 1 of 35 States, Christianity Today (Kate Shellnutt)

“Bethany Christian Services, the largest Christian adoption and foster agency in the United States, will begin placing foster children with same-sex couples for the first time after a legal battle in its home state of Michigan.

Sexual Identity Politics and Religious Freedom in a Secular Age, Public Discourse (Gerard V. Bradley)

“For the first time in American history, it has become respectable to publicly oppose religious liberty and its supreme value in our polity. This unprecedented turn is ominous. It will not only diminish our constitutional law. It will remap our common life, for religious liberty has always been a linchpin of our political culture.”

Secular Trends on Gender and Sexuality

Supreme Court to decide whether gay, transgender workers are protected by anti-discrimination laws, Washington Post (Robert Barnes)

“The Supreme Court will deliver election-year rulings on one of the nation’s most consequential and unsettled civil rights issues: whether federal anti-discrimination laws prevent employers from firing workers because of their sexual orientation and gender identity. The justices announced Monday that they accepted three cases involving gay and transgender employees for the term that will begin in October. The issue has percolated for years in lower courts, and the justices spent months deciding whether now was the time to review those rulings. It’s sure to be one of the new docket’s most controversial topics, raising the profiles of the Supreme Court and gay rights as Democrats challenge President Trump for the White House.”

A Brigham Young University valedictorian says he is ‘proud to be a gay son of God’, Quartz (Natasha Frost)

“After being named political science valedictorian of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints university, Easton addressed a packed assembly hall: ‘I stand before my family, friends, and graduating class today to say that I am proud to be a gay son of God,’ he said. ‘I am not broken. I am loved and important in the plan of our Great Creator. Each of us are.'”

The FAQs: Supreme Court to Decide Whether ‘Sex’ Includes Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, The Gospel Coalition (Joe Carter)

“On Monday the Supreme Court announced it has accepted three cases involving homosexuals and transgender persons who claim they were discriminated against at work. The Court will rule on whether current federal anti-discrimination laws protect employees based on sexual orientation and gender identity.”

Inside the Near Meltdown of Roxane Gay and Christina Hoff Sommers’s Australian Mini-Tour, New York Magazine (Jesse Singal)

“’His question on feminism was on point,’ said Sommers. ‘Most Australians and Americans believe in gender equality yet don’t identify as feminist.’ She also critiqued the media coverage: ‘The stories in the Australian press seem to have been written by reporters who did not attend the event. No one ever contacted me for comment.’”

Where Are the Socially Conservative Women in This Fight?, The New York Times (Helen Andrews)

“The American family needs defending and right now men are leading the charge.”

Shell’s stand on LGBT rights under scrutiny over Brunei’s anti-gay laws, CNN (Ivana Kottasová and Michelle Toh)

“Royal Dutch Shell’s stand on LGBT rights has come under scrutiny following the introduction of laws that punish gay sex with death in Brunei. The Anglo-Dutch oil giant is the largest foreign business operating in the small southeast Asian kingdom, which brought in laws earlier this month that make gay sex and adultery punishable by stoning.”

Gender and Sexuality Miscellany

Why the Church Needs Single Parents, and Single Parents Need the Church, Christianity Today (Ruth Moon Mari)

“Since single parents are most frequently divorced, it’s not surprising that theologians often define the typical single-parent family as a covenant failure that gives evidence of the Fall. But these families also give Christians a chance to re-imagine the family in light of the New Testament, says Timothy Paul Jones, a professor of family ministry at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.”

Podcast: Is Singleness Superior to Marriage?, Crossway (Matt Tully and Sam Allberry)

“In this episode of The Crossway Podcast, Sam Allberry, author of 7 Myths about Singleness, shares from his own experiences as a single person, explains what the Bible really teaches about singleness, and explains the important roles unmarried Christians can (and should) play in the life of the local church.”

The Evangelical Church and LGBTQ Issues, Dallas Theological Seminary (Sam Alberry and Darrell L. Bock)

“In this episode, Dr. Darrell L. Bock and Sam Allberry discuss evangelical engagement of LGBTQ issues.”

No, It’s Not Bigoted For Lawmakers To Ban Child Drag Queens, The Federalist (Chad Felix Greene)

“Child exploitation should not be controversial, yet to the modern LGBT left it seems to be a subjective matter depending on what political or social narrative they want to pursue. Child drag queens appear to be a growing trend after the success of Desmond Napoles, who has been in the public eye since he was nine years old.”

The Collapse of Community is Behind the Retreat from Marriage, Institute for Family Studies (Timothy P. Carney)

“The common conservative lament is true: marriage is in retreat in America, and the traditional family is becoming less common. The old conservative warning is also proving true: this retreat from marriage is bad for children and for unmarried adults. Contrary to some conservative assumptions, though, it’s not the liberal elites who are saying, ‘I don’t.’ It’s the working class in ‘Real America.’ And, ironically, the whole situation confirms an aphorism Hillary Rodham Clinton made famous: ‘It takes a village to raise a child.'”