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Gender and Sexuality News Roundup (7/10/19)

July 10, 2019
By CBMW
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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

Four Cheers for PCA Approval of the Nashville Statement, Reformation 21 (Richard D. Phillips)

“The Nashville Statement was produced by the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood to address questions regarding gender identity and homosexuality that are contested in our culture. In my opinion, this vote was a watershed in the PCA regarding whether our ethos will be shaped by cultural pressures or by the Word of God. How relieved I was when the vote came in, a substantial majority of the assembly approving the Bible’s teaching on human sexuality as reflected in the Nashville Statement.”

The PCA General Assembly Affirms the Nashville Statement, DennyBurk.com (Denny Burk)

“It is remarkable that some of the people who spoke against Overture 4 last night began their remarks by affirming Nashville. In other words, some of the people who opposed the overture were open about the fact that they couldn’t find anything wrong with what the Nashville Statement actually says. Their problems were ancillary to the theological substance of the debate. In fact, almost no one raised any issues with the substance of the Nashville Statement, which I think is telling.”

News: PCA declares Nashville Statement “biblically faithful”, CBMW (Colin Smothers)

“Debate on the overture lasted over an hour, and Rick Phillips, Ligon Duncan, and Kevin DeYoung, among others, spoke in favor of the overture; Greg Johnson, pastor of the PCA church that hosted the controversial Revoice conference in 2018, and Scott Sauls, among others, spoke against. The final vote was 803-541 in favor of the Nashville Statement.”

Indianapolis Archdiocese aggressive, but not alone, in firing gay teachers. Here’s why, Indianapolis Star (Arika Herron)

“Indianapolis is not the first city to see its Catholic schools grappling with the employment of LGBT people but some advocates say the archdiocese — and Archbishop Charles C. Thompson — seems to be pursuing the issue more aggressively than elsewhere in the country. In the last year, Indianapolis-area Catholic schools have cut ties with five people working in or volunteering for them because of a same-sex marriage or connection to the issue. A group that tracks instances of employment disputes between the Catholic church and people over LGBT issues said no other archdiocese in the country has seen more cases, at least that have been publicly reported.”

 

Secular Trends on Gender and Sexuality

The young are regarded as the most tolerant generation. The results of this LGBTQ survey are ‘alarming’, USA Today (Susan Miller)

“The number of Americans 18 to 34 who are comfortable interacting with LGBTQ people slipped from 53% in 2017 to 45% in 2018 – the only age group to show a decline, according to the annual Accelerating Acceptance report. And that is down from 63% in 2016. Driving the dilution of acceptance are young women whose overall comfort levels plunged from 64% in 2017 to 52% in 2018.”

U.S. Births Fall to Lowest Level Since 1980s, The Wall Street Journal (Anthony DeBarros and Janet Adamy)

“The number of babies born in the U.S. last year fell to a 32-year low, deepening a fertility slump that is reshaping America’s future workforce. About 3.79 million babies were born in the U.S. in 2018, according to provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics. That was a 2% decline from the previous year and marked the fourth year in a row that the number fell. The general fertility rate—the number of births per 1,000 women ages 15 to 44—fell to 59.0, the lowest since the start of federal record-keeping.”

De Blasio: Taxpayers Should ‘Absolutely’ Fund Gender-Reassignment Surgery, National Review (Jack Crowe)

“New York City mayor Bill de Blasio said Sunday that, under his presidential administration, the cost of gender-reassignment surgeries would be covered by a publicly funded Medicare for All system. “Absolutely. We have to respect everyone’s medical needs,” de Blasio said at the New York City Pride parade when asked by a reporter if his Medicare for All plan would cover the elective procedures. “If someone needs a surgery to be full and to live their life fully — the idea is a health-care system that actually serves everyone to the fullest, not a health-care system that rations and causes people to struggle to get just a little health care,” he said.”

Amazon removes controversial books by ‘father of conversion therapy, NBC News (Gwen Aviles)

“Dr. Joseph Nicolosi, founder of the now-shuttered Thomas Aquinas Psychological Clinic, as well as the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH), authored several how-to guides directed to parents of LGBTQ youth, including ‘A Parent’s Guide to Preventing Homosexuality.’ His books are some of the most well-known works about conversion therapy, the pseudoscientific practice of trying to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.”

Amazon bans books on ‘conversion therapy, DennyBurk.com (Denny Burk)

“The Amazon ban and the suggested legislation to ban conversion therapy isn’t limited to Joseph Nicolosi’s teachings. This ban defines any attempt to change one’s sexual desires as ‘conversion therapy.’ Well guess what? That means that every single Christian who believes that that God’s grace changes sexual sinners would be implicated by this ban and by such legislation. “

Prominent Republicans File Brief to Support L.G.B.T. Rights in Legal Case, The New York Times (Jeremy W. Peters)

“A group of three dozen current and former Republicans is urging the Supreme Court to declare that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 explicitly prohibits discrimination against gay men, lesbians and transgender people in the workplace. And they have tailored their arguments to resonate with a seemingly unlikely bloc on the court: its five conservatives. In an amicus brief that will be filed with the court this week, the Republicans make the case that their view about how the law should be interpreted represents “a common sense, textualist approach” — nodding to the school of legal thought on the right that disapproves of judges who go beyond a law’s text when deciding how to apply it.”

 

Gender and Sexuality Miscellany

The Struggle for Gay Rights Is Over, The Atlantic (James Kirchick)

“As long as homosexuality remains a minority trait, gay people will probably always feel a sense of being outsiders. The coming-out process, with all the emotional exertions it can entail, is something straight people never have to contemplate, much less endure. In a society where heterosexuality is the norm, a feeling of alienation is inherent to being gay, but it is one gay people have the capacity to reconcile, if not overcome. For those born into a form of adversity, sometimes the hardest thing to do is admitting that they’ve won.”

How Same-Sex Marriage Creates A Court-Mediated Market For Orphans, The Federalist (Katy Faust)

“When biology isn’t the basis for parenthood, it’s a major power grab for the state. This Supreme Court case has the potential to either strengthen or degrade every parent-child relationship in the country.”

How LGBT Pride Month Became a Religious Holiday, The Gospel Coalition (Joe Carter)

“The month of June hadn’t even begun yet when Donald Trump became the first Republican president to express his support for LGBT Pride Month. On May 31, President Trump tweeted about celebrating LGBT Pride Month and how we should ‘recognize the outstanding contributions LGBT people have made to our great Nation . . .’ The rest of America soon followed his lead, as people across the country posted rainbow flag banners on their Facebook pages and almost every company in the nation rushed, as Newsweek wrote, to be ‘among the companies celebrating inclusion, equality and love for LGBT Pride Month.'”

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