LGBTQ Christians invoke 'righteous rage' at Capitol during Holy Week
A community of LGBTQ+ Christians began Holy Week with a proclamation of "righteous rage and holy hope" at the U.S. Capitol in Washington Monday.
Fox News Digital asked attendees at the Collective of Queer Christian Leaders event how "woman" should be defined in 2025. While some spoke about gender fluidity, spirituality and inclusivity, activists called for politicians to focus less on pronouns and more on delivering for Americans.
"While the right is interested in litigating biology, I'm interested in litigating humanity," the Rev. Don Abram, the founder of Pride in the Pews, told Nicholas Ballasy of Fox News Digital. Abram pivoted from the question to saying God is in everyone, and all people are "deserving of rights, protections, resources and safety," regardless of identity.
The pastor and member of Pride in the Pews, which is a Black LGBTQ+ advocacy group, said conservatives focusing on gender ideology is a distraction from the issues Americans care most about, like whether Medicaid will be cut or how tariffs will affect the economy.
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"I think the conversation on gender and who identifies, how they identify, it's just a scapegoat for them to not focus on the real issues and the real problems that are affecting all of us," Abram said.
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Guthrie Graves, an ordained Baptist deacon, said Americans might disagree on the fluidity of sex and gender, but "what we can all agree on is nobody should fear for their safety, or fear losing their job or face violence on the street." He said a foundation of human rights should predicate debates about "human sexuality and gender."
Other attendees, who answered the question more literally, said definitions of sexuality and gender are not so rigid.
"From a faith perspective, we are all children of God, and if someone identifies as transgender and claims that as their identity, then who is anyone else to argue with that?" Jan Lawrence, executive director of Reconciling Ministries Network, an LGBTQ+ justice organization within the United Methodist Church, told Fox News Digital.
Rep. Sarah McBride, D-Del., became the first openly transgender person elected to Congress in November. Debates over which bathroom McBride was permitted to use dominated her first few weeks on the job after Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., advocated for a ban on transgender women using the women's restrooms at the U.S. Capitol.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson later announced the U.S. House would institute a bathroom ban, stating all single-sex bathrooms were reserved for individuals of that biological sex. Johnson noted that every member of Congress has an office with a private restroom, and unisex restrooms are available throughout the Capitol.
"I’m not here to fight about bathrooms. I’m here to fight for Delawareans and to bring down costs facing families," McBride said in a statement in November.
President Donald Trump, on his first day back in the Oval Office, issued an executive order establishing only two sexes, male and female.
Trump's Attorney General Pam Bondi announced a lawsuit against Maine Wednesday for allowing transgender women to continue playing women's sports. Democratic Maine Gov. Janet Mills has refused to comply with Trump's executive order restricting biological men from playing in girls and women’s sports.
Nearly two months ago, Trump and Mills sparred during a bipartisan meeting of governors at the White House during which Trump promised Mills he'd "see you in court."
Last year, President Joe Biden proclaimed March 31, which fell on Easter Sunday, Transgender Day of Visibility to show "transgender and nonbinary Americans that we see them, they belong and they should be treated with dignity and respect."
This year, Trump's new White House Faith Office has announced a robust Holy Week schedule to celebrate Easter.