More Evidence Found of Transgender Persecution

Crisis Watch Jan. 31, 2024

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A United Methodist Insight Column

As we've all heard by now, there's real persecution of transgender children and youth by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton: Texas requested transgender youths’ medical records from Georgia. (Washington Post).

According to the Post's newsletter: "Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton requested a clinic’s records late last year, dating back to January 2022. Texas banned gender-affirming care for minors last year.

"What it means: The Republican official is looking in multiple states for information about transgender youths. The clinic told The Post it would not turn over patient data."

Some readers thought I was overreacting in a recent commentary when I referred to Texas officials "persecuting" transgender children and youths. This latest news justifies my alarm and poses a new challenge for people of faith to stand up against government intrusion into private medical decisions. Please remember this latest episode when elections come around.

Religious Trauma Still Haunts Millions of LGBTQ Americans

And while I'm on my soapbox, this note from PRRI:

"Spencer Macnaughton at NBC News reports on the prevalence of religious trauma among LGBTQ adults, exploring how religious environments can cause guilt, shame, loss of trust and loss of meaning in life. Defined by the Religious Trauma Institute as lasting adverse effects on their physical, mental or emotional well-being due to an individual’s religious upbringing, a 2023 study concluded that around 1 in 3 American adults have experienced religious trauma at some point in their life. PRRI’s Religion and Congregations survey found that 30% of people who have changed their religious tradition or denomination say they were turned off by the religion’s negative teachings about or treatment of LGBTQ people."

Earth Day Resource: 'Plastic Jesus'

Each year the ecumenical group Creation Justice Ministries created an Earth Day resource. I love the titled of this year's effort: "Plastic Jesus: Real Faith in a Synthetic World." It's full of ideas and resources for a genuine Earth Day observance. Check out the details here.

Dragging our heels on the climate crisis

Despite her overall optimistic outlook, our favorite climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe reports from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that "action is still not happening nearly fast enough to meet our Paris targets and avoid the worst impacts. The technology to beat back climate change already exists, but the pace of the roll-out needs to accelerate dramatically."

Dr. Hayhoe hosted a climate panel on the financial risks of climate change at Davos (now there's clout for you), where the CEO of a Swiss corporation explained that only insurance companies are adapting quickly to climate crisis effects. Their response? Raising insurance premiums or refusing to write new policies in the hardest-hit areas of California, Florida, and Louisiana, "due to fire and flood risks that climate change is amplifying."

Dr. Hayhoe writes further in her newsletter:

"I was also reminded again firsthand how efforts to discredit everything I and others are speaking for are still very much in force. I participated in a plenary session on climate and nature with Ajay Banga, president of the World Bank, who announced that 35 percent of their global loans were already going to climate action and they were increasing that number to 45 percent by 2030. In the same panel, IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva reminded everyone that the $1.3 trillion that the fossil fuel industry receives in direct public subsidies is exactly what’s needed to invest in climate and nature solutions. She said it should be taken away, and that the world should set a price on carbon of $85 per ton by 2030 to address the more than $5 trillion in indirect subsidies they also receive."

These are big numbers that we find it hard to get our heads around, even though it's good news that "global financial leaders finally make clear, strong statements about what’s actually needed to tackle this crisis was refreshing," says Dr. Hayhoe.

So, speak up, faith-based investors, when the issue of climate financing comes around at your next stockholders' meeting.

An award-winning religion journalist who has reported on The United Methodist Church at all levels for 36 years, Cynthia B. Astle serves as Editor of United Methodist Insight, an online journal she founded in 2011. "Crisis Watch" forms part of Insight's participation in Covering Climate Now, an international collaboration of some 600 news outlets around the world committed to enhance climate coverage. To reproduce this content elsewhere, please email Insight for permission.