- Oct 17, 2011
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“Our state is at war with our family,” [Rabbi Daniel] Bogard said. “It’s not an exaggeration that we are up at night talking about when and how far we might have to flee.”
All of which had brought the family to this fateful moment three years later. As Bogard and his now 9-year-old son piled into the family minivan at dawn for one of their regular four-hour round trips to the Missouri Capitol in Jefferson City to share their story with lawmakers, the rabbi worried what might lie ahead. Bills “to protect children,” as some Republicans described their measures restricting gender-affirming health care and limiting how schools treat gender identity, have become this year’s rallying cry in this state and elsewhere.
On their recent trip to the state capitol, the Bogards joined the families of two other faith leaders also intent on stopping measures they say would wreak havoc on their children’s lives.
The measures that frighten families like the Bogards the most would classify efforts to support children and teens seeking medical treatment to help them transition to their preferred gender as child abuse. The legislation would carry criminal penalties for providers and possibly parents, although such treatments are supported by the country’s major medical associations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Psychological Association and the American Association of Clinical Endocrinology.
The three faith leaders say religious liberty is at the core of the debate over transgender rights.
Harris Dault said her [Mennonite] congregation has also been loving and supportive toward her child, but other “people claim their Christian faith is behind a lot of these bills, and that’s been hard to grapple with.”
“It is our holy obligation to nurture and nourish each sacred human being, in all our diverse expressions and experiences of gender,” the Central Conference of American Rabbis said in a resolution.
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Over the years, [Bongard] had come to believe the best — and possibly only — hope for heading off aggressive anti-trans bills is to humanize the children and their families to help lawmakers understand they are scarcely different from their own — which is why he had allowed both his sons to go with him to tell lawmakers about their lives, despite the online vitriol and even death threats they have gotten in the past.
[O]n previous trips, some lawmakers and staff had asked the children about their genitals, unapologetically used the wrong pronouns and offered to help them if they ever felt they needed protection from their parents.
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State Rep. Michael Davis (R), ... also proclaims his Christian faith. He tweeted recently that his “religious views oppose allowing transgenders to place their nonbiological sex onto their birth certificates.”
“Laws allowing the practice creates an undue burden on my faith, violating the free exercise clause,” he wrote.
It's hard for me to imagine how he will only be free to worship if other people are prevented from exercising their own liberties. I think his ability to swing his religious arms should stay away from other people's kids.
All of which had brought the family to this fateful moment three years later. As Bogard and his now 9-year-old son piled into the family minivan at dawn for one of their regular four-hour round trips to the Missouri Capitol in Jefferson City to share their story with lawmakers, the rabbi worried what might lie ahead. Bills “to protect children,” as some Republicans described their measures restricting gender-affirming health care and limiting how schools treat gender identity, have become this year’s rallying cry in this state and elsewhere.
On their recent trip to the state capitol, the Bogards joined the families of two other faith leaders also intent on stopping measures they say would wreak havoc on their children’s lives.
The measures that frighten families like the Bogards the most would classify efforts to support children and teens seeking medical treatment to help them transition to their preferred gender as child abuse. The legislation would carry criminal penalties for providers and possibly parents, although such treatments are supported by the country’s major medical associations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Psychological Association and the American Association of Clinical Endocrinology.
The three faith leaders say religious liberty is at the core of the debate over transgender rights.
Harris Dault said her [Mennonite] congregation has also been loving and supportive toward her child, but other “people claim their Christian faith is behind a lot of these bills, and that’s been hard to grapple with.”
“It is our holy obligation to nurture and nourish each sacred human being, in all our diverse expressions and experiences of gender,” the Central Conference of American Rabbis said in a resolution.
--
Over the years, [Bongard] had come to believe the best — and possibly only — hope for heading off aggressive anti-trans bills is to humanize the children and their families to help lawmakers understand they are scarcely different from their own — which is why he had allowed both his sons to go with him to tell lawmakers about their lives, despite the online vitriol and even death threats they have gotten in the past.
[O]n previous trips, some lawmakers and staff had asked the children about their genitals, unapologetically used the wrong pronouns and offered to help them if they ever felt they needed protection from their parents.
--
State Rep. Michael Davis (R), ... also proclaims his Christian faith. He tweeted recently that his “religious views oppose allowing transgenders to place their nonbiological sex onto their birth certificates.”
“Laws allowing the practice creates an undue burden on my faith, violating the free exercise clause,” he wrote.
It's hard for me to imagine how he will only be free to worship if other people are prevented from exercising their own liberties. I think his ability to swing his religious arms should stay away from other people's kids.
