By Parth Joshi
President Donald Trump has issued a string of executive orders eroding the rights of transgender people and advancing the Project 2025 mandate to impose a Christian Nationalist view of gender on our laws and policies. But let’s not forget that the U.S. House of Representatives is also attacking transgender rights, often in the name of religion. After the House passed a bill in January that would ban trans athletes from participating in sports, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) cited the Bible to justify his definition of gender.
The Republican House majority has also implemented anti-trans internal policies. Last month, the House GOP leadership reimplemented a “bathroom ban” in the House office buildings, barring transgender people from using the restroom that aligns with their gender identity. This ordeal was started by U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), who introduced the bathroom ban in November 2024 following the election of U.S. Rep. Sarah McBride, a Democrat from Delaware. Rep. McBride is the first out transgender federal representative in American history, marking a momentous and joyous occasion for social progress. However, her election has not come without backlash. Representatives like Mace have hurled harmful comments toward McBride in an attempt to demean and marginalize her. Regardless, McBride is staying strong in the face of adversity. In a media statement, she expressed, “I’m not here to fight about bathrooms. I’m here to fight for Delawareans and to bring down costs facing families.”
Of course, attacks on LGBTQ+ people’s ability to access public spaces are not new. Since before the dawn of the 1960s gay-rights movement, conservative religious groups have been outspoken against LGBTQ+ rights. For one example, evangelical Anita Bryant in the 1970s and ’80s launched a successful effort to repeal Miami-Dade County’s employment and housing policy that barred discrimination based on sexual orientation. She became infamous for her vehement and consistent efforts to hinder queer equality.
In recent years, the religious context for anti-LGBTQ+ policies has become more subversive but nevertheless persists. Oklahoma State Sen. David Bullard introduced the Millstone Act of 2023 to prevent those under 26 from receiving gender-affirming care in the state. “Millstone” refers to a passage in the Christian Bible stating that those who cause a child to sin should be drowned with a millstone around their neck. Here, the religious connection is clear and violent – insinuating that medical professionals who help transgender people are predators who must be exterminated.
This language highlights how LGBTQ+ folks and their allies are consistently victims of the same dangerous and incorrect rhetoric that, supposedly, stems from religious beliefs. Meanwhile, the Southern Baptist Convention, a worldwide congregation of churches, espoused through a 2014 resolution that one cannot be transgender as being so goes against their god’s design. This is just another example of the targeted ways in which trans people have been crusaded against by religious organizations as well.
America’s promise of religious freedom and church-state separation means that people can have anti-trans religious beliefs, but they have absolutely no right to push their beliefs onto others through legislation. By denying transgender people access to health care, bathrooms and sports teams, political leaders are weaponizing religion in a way that is immoral and downright unconstitutional. The fundamental principle of the separation of church and state should mean that no local, state or federal government may favor one religion over others or over nonreligion, or institute policies because of religious alignment. Doing so infringes on people’s individual liberties, their right to express themselves, and one’s central right to simply be oneself. Just because one holds a belief due to their faith doesn’t give them a right to strip others’ liberties away.
In the face of these attacks, it is more important than ever to celebrate queerness loudly. By doing so, we reaffirm our resiliency, community, and continual joy. On Dec. 5, 2024, a group of about a dozen gender-expansive activists, including Chelsea Manning and Raquel Willis, were arrested for protesting the bathroom ban in the U.S. House offices. This collective conducted a sit-in in the women’s restroom across from Speaker Johnson’s congressional office, directly violating the new rule. The action was organized by the Gender Liberation Movement to defy the oppressive order and push for transgender equality.
During these difficult times when the queer community is constantly under fire nationwide, direct organizing remains a central beacon of hope for the future of equality in America.
Parth Joshi is a member of Americans United’s Youth Organizing Fellowship. He is a sophomore at the University of Southern California double majoring in history and American studies & ethnicity.
