Thanks to President Donald Trump and his religious extremist allies, a noxious brand of Christian Nationalism continues to infect the federal government. The latest victim is the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which recently issued an appalling press release crowing about new discriminatory policies at the agency and attributing them to “the Lord.”
Some background: Under a rule promulgated in 2012, HUD may not engage in discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity or marital status in its programs. In 2016, the rule was amended to make it clear that transgender people are covered by these protections.
That’s no longer the case. In the press release, HUD Director Scott Turner boasts that he has stopped enforcement of the 2016 rule. Under the new rules, HUD-funded providers will be required to “offer services to Americans based on their sex at birth: male or female.”
“I am directing HUD staff to halt any pending or future enforcement actions related to HUD’s 2016 Equal Access Rule, which, in essence, tied housing programs, shelters and other facilities funded by HUD to far-left gender ideology,” Turner said in the release.
He added, “We, at this agency, are carrying out the mission laid out by President Trump on January 20th when he signed an executive order to restore biological truth to the federal government. This means recognizing there are only two sexes: male and female. It means getting government out of the way of what the Lord established from the beginning when he created man in His own image.”
There was a time when Christian Nationalists would at least try to pretend that their discriminatory policies had some non-religious rationale. Under Trump, they don’t even bother. The official policy of our nation is that there are two genders; transgender and non-binary people not only don’t have rights, they don’t exist – and the reason for this is because that’s the way God wants it to be.
No matter that this flies in the face of science and common sense, not to mention the way many Christians interpret their faith. Policies like this are the legislative equipment of an old bumper sticker favored by fundamentalist Christians: “God Said It. I Believe It. That Settles It.”
For years, Americans United warned about creeping Christian Nationalism and the nation’s shift toward theocracy. We see it now reflected at the highest levels of our federal government.
That is bad enough. What’s more alarming is the almost certainty that we’ll see even worse things over the next four years. If you’d like to fight back, consider making a donation to Americans United’s Freedom Without Favor Fund.
Photo: Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner. Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images.
