Today's post is a repeat from February 17, 2025. I've tried to write another one, but I just keep writing--take care of people, let people be who they are, love one another.

As the Olympics begin, I think about all the women in sports who are asked to prove their identities because of fear that a few trans women might still have high testosterone levels after years on hormone treatments. There is no evidence that trans women on hormone treatments have an unfair advantage, nor that they are winning in their sport. Before this plethora of rules against trans women in sports the various associations were already requiring a year or more of hormone treatment in order to qualify.

What we find instead is many cis-gendered, identified as women on their birth certificate, raised as women, and identify as women, athletes discover they have genetic differences that show up in testing.

Do we mean to say that anyone with genetic anomalies has an unfair advantage. When will we start limiting especially tall women from the basketball court?

If you want to make women safe in sports, prosecute the men, often coaches, who abuse them.

Protect Trans People

Church is sometimes a refuge, a place to hide from the chaos around us. In fact sometimes, when the going gets tough, we use the church as a place to hide. For the most part, my advice to churches is this: don’t hide!

But for some LGBTQ+ people, the danger is significant. For trans youth it is especially awful, and for all trans people the situation is bad. And right now the situation is worsening.​

For people who are afraid, church should be a refuge.

In one of the more bizarre stories of the New Testament, the Ethiopian Eunuch (Acts 8:26-40) is wondering about what a text in Isaiah means, and Phillip appears out of nowhere to explain.

The bizarreness of this story is not that the person is Ethiopian, nor Eunuch. It is very odd that Phillip disappears into thin air at the end of the encounter. “The spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away” (v. 39). (Honestly the image of Philip running alongside the chariot is weird as well!)

The only requirement for the baptism is the presence of water. “What is to keep me from being baptized” (v. 36). Philip doesn't have any interest in the gender or cultural norms. He just does the baptism, on the spot. Some ancient authorities have added some reassurance that he believed the good news, but there is nothing asking about his sexuality, his gender identity, nor his views on any number of Christian theologies.

In 1930 the first transgender magazine started in Germany. In 1933 Hitler became Chancellor and began re-enforcing traditional gender roles. Trans organizations were attacked, some people were forced to de-transition, and many were sent to what were to become concentration camps. The government was particularly concerned with people who were identified as male at birth.

Today, our government is again attacking people who are trans. Again, there is a particular obsession with those identified as male at birth. This will hurt real people and is part of intention to enforce traditional gender roles. Both the tirades against trans women in sports, and trans youth getting medical services they need are about very few individuals. This is a set-up for turning our society against a group of people who just want to live their lives as who they really are.

For people who are afraid, church should be a refuge.

Our buildings need to be safe places, and in some circumstances, secret places for people at risk to gather. We should be funding organizations that help trans and other queer people. We need to be public in our support of people who are trans, and yet make space for people to keep their identity private if they choose. Some trans people need help finding a way to move to safer towns or states. Others need a place to meet each other.

For people who are afraid, church should be a refuge..

What is your church doing, or thinking about doing these days? How are you being here in your particular place? Just reply to this email to let me know what's happening. ​
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NPR has done a series on gender testing in sports. This is the trailer, the season has six episodes.

Using sports as the battleground for trans issues has successfully made more welcoming people doubt the rights of trans people everywhere. And yet it doesn't address the actual threats to women in sports--low pay, abusive coaches, unequal opportunities. The Reveal Podcast explores women's sports and trans rights.

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