As legal and cultural fighting continues over religious convictions and LGBTQ rights, America’s largest Christian adoption agency, Bethany Christian Services, has decided to change a longstanding policy and begin placing children with LGBT parents for foster care and adoption through all its offices in 32 states. Christianity Today reported Monday.
The US House of Representatives passed a sweeping bill Thursday that, in addition to prohibiting harassment, violence, and unfair treatment against LGBTQ people, also grants biological males who “identify” as females access to girls’ and women’s spaces, including restrooms, locker rooms, and dressing rooms, CNS News reports. The bill passed by 224 to 206 with 2 members not voting. Three Republican lawmakers voted in favor of it; no Democrats voted against it.
House Republicans are rallying around a compromise bill that would add protections for religious organizations in addition to granting discrimination protections to LGBT citizens. The bill comes one day after House Democrats passed the Equality Act, which critics say infringes on religious liberty rights and is likely to fail in the Senate.
Lawmakers in Washington, D.C. are getting ready to decide on a landmark piece of LGBTQ legislation that would crush religious liberty.
A conservative group is warning that the United Nations is preparing to compile a list of “LGBT hate groups” that could be used as a “blacklist” to punish groups and organizations that subscribe to traditional beliefs about gender and sexuality.
The FBI is investigating a bomb blast that broke windows at a California Baptist church that has been subject to protests for what has been described as extremist, hateful messaging against the LGBT community, Religion News reports. El Monte police said the city’s First Works Baptist church building was attacked at 1 am Saturday when an “improvised explosive device” was thrown at it. No one was in the building at the time and no injuries have been reported.
A Christian photographer is challenging a Virginia law that would compel him to work at a same-sex wedding on religious-liberty grounds.
A prominent left-leaning group is urging Amazon to drop dozens of Christian organizations from its popular AmazonSmile charity because they hold to traditional, biblical beliefs about sexuality.
Hungary has adopted an amendment to its constitution that effectively bans the adoption of children by same-sex couples. The legislation also loosens oversight of public funds despite corruption concerns and detailed rules governing war times.
A prominent LGBT rights group is trying to persuade former Vice President Joe Biden and his presumptive administration to adopt guidelines that could lead to the closing of private Christian colleges and universities.
As vice president in 2012, Joe Biden endeared himself to many LGBTQ Americans by endorsing same-sex marriage even before his boss, President Barack Obama.
The Church of England (CofE) has promised a “decision-making” process on sexuality doctrine, which may result in its approval of same-sex marriage by 2022, CBN News reports. The CofE Evangelical Council has said it will engage with the process but has warned of the need for obedience to Scripture.
Hungary’s government has proposed a constitutional amendment defending “the order of Creation” that would require children to be raised according to Christian principles and bans adoption by same-sex couples.
A British pastor who received threats of violence from LGBT supporters, including a threat to burn down his church, was recently told by local police that he could be breaking the law by expressing his view of homosexuality on social media, CBN News reported on September 8. Pastor Josh Williamson of Newquay Baptist Church in Cornwall, southern England, was advised by police that he should keep his views to a “safe environment” and not offend the LGBT community.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has signed legislation granting judges the discretion to decide whether to immediately place a man who has anal or oral sex with a minor aged 14-17 years old on a sex offenders register, the Hill reports. The SB 145 bill expands on an existing law that already grants judges the discretion to decide whether a man who has vaginal intercourse with a minor aged 14-17 years old should be immediately placed on a sex offenders list.
The Democrat-led California General Assembly has OK’d legislation that would ease the criminal punishments for LGBT adults who sodomize or perform oral sex on underage teenagers.
The Republican National Committee (RNC) issued a resolution Monday stating that the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) legal advocacy group has no legitimacy to provide information to government agencies about organizations it identifies as ‘hate groups,’ the Epoch Times reports. The resolution describes the SPLC as “a far-left organization with an obvious bias.”
U.S. President Donald Trump pledged Monday that God remains in the Pledge of Allegiance after the Republican Party nominated him for a second term in the White House.
Nichol Collins had been a drug dealer and was living a transgender lifestyle for 20 years when she had a transformative encounter with Jesus Christ, became a Christian, and began praying for people both inside and outside the LGBTQ community, CBN News reports. Having been in ministry in recent years, Ms Collins began getting an increased number of calls from people needing spiritual help during the COVID-19 crisis.
The platform approved by the Democratic National Convention last week says that the party will seek to “guarantee transgender students’ access to facilities based on their gender identity.”