Colorado passed a law to protect trans people. These pastors repeatedly lied about it.

HB 25-1312 targets discrimination in public spaces, not pulpits, but that didn’t stop evangelical Christian pastors from spreading lies

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Colorado recently passed HB 25-1312, a law that provides additional protection for transgender people in certain areas of the law. It says public schools with dress codes must allow students to choose any option. It says that public schools that have a policy regarding using kids’ nicknames must include trans kids’ chosen names too. It also makes it easier for trans people to change their gender identity on birth certificates and driver’s licenses.

An earlier version of the bill also added intentionally “deadnaming” and “misgendering” to the list of things you can’t do with malicious intent under the "Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act," which would apply to places of public accommodation, and said judges could consider anti-trans bigotry when determining child custody cases. Both of those portions were struck from the final bill.

But the parts that remain obviously apply to public spaces. If people want to be bigots in their private lives, they are, as always, allowed to be. Just as civil rights laws have never prevented people from being racist—or getting elected to power despite their open racism—this new law wouldn’t apply to churches or individuals who routinely demean trans people or claim they don’t really exist.

And yet for months, a loose coalition called Fight 1312 insisted otherwise.

Pastor Chris Goble of Ridgeline Community Church (screenshot via YouTube)

This “small group of Colorado Pastors and faith leaders from small churches across the state are doing all we can together to oppose these assaults on our people's God-given liberties.” By which they mean they were lying to people about what the bill said because nothing in their religion ever taught them that lying is bad.

For example, one of the group’s ringleaders, Pastor Chris Goble of Ridgeline Community Church, said this during a sermon in April:

HB25-1312 would make it a crime to be honest about reality and to refuse to call someone by their gender-confused pronouns. Furthermore, it would force even faith-based schools to have to call a confused child their fake pronouns. And would fine these schools if they didn't. And lastly and most heinously, parents could even lose custody of their children, of their God-given children, to the godless state if they didn't affirm their child's gender confusion.

None of that was accurate. Anti-trans discrimination would be prohibited in public spaces, but bigots being bigots in church would not be a “crime.” Faith-based schools would not have to adhere to these laws. And parents don’t lose custody of their kids simply for being shitty humans—they never have. The initial version of the law applied to custody disputes—and good Christians would surely never be involved in those—where a judge could use anti-trans bigotry (among other considerations) to determine how much time a child should have to spend with a particular parent. If one parent is hell-bent on making his child’s life miserable, no matter the reason, then yes, a judge can factor that into the equation. (In any case, that portion was later scrubbed from the final bill.)

Goble went even further during a sermon on May 18, using extreme language and deadnaming a sitting lawmaker.

And as I've told you guys several times, I will not comply with any aspect of this abomination of a law, in any way, shape, or form, at any time.

They can threaten my job. They can threaten my freedom. They can “Jack Phillips” me to the Supreme Court for the next decade. I don't care. I'm your huckleberry. I've been shot at. I'm not worried about Gestapo blasphemy laws.

And I'll model that this morning in this way: There is, in in the course of all of our involvement down in the Capitol over the last month and a half, a very confused and broken member of our state legislature who goes by the name of Brianna Titone.

But Brianna is actually [deadname].

[Deadname] is a man.

We have poor [deadname] who's very confused and is a person desperately in need of Jesus, just like you and me.

And what I've just said is now considered illegal under this law. But allow me to be even and go even further: [Deadname], you were fearfully and wonderfully made as a man in the image by the one true God of the universe who loves you, and He does not make mistakes.

What Chris Goble just said doesn’t make him a criminal. It just makes him an asshole. Because what he said was never “considered illegal under this law.”

It’s not illegal for a pastor to be transphobic (or sexist or racist). It might make me think less of him and all of his church members, but at no point would he ever go to jail or be sued for delivering a hate-filled sermon. That’s just par for the course at many white evangelical churches. As much as he wants to cosplay as a martyr, he’s just a jackass using his platform to hurt others. Titone, on the other hand, used her’s to lift marginalized people up.

Goble then bragged about his martyrdom on social media in a now-deleted tweet captured by the local news: “I broke the law during my sermon this morning; several times actually, and in both services. Because resitance [sic] to tyrants is obedience to God.”

You know you’ve fucked up when ever the normally mild-mannered local news is calling out your bullshit. But here’s how 9News’ Kyle Clark described it:

“What I’ve just said is now considered illegal,” Goble told his church.

That is not true.

“The pastors and ministers that are anticipating martyrdom are going to be very disappointed,” said civil rights attorney David Lane. “Because this statute does not apply to them.”

…

The law applies to businesses, hospitals, schools and other public places but specifically does not apply to “a church, synagogue, mosque, or other place that is principally used for religious purposes.”

…

"They have religious freedom rights,” Lane said. “They can spout all the hate they want from the pulpit. Anytime. Anywhere.”

…

Goble did not respond to requests for comment on whether he was confused about the law or intentionally misled his congregation.

Goble wasn’t the only one playing this game, though. His colleague Pastor Chase Davis of The Well Church said in a committee hearing that “This bill, if enacted, would criminalize Christianity itself.” A tweet from an ally reiterated that idea.

Once again, the local news called out that lie:

Fellow Fight 1312 organizer Pastor Chase Davis of The Well Church in Boulder falsely claimed that the new law would “criminalize Christianity.”

When asked whether the pastors knew their claims were inaccurate, Davis told a journalist to repent his sins and find Jesus.

They never apologize. They never explain themselves. They just use the Trump approach of condemning the people asking honest questions about their statements.

The good news is that these pastors and their faith-based hate were ignored by decent lawmakers. The bill was signed into law two weeks ago. There have already been two separate legal challenges against it—one claiming it violates the First Amendment rights of random bigots, the other claiming it violates the First Amendment rights of an anti-trans sports apparel company—but none of them have to do with law enforcement officials threatening to shut down a church for its anti-trans beliefs.

None of those plaintiffs have actually been affected by the law. There’s no indication they ever would be. Somehow, all those pastors are doing just fine, too. The government hasn’t come after any of them. But don’t hold your breath waiting for any of these pastors to apologize for all the fake fear-mongering.

This is how conservative Christians work, though. They love pretending to be persecuted by people who honestly want nothing more than to be left the hell alone. These Christians pretend to be victims when they’re the bullies. They can’t tell the difference and their parishioners usually don’t have the guts to challenge them or leave those houses of worship.

(via Joe. My. God.)

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