Southern Baptists have resolved that efforts to “gender transition” conflict with God’s good design and impede human flourishing. The Baptist Faith and Message 2000 affirms that God “created [mankind] male and female as the crowning work of His creation. The gift of gender is thus part of the goodness of God’s creation.”
In recent years, there has been an alarming increase in the number of individuals, many of whom are minors, undergoing physically damaging “gender transition” surgeries and procedures. In addition to going against God’s good design for sex and gender, these surgeries and procedures flaunt sound medical practice and do lasting harm to their victims. Though many states have taken action to ban these procedures, it remains legal and widely available in much of the country.
Southern Baptists are firmly opposed to such “gender transitions.” In the resolution “On Opposing Gender Transitions,” Southern Baptists resolved to condemn corporate medical providers that exploit minors through “gender transitions” and called on legislators to reverse and otherwise prevent “gender transitions” from being enabled or permitted to take place. Additionally, Southern Baptists affirmed a desire to defend “the free speech and conscience rights of religious believers from governmental efforts to coerce them into endorsing gender ideology.”
Southern Baptists have recognized that those seeking to “transition” are victims of the outworkings of the sexual revolution in desperate need of the gospel. The 2023 resolution goes on to say that Southern Baptists desire to “extend the love of Christ, who can save anyone who would call on His name” to those victims of “gender transitions” and provide them with “compassionate care and tender mercy.”
The ERLC is advocating for these procedures to be banned for minors. The ERLC filed a legal brief before the Supreme Court in U.S. v. Skrmetti, a case surrounding Tennessee’s ban on “gender transition” surgeries and procedures for minors. As expressed in the brief, we are hopeful that the Supreme Court will rule to protect children from this dangerous ideology.
Furthermore, the ERLC calls upon Congress to pass the Protecting Minors from Medical Malpractice Act, a bill that provides conscience protections for medical providers and ensures parents and children affected by “gender transition” surgeries and procedures have a private right of action. The ERLC remains committed to representing the voice of Southern Baptists and proclaiming God’s good design for gender and sexuality in the public square. In doing so, the ERLC aims to protect religious liberty, safeguard children, ensure parents retain their right to raise children in accordance with Scripture, and point the vulnerable and hurting to the love of Christ.
