There is a story we don’t hear taught in Sunday School or preached from the pulpit. In Acts 8, Philip the Evangelist is told by an angel to go to a desert road. There, he encounters a man who is both a sexual minority and a different race.

Our record of the first person converted and baptized after Christ’s death and resurrection is this man, the Ethiopian eunuch. After he hears the gospel, he declares, “‘I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God’ and then “went on his way rejoicing”.

The truth is, at its inception, our early church welcomed the queer community. This is our church history, and these were its earliest members, foreordained by God. This is who we are.

Beyond judgements of gender and sex, human life is sacred, holy, and deserving of dignity. If affirming the gender identity of our youth will help them to say yes to living in a world in which nearly one third of all transgender children attempt suicide, then we must do what we can to grant them sovereignty over their bodies and bless their human flourishing. To do anything less could be a death sentence.

To that end, the West Virginia chapter of Catholic Committee of Appalachia strongly opposes the State’s House Bill #2007, the ban on gender-affirming care for minors.

WV HB #2007 is an oppressive solution for a “problem” that does not exist. Although the highest number of trans youth per capita in the U.S. live here in West Virginia, there is little to no evidence that gender reassignment surgery is performed in-state. As such, HB #2007 is nothing more than a power grab of God's sovereign choice to grant us dominion over our own bodies.

And as the statutory language has expanded to ban hormone treatments and puberty blockers, it has become clear that the bill is intended to bully the LGBTQIA+ community and drag our most vulnerable and powerless citizens into the public square for the purposes of humiliation and degradation.

Catholic Committee of Appalachia honestly acknowledges that mainstream churches have served as havens of such violence, prejudice, and discrimination. Pope Francis has cautioned our faith community that our thoughtless or unkind words can lead to different forms and degrees of violence: “If our hearts are made of stone, the stones find their way into our hands and we are ready to throw them.”

And so we wish to extend three clear messages in faith, hope, and love:

To the transgender youth of West Virginia, who we meet on this desert road, we respect and honor your bodies–which we believe are the bodies of Christ in this world. We repent of the sins of both our Church and our State. We affirm you and we stand unwaveringly with you.

To the licensed counselors and medical professionals who offer extensive care to children navigating transition, we offer our deep gratitude. Such life-altering healthcare decisions and life-or-death legislative matters cannot, and should not, be made without your professional wisdom and expertise.

And to the politicians who campaign and legislate under Christian identity, we ask: does the gospel that you live, and the gospel that you share, send others away rejoicing? Or do you merely wish to stand there, holding ready your stones?

Lead Author: Thomas H. Lindie
Charleston, WV
February 8, 2023

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1) See https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/142/4/e20174218/76767/Transgender-Adolescent-Suicide-Behavior
2) See https://apnews.com/article/politics-west-virginia-state-government-health-children.
3) See https://wvutoday.wvu.edu/stories/2022/08/08/prevalence-of-gender-diverse-youth-in-rural-appalachia-exceeds-previous-estimates-wvu-study-shows
4) Catholic Committee of Appalachia, The Telling Takes Us Home: Taking Our Place in the Stories that Shape Us (Spencer, WV: Catholic Committee of Appalachia, 2015), p. 24, available at http://www.ccappal.org/thetellingtakesushome2015.pdf
5) See http://popefrancisjourney.com/category/judgement