LGBT public policy shift appears to be in full swing across the United States

NASHVILLE (BP) – A political shift in LGBT policy is visible across the country this week. Legislation passed in California on July 15 gives public schools the ability to hide when students change their names and pronouns. That same day, the Republican National Convention passed a platform that removed “anti-LGBT” language, political leaders say.

The California law, signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom on July 15, prohibits school districts from requiring teachers to notify parents when students tell school principals they want to change their name or the pronouns used to refer to them.

“It protects the parent-child relationship by preventing politicians and school personnel from inappropriately intervening in families and trying to control whether, when and how families have deeply personal conversations,” Brandon Richards, a spokesman for Newsome, told Fox News.

Opponents of the bill were quick to express outrage.

“Governor Newsom’s signing of AB 1955 is a direct attack on the safety of children and the rights of their parents. By allowing schools to withhold important information from mothers and fathers, this bill undermines their fundamental role and puts boys and girls in potential danger,” said Jonathan Keller, president of the California Family Council.

“Mothers and fathers have both a constitutional and divine duty to guide and protect their children, and AB 1955 blatantly violates that sacred trust,” he said.

The California Family Council is an official affiliate of the California Southern Baptist Convention and represents its voice on public policy issues.

Representatives from the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) shared Keller’s views.

“This summer in Indianapolis, Southern Baptists reaffirmed that parents—not the state—‘are the primary stewards and decision-makers for their children,’” ERLC President Brent Leatherwood told Baptist Press. “This new law in California is an affront to God’s design for both gender and sexuality and to the God-ordained role of parents. The state has no place between parents and children on these issues.”

Refers to the resolution “On the God-Given Rights and Responsibilities of Parents,” adopted by messengers at the SBC annual meeting in June 2024.

The resolution calls on “parents to exercise their rights and responsibilities to make decisions regarding the upbringing of their children, under the authority of God, recognizing that they will be responsible for their choices.”

In an almost prophetic passage, it also called on “the state to partner with, not against, the family unit by enacting legislation that protects and upholds parental rights, ensuring that parents have the freedom to make decisions about the upbringing, education and health care of their children without undue interference, recognizing that parents are the primary arbiters of the child’s moral and spiritual development.”

ERLC Vice President and Chief of Staff Miles Mullin told Baptist Press, “…California lawmakers have grossly and recklessly overstepped their authority. The primary responsibility for the welfare of children rests with the parents, not with the state, which should do everything in its power to protect the rights of parents to raise their children in accordance with their beliefs — including beliefs about gender and sexuality.”

He added that California has taken steps to undermine the family unit by “forcing teachers, counselors and other school staff to hide information about their children.”

Mullin pointed to other parental rights cases in the U.S., such as Parent 1 v. Montgomery County and Parents Protecting Our Children v. Eau Claire.

He believes the U.S. Supreme Court will decide the case once it agrees to hear a parental rights case. While the Supreme Court declined to hear Parent 1, Mullin hopes it will hear Parents Protecting Our Children. The ERLC has filed an amicus curiae brief in both cases.

A Southern California school district has already filed a lawsuit against Newsome challenging the new law. Chino Valley Unified School District is represented in the lawsuit by the Liberty Justice Center.

“PK-12 students, most of whom are too young to drive, vote or medically consent to their own gender, are also too young to make life-changing decisions about their expressed gender identity without their parents’ knowledge. But that is exactly what AB 1955 enables — with potentially devastating consequences for children who are too young to fully understand them,” Emily Rae, senior counsel at the Liberty Justice Center, said in a July 16 statement.

Meanwhile, in Milwaukee, Log Cabin Republicans leaders are celebrating what they say is a victory for LGBT rights at the Republican National Convention.

“It’s official! The GOP national platform has been stripped of all anti-LGBT language! Inclusion won! Thank you @realDonaldTrump!” Charles T. Moran, the group’s president, wrote on X on July 15.

The Washington-based group says it is “the nation’s primary and largest organization representing LGBT conservatives and straight allies who support fairness, freedom, and equality for all Americans.”

In a July 15 interview with NBC News, Eric Trump, one of former President Donald Trump’s sons, was asked about omissions from this year’s Republican Party platform — namely, any mention of a federal abortion ban or defining marriage as between one man and one woman. For the first time in generations, the GOP platform includes neither.

“I think he (Donald Trump) has always been there on these issues to tell the truth, and I think that reflects who my father is and what he believes in. And I think that reflects my wife Lara, who runs the RNC, and clearly what she believes in,” Eric Trump said. Lara Trump is co-chair of the Republican National Committee.

“This country has real holes in its roof, and you need to fix them and stop worrying about the stain on your basement wall,” Trump said. Instead, he added, the country should focus on issues like immigration, fentanyl and the economy.

Leatherwood stated that despite the culture moving away from a Christian worldview, Christians cannot abandon their task.

“Regardless of political parties’ reluctance to stand strong for truth, Christians must hold on to God’s plan for the good of the Gospel and the flourishing of our neighbors,” he said. “Speaking the truth—as it is given to us in Scripture—in the public square is needed now more than ever.”