COLUMBUS — Last week the Ohio House Civil Justice Committee announced there would be a hearing on House Bill 369. The hasty announcement allowed opponents of the controversial sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) bill a chance to stand up and be counted. For pastors hailing from the Buckeye Bible Belt, there was no ‘sitting on the fence’ for this issue.
“The Bible lays parameters and boundaries for how we are to best live our life,” says Pastor Robert Kurtz, one of the clergy who testified at the Statehouse. “We would do well to follow GOD’S standard.”
In written testimony, a band of clergymen representing one hundred congregations from North Central Ohio drove home the point there is no justification to add special privileges to one group while emasculating the First Amendment.
According to the clergy, LGBT persons have no traits of a discriminated class of people and pointed out there is no Ohio law permitting discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation.
The clergy wrote, “Every human being is made in the image of GOD, male and female He made them. Not only are we unified by Biblical Truth telling us man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, we are also unified in our opposition to House Bill 369.”
According to family policy group Citizens for Community Values, HB 369 would require men and boys to be allowed in women’s bathrooms, locker rooms, and showers if they claim to identify as women. The bill would also require boys be allowed to compete in girls’ sports in public schools if they claim to identify as women, and allow the government to remove children from parents’ custody if they do not consent to dangerous conversion/hormone therapy.
“It is our corporate belief the dubious legacy of HB 369 would be a nightmare for Ohioans, turning the First Amendment upside down, and decimating religious freedom as we know it,” the clergy wrote. “If passed, HB 369 will leave women, children, and persons of religious conviction as second-class citizens. There is no tweaking this disastrous bill.”
“It is our corporate belief the dubious legacy of HB 369 would be a nightmare for Ohioans, turning the First Amendment upside down, and decimating religious freedom as we know it. If passed, HB 369 will leave women, children, and persons of religious conviction as second-class citizens. There is no tweaking this disastrous bill.”
North Central Ohio clergymen written testimony on HB 369
Pastor Kurtz told the House Committee, “Mankind is corrupt, we are all sinners. There is no ‘new sin.’ As a state legislature, we should not be condoning sin, nor setting laws to encourage sinful behavior.”
The clergy contend if passed, HB 369 will force individuals to take part in events or adopt ideas that violate their faith. They also say HB 369 will limit access to needed social services by effectively driving out faith-based providers.
The written testimony continues a trend in the Ohio heartland. In 2016, over one hundred pastors from Richland County, Ohio told public school superintendents inside the county to ignore the Obama restroom mandate.
Co-signers of the written statement included clergy from: Richland County (73), Ashland County (8), Crawford County (8), Wayne County (3), Morrow County (3),Knox County (2), Huron County (1), Medina County (1), and Stark County (1).
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