My community is in mourning. This past week the horrible news broke that another young Trans person had completed suicide, and it came as a shock to many who knew him and his family. Ashton Clatterbuck was a beloved son to his parents Malinda and Mark. He was a beloved brother to his sister Hannah. ‘Ash’ as he was affectionately known was loved by many in Lancaster County Pennsylvania and beyond. Ash was a politically active champion of human rights and environmental awareness. He was active in working to protect his bioregion from extractive industries that are harming the planet. He was a unique, powerful, talented, and caring young man. A large crowd gathered last night in downtown Lancaster to mourn his passing and the grief of those people present was palpable. Ashton’s light burned brightly, and his loved ones will continue to see that brilliant light that he put on a lamp stand for all to see even though he is gone far too soon.

As a cisgender, white male, I am protected from the kinds of hatred and bigotry that are routinely directed towards the LGBTQIA community and BIPOC people. As a young fundamentalist Christian and Marine in the early 1990s, I was indoctrinated by the Southern Baptist Church I was a member of, and where my then wife was minister of education, to hate gay people and the “gay agenda.” In my Marine Corps unit, I routinely heard my fellow Marines spouting bigoted things about the gay community and I likewise did so myself. Around the same time, I watched the film The Crying Game. Such was my entrenchment into ignorance and bigotry that I felt repulsion when it became clear that one of the characters was a Trans woman and I turned the movie off refusing to watch the rest. At the time, my ignorance made being Trans or being gay sinful because I believed that both were choices made by those who rejected God’s natural order. How wrong I was.  

There was no singular “A-ha” moment that I can remember that freed me from the shackles of the anti-LGBTQIA bigotry that I had been taught under the guise of “loving the sinner and hating the sin.” I left fundamentalist Christianity in 2003 because I finally realized that I couldn’t see the love of neighbor or peacemaking anywhere therein, but did see hatred, militarism, violence, scapegoating, and idolatry in abundance. I have long since renounced anti-LGBTQIA bigotry and have repented for the sin of spreading that bigotry with my words and actions. Having rejected the fundamentalism that shaped my life into adulthood, I stopped seeing so much invective towards God’s beloved Rainbow Family as I call them, though I knew it remained common in the spaces that I had left behind.

In recent years however, anti-LGBTQIA bigotry is virulently spreading due to the rise of  Christian nationalism and the MAGA style authoritarianism that has aided in unmasking hate around the country. Christian nationalists like Lance Wallnau and William Wolfe, have been stoking anti-Trans hate, but to a much larger audience because of their internet platforms. Chaos agents and stochastic terrorists like Chris Rufo, Matt Walsh, and Chaya Raichik have also used their limited time on Earth to ramp up anti-Trans hatred among their legions of followers with devastating effect. Raichik, whose Libs of TikTok account has been particularly harmful. Her followers have been showing up to harass, bully, and intimidate Trans and nonbinary people, events, and schools where LGBTQIA students attend.

Shortly after the tragic death of Nex Benedict, Raichik was interviewed by Taylor Lorenz about her anti-Trans activism. As I watched the video after its release my immediate thought was that Chaya Raichik is dumber than a box of hammers. She oozed ignorance and disingenuousness and struggled to articulate her position when faced with someone asking actual questions. All she could do was spout her complete ignorance of gender science before openly embracing the white supremacist “great replacement theory.” It was an absolute train wreck of an interview for Raichik, though she and her followers likely cannot see it because they are so wedded to their ignorance, bigotry, and hate. 

These days there is far more information about LGBTQIA issues readily available to combat the ignorance that fuels the hatemongers. There is far more inclusivity for the LGBTQIA community in the media and popular culture. This is one of the major reasons that those who spew their hatred are so loud now. Cishet folks are no longer the center of everything and for some reason that scares many people. It takes them out of their comfort zones and thus more susceptible to misinformation spread by the likes of Raichik. Unfortunately, many people do not care to research the growing body of scientific evidence around gender, nor do they care to develop relationships with people outside their cishet bubbles. They don’t know that Trans people have existed for millennia and are often revered in the cultures in which they live. Learning these things would, I believe, begin to drown out the hatemongers.

Christians will often point to scripture as the reason for their anti-LGBTQIA stances. Most of them are woefully ill informed about the anthology of disparate texts we call the Bible, and know nothing of the social and historical contexts that those texts were written in. Much of what the Bible says is ambiguous at best and sometimes literally untranslatable. Despite this, many Christians often focus on a select number of passages that they believe bolsters their theological positions, yet there is nothing in the Bible that says being Trans is wrong or sinful. Even if there was, so what? The Bible was written by prescientific people who believed the Earth was a flat disc with a dome shaped lid. These were not people who understood the complexities of human gender diversity, nor were the views that they expressed in the Bible consistent. The Bible is complicated and open to a wide range of interpretations and should not be used as a weapon against people.

Despite this variation of texts and interpretative ambiguity, there are some vitally important concepts in the Bible that are quite clear. It is a sad fact that the expression, “there is no hate like Christian love” is so prevalent in our society when Jesus called us to love our neighbors without regard to who they are, where they come from, or what religious beliefs they hold. He did not say, “Hate as I have been hated,” but rather that Christians should be known by their love. Jesus said, “in everything do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” without equivocation, and whether we understand someone’s gender identity or not is a moot point. We are called to love them, to hear them, to support them –never to harm them. Likewise, the Apostle Paul said that love is the greatest of all spiritual gifts, and the most important thing for Christians to enact.

Jesus also said that people would be known by the fruits of their behavior and actions.  Jesus called  false prophets like Lance Wallnau, Chris Rufo, Matt Walsh, and Chaya Raichik ravenous wolves. Wallnau, Rufo, Walsh, and other Christian nationalists spread hate in order to gain earthly power. Raichik seemingly spreads hate for fame and social media clout. The putrid fruit they produce is hatred of their neighbors and violence towards an already marginalized LGBTQIA community. Those who listen to these wolves in sheep’s clothing are being misled through the willful spread of misinformation. As Ash’s mother Malinda wrote when she broke the tragic news, “shame on those who continue to create a world where trans people are ostracized and discriminated against. We need to do better at creating a world where love overcomes hate and fear. It is what Ash worked for in his life. It is a legacy we are committed to carrying out.”

 During his ministry on Earth, Jesus often used nonviolent tactics to shame those who harmed others. I felt that shame when the scales fell from my eyes allowing me to see the harm my anti-LGBTQIA bigotry had caused. I then repented – that is to say, I truly turned away from that bigotry and never again will I wield ignorance and the Bible as a weapon to hurt my LGBTQIA neighbors. I am one of many who have done likewise, and I pray that all people, be they Christian or not, will come to this place where they drop the chains of hatred that weigh them down, and then work to repair the harm they have caused.

Ashton Clatterbuck was created in the image and likeness of God. He and all LGBTQIA people are beloved by God. He felt the enormity of the satanic hatred leveled at him and his fellow Trans and nonbinary people and it was overwhelming. Ash should be alive today preparing for spring break, exams, and more political engagement to make the world a better place. He is gone far too soon and will long be remembered by those who love him. Let us now create a world to honor him and all Trans people who reflect to the world the glorious beauty of God’s creative powers. Let us love our Trans neighbors as ourselves so that no more vigils are necessary. Rest in power dear Ash. We walk with you.