The 3 - September 1, 2024

On this Labor Day Weekend, two of the stories on The 3 focus on people who stood on their Christian faith and lost their employment.  One involved a Christian officer in the Idaho Army National Guard, who had a complaint filed against him based on his expression of Christian beliefs on personal social media. Then, there's the nurse at a Texas hospital who observed that gender-change treatments were continuing at her place of employment even after a Texas law banning these practices was passed. And, the issue of gender was involved in a lawsuit against a Ohio school district, whose policy against "misgendering" has been upheld in court. 

National Guard officer removed from command, forced out of military for Christian beliefs

John is, or was, an officer in the Idaho Army National Guard.  He is a Christian, and now faces a future apart from his military service.  As the Liberty Counsel website explains:

In 2023, a subordinate officer who identifies as homosexual complained to John’s chain of command, claiming that the posts John made on his own personal social media account made the subordinate officer feel “uncomfortable” and “unsafe.”

John never discussed his Christian views and beliefs about LGBTQ issues with this subordinate officer or anyone else in his command. Instead, the officer’s complaint was SOLEY based on John’s personal social media posts.

Yet the subordinate officer claimed that John’s posts created a “hostile work environment.” The subordinate officer claimed that John’s views were aligned with “hate groups” and “extremists.”

As the website points out, John posted on his personal Facebook account. He shared about his Christian beliefs, but "they were never derogatory, simply a reflection of commonsense parenting based on a Christian worldview."

The website notes that, "Following the complaint, the Idaho Army National Guard removed John from his command, citing an Department of Defense Policy issued in 2009 that "unjustly labels Christians as 'extremists' who need to be removed from military service." Liberty Counsel contends that "The Idaho Army National Guard and the DOD’s policy have violated the First Amendment, the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and the Idaho Constitution."

Whistleblower regarding gender treatments at TX hospital dismissed from job

Vanessa Sivadge was a nurse at Texas Children's Hospital, and according to Decision Magazine, "worked closely with parents in helping with their children’s prescription refills and general care questions on behalf of the physicians in the unit. TCH is the nation’s largest children’s hospital." But, in her capacity, she observed some activity that was troubling to her. On her GiveSendGo page, she wrote, “My faith in Jesus compels me to speak the truth about what I’ve seen while having the utmost compassion and love towards children confused about their sex..."

The Decision article relates that Vanessa shared with...

...independent journalist Christopher Rufo that she had asked the hospital on May 31 for a transfer back to her “core competency” in the cardiology clinic because of a religious objection to the cross-sex hormone treatments that she was having to indirectly participate in. Her letter to the hospital specifically asked for a religious accommodation.

Sivadge, along with a former TCH resident surgeon named Eithan Haim, blew the whistle on TCH for what she and Haim allege were continued gender-altering treatments on minors after a new Texas law banned such practices in September 2023 and after an earlier opinion from the Texas attorney general that such treatments constituted child abuse. Sivadge also alleged the hospital engaged in Medicaid fraud to pay for the treatments.

Sivadge was fired on August 16, and she told Rufo that, "It is retaliation for my coming forward with information on TCH’s egregious pattern of deception and Medicaid fraud,” adding, “and this action also illegally disregarded my request to transfer due to my belief that these procedures bring irreversible harm and lifelong regret to children confused about their sex.”

The article goes on to detail how Vanessa and her husband were visited by FBI agents following her accommodation request who attempted to force her to testify against Haim.  The article states:

In an interview with The Christian Post, Sivadge said, “I am a Christian, and my faith is the foundation of everything. That’s the reason why I’ve spoken out as I have.”

Decision says that she referred to the "weaponization" of the federal government against people of faith, and according to that Christian Post article, she said: “I never thought that [my identity] would come to light, and that I would be ultimately visited by the federal government, wanting to intimidate me into silence,”adding, “Ephesians 5 says to have nothing to do with the worthless deeds of evil and darkness...but instead expose them, and that everything exposed by the light becomes visible."

Court rules against "misgendering" in Ohio school

The use of pronouns that correspond to a person's stated gender, not his or her biological sex, is an affront to the Biblical viewpoint that there are two genders - male and female. Yet, you have officials who are trying to force people to essentially lie about biological fact by embracing so-called "gender pronouns."

The Daily Citizen reports that the practice of not using these pronouns, an act known as "misgendering," is unconstitutional, according to a federal appeals court.   The article reports:

In February 2023, a parent-member of the organization emailed the Olentangy Local School District, inquiring whether their “devoutly Christian child who believes in two biological genders” would “be forced to use the pronouns that a transgender child identifies with or be subject to reprimand from the district.”

The District responded that a “student purposefully referring to another student by using gendered language they know is contrary to the other student’s identity would be an example of discrimination under” the District’s policies.

This prompted a lawsuit against the school district by an organization called Parents Defending Education. The Daily Citizen article stated that "a three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit recently upheld a lower district court’s ruling against Parents Defending Education."

It was a 2-1 decision, and the dissenting judge, Senior Judge Alice Batchelder, wrote this:

The plaintiffs’ position – based on their scientific (biology, physiology, and genetics) and religious beliefs – is that biological gender is immutable, people are either male or female, and there is no such thing as “gender transition”; that is a made-up thing, imaginary or make believe, and a public school cannot force their children to pretend it is a real thing.

Batchelder stated, "The First Amendment forbids the District from compelling students to use speech that conveys a message with which they disagree, namely that biology does not determine gender."