Christian Conservatives Bring Alarmist #BanTheBible Message to Texas Capitol
In hopes of protecting their religious right to discriminate against LGBTQ people, Texas conservatives have turned to a perplexing new message this legislative session: #BanTheBible.
The hashtag, pushed nonstop for the past month by Jonathan Saenz, president of religious-right lobby group Texas Values, refers to a raft of bills filed largely by members of the newly formed Texas House LGBTQ Caucus. In reality, the legislation seeks to update state nondiscrimination laws to cover LGBTQ Texans, streamline the process for transgender people updating their birth certificates and prohibit state-licensed health care providers from performing “conversion therapy” on minors.
In a January call to action, Texas Values acknowledged that none of the bills in question even mentions the Bible, let alone advocates banning it. Until Texas Values commandeered it, #BanTheBible was mostly wielded by an anti-Semitic Twitter troll also fond of “#StopZionism.”
“#BanTheBible doesn’t have to mean confiscating physical Bibles yet,” Saenz explained in an email to supporters last month, “but it does mean something even worse — stripping Texans’ right to practice biblical teachings out of their lives.” (Saenz declined a request for an interview.)
Read more: https://www.texasobserver.org/christian-conservatives-bring-alarmist-banthebible-message-to-texas-capitol/
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