Last Saturday, two fellow pastors and I worked together to craft a statement of response to the administration in Washington, D.C., directing public schools and universities to change their restroom, locker room, and sports activities policies to accommodate people based on their gender identity. We felt this to be a destructive policy with potentially disastrous consequences. This is the statement we made.

A joint statement from Pastors Waylon Bailey, James Mitchell, and Steve Robinson

We are pastors who love our congregations and love our communities. We have each served in our respective churches from 17-27 years. We are deeply saddened and burdened to hear of the directive coming out of the White House that would open bathrooms, sports activities, and locker rooms in public schools and universities for use by individuals based on their gender identity instead of their biological sex.

We feel this directive is deeply concerning and potentially dangerous to women and children.

Along with our fellow pastors, we have spent all of our adult lives helping people. We have given our lives to help people in spite of their background, lifestyles, or orientation. We empathize with adults, parents, and children who are struggling with gender identity issues. We appreciate the efforts of our school administrators and parents who are supporting common sense answers to these difficult problems.

However, we are concerned that this directive will not help our communities but rather hurt them. We are further concerned this will open doors in the future which cannot be closed. We fear grave and unseen consequences.

For the last two days we have repeatedly heard from teachers, parents, and students who are disturbed at the potential ramifications to our public schools. All of us are aware of the difficult job our educators already face.

This issue is a common sense issue.

We want you to know you have a voice. Please contact your school board representative, our elected officials, and the governor’s office about this issue.  We believe these are people of honor who will hear your concerns. We strongly believe our school board and our local officials understand the issues and want to see families protected.

We want to remind you that we will demonstrate our faith as we seek to “speak the truth in love.” Simon Peter encouraged us to always be ready to give an account for the reason for our hope but to do so with “gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 2:15).

Let us seek God in prayer and be faithful to pray for our nation, communities, and leaders.

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