A Texas church has chosen a radically different path from many denominations nationwide. Instead of demonizing LGBTQ+ people, the Galileo Church in Fort Worth has opted to support and welcome the community.

The congregation is particularly disturbed by the state legislature’s recently enacted law that bans healthcare providers from treating trans kids and has launched a program to help families get their children the healthcare they need.

“Health care is a human right, and withholding necessary care for trans kids is state-sponsored cruelty. As neighbors to one another, we seek ways to help each other’s families flourish,” the church says on the website for the new program, the North Texas TRANSportation Network.

The church will assist families who need to travel out of state to get treatment for their children with a $1000 grant. Individual donors and organizations fund the group; no public money is used.

The not-for-profit doesn’t require religious beliefs or church participation from applicants. The only qualification is that families must live in the 19-county northern Texas area and have a trans or gender-diverse child.

“I’m a mother, I have three kids so and I have always been able to get the healthcare for my kids that they desperately needed,” Executive Director Cynthia Daniels told CBS News. “So to me it’s just being a good neighbor to a group of people who have been selected to not be able to receive their healthcare and to me that’s devastating.”

Grants are distributed as the funds become available.

      • DarthBueller@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        People who are sick of Christian hegemony, who would like to see a functioning social democracy in the USA instead of religious welfare with Jesus Strings attached.

          • R0cket_M00se@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            You have no idea how intertwined Republican/Conservative ideology and Christian religious belief is, do you?

            The foundation of the right is religious and has been since at least Reagan.

              • DarthBueller@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                Yes. But the politicians’ evangelical dog whistles are extremely loud because a full fucking quarter of the base is fundie. “God and Country” folks might not be churchy that often, but they definitely use Evangelical/fundamentalist Christianity as a moral polestar for fucking with literally everybody who’s not.

          • eestileib@sh.itjust.works
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            1 year ago

            On the national level, I invite you to Iook at who controls the Supreme Court and the House of Reps.

            On the state level, look anywhere that has a Big 12 or SEC college.

          • DarthBueller@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            I didn’t downvote. Just saying why people might. Where is religion not a dominant political force? At least 25% of the US GOP base is evangelical and as a bloc has immense power. Church handouts are big marketing and many conservative church goers are quite open in research polls that the church, not government, should be doing the welfare.

      • terwn43lp@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        churches don’t pay taxes and contribute to hatred & ignorance worldwide. it’s a puppet show to convert ppl to their cult & doesn’t solve the underlying issue of healthcare costs