In one camp are many legislators who have cited their conservative religious beliefs while promoting these bills, as well as leaders of America's two largest denominations -- the Catholic Church and the Southern Baptist Convention.
Faith leaders who support transgender rights bristle at the use of religious rhetoric to marginalize trans people. In Oklahoma, state Sen. David Bullard cited a biblical passage in introducing what he calls the Millstone Act -- a bill that would make it a felony for doctors to provide gender transition procedures to anyone under the age of 26. Bullard, who has served as a deacon at his Baptist church, said the act's name alludes to a passage in the Book of Matthew suggesting that anyone causing a child to sin should be drowned in the sea with a millstone hung around their neck.
A resolution approved by the Tennessee Baptist Convention depicted gender dysphoria as a "sexual perversion." Even though California's Democratic-controlled legislature would not approve any anti-trans measures, an organizer of the event said it was important to speak out in support of trans people in states enacting such bills.