A Fort Worth church is funding travel grants for families whose children identify as transgender to undergo sex-altering procedures out of state.
The Galileo Church founded the North Texas TRANSportation Network (NTTN) following the passage of a Texas law, SB 14, which prohibits doctors from performing sex alteration surgeries on children.
“NTTN provides travel grants to North Texas families seeking out-of-state health care for trans and gender diverse minors,” the church shared on social media.
“It might be the most important work we’ve ever done,” the organization claimed.
The grants are $1,000 and will be “distributed as NTTN has money available.” Applicants must fill out a form with information regarding the transgender-identifying minor and include references who will verify that the person has “a trans minor child seeking health care” and lives in North Texas.
NTTN acknowledges that “$1,000 is not enough to cover the entire cost of, say, a round trip to Colorado with a two- or three-day stay, medical expenses, and loss of income. We hope it is a substantial help, however, and a declaration of support for families who are paying attention to their kid’s need for care.”
The sponsoring group, the Galileo Church, highlights its activism on behalf of the LGBTQ community in its stated “missional priorities.”
According to the list, the church’s number one priority is to “do justice for LGBTQ+ humans, and support the people who love them.” Its second-highest priority is to “do kindness for people with mental illness and in emotional distress, and celebrate neurodiversity.”
Priority number three is the first that is explicitly religious, reading, “We do beauty for our God-Who-Is-Beautiful.” The fourth priority claims, “We do real relationship, no b******t, ever.”
Lastly, the church says, “We do whatever it takes to share this good news with the world God still loves.” The lead evangelist is a woman named Katie Hays, who received degrees from Yale Divinity School and the Princeton Theological Seminary.
Hays also signed an open letter to Gov. Greg Abbott in protest of his order requiring the Department of Family and Protective Services to investigate parents and caregivers seeking transgender procedures for their children.
“Because of our religious faith, the congregations we lead are doing everything we can to protect and support these families –- both those who attend our congregations and those who do not,” she and other leaders claimed in the letter.
“We cannot stand by and watch the needless suffering of any of God’s children,” the letter continued. “We urge you … to lead your party to relinquish their fear-mongering obsession with trans and gender-diverse people.”
The recently passed Senate Bill 14 has been challenged in court, with detractors claiming that prohibiting sex alteration surgeries for children is unconstitutional, as reported by The Dallas Express.
However, one of the bill’s authors, Sen. Donna Campbell (R-New Braunfels), and one of its sponsors, Rep. Tom Oliverson (R- Cypress), both of whom are doctors, have stressed that harm can come from such procedures, claiming they are irreversible, unfounded, and dangerous.
“A growing number of teenagers and young adults are telling us that they were irreparably harmed by procedures their doctors assured them, against all available evidence, are ‘medically necessary’ and ‘life-saving,'” the lawmakers explained in a statement.
“While we recognize the complexities surrounding the treatment of gender dysphoria in children, we believe it is the sworn duty of the Texas Legislature to protect the safety of the children of our state — including from well-meaning but misguided physicians.”
In Tarrant County, a woman recently sued several medical providers and counselors whom she claimed pressured her to undergo various sex alteration procedures, leading to medical complications, as reported by The Dallas Express.