Last month, President Obama appointed a biological man named
Barbara Satin … a Christian transgender activist (an oxymoron) … who identifies
as a woman, to the President’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood
Partnerships.
Satin is the Assistant Faith Works Director for the LGBTQ
Task Force and a member of the United Church of Christ … serving on the denomination’s
national executive council. The UCC is
among the nation’s most open denomination to the LGBT community. Satin has been the chair of GLBT Generations (an
advocacy group for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people) since 1999.
Obama has been a strong advocate for LGBT issues. The appointment comes amid a major controversy
over freedom of religion laws at the state level and as the administration has
threatened to withhold federal funds from schools if transgender people can’t
use their restroom of choice.
“The fact that he would appoint someone to the faith-based
partnerships council who has been an activist, as she has, fits the Obama Administration
agenda,” says Travis Weber, director of the Center for Religious Liberty at the
Family Research Council. “The LGBT
agenda has been part of the State Department’s programs overseas, and with
Department of Education’s threat to withhold Title IX funding to schools.”
Satin recently worked on the development of Spirit on the
Lake, which the White House describes as an “LGBTQ senior housing project in
Minneapolis.” Since 2013, Satin has also
served on the board of directors of PFund Foundation – a regional LGBT advocacy
group covering Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin,
according to the White House.
In a statement on the task force website, Satin said: “Given
the current political climate, I believe it’s important that a voice of faith
representing the transgender and gender non-conforming community — as well as a
person of my years, nearly 82 — be present and heard in these vital
conversations.”
The President’s Council is charged with identifying the best
practices for delivering social services, “evaluating the need for improvements
in the implementation and coordination of public policies relating to
faith-based and neighborhood organizations,” and making policy recommendations
to the president and other administration officials.
The bigger problem is that the council is not representative
of America’s faith community, said Attorney John Stemberger, President of the
Florida Family Policy Council. “This is
more evidence that Obama is attempting a moral revolution pretending the
percentages of America is as diverse as his faith council,” Stemberger said. “It’s not a proportional representation of
America.” Stemberger added this
appointment ties in with the larger debate: “This is directly related to the
bathroom debate. It’s an attempt to push
conservative traditional people of faith on this issue. No world religion embraces this moral agenda,
at least not in its orthodox form.”
On the same day Obama named Satin, he also appointed Naseem
Kourosh to the council, the human rights officer at the U.S. Bahá’í Office of
Public Affairs, and Manjit Singh, co-founder and chairman of the Sikh American
Legal Defense and Education Fund. [The
council is made up of people from different faiths.]
After Obama made the appointments to the faith council and
other panels, he said in a statement: “These fine public servants bring a depth
of experience and tremendous dedication to their important roles. I look forward to working with them.”
In closing, let it be known that Satin grew up as a
Catholic, but left the church later in life, according to her [his] biography on
the LGBTQ Religious Archives Network website, which said Satin was “raised as a
boy.” Satin later served as a pilot in
the U.S. Air Force. Satin married and
was the father of three children. The
bio says Satin did not begin to explore a different gender identity until the
age of 54.
Rev. Dr.
Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.
Chaplain
(Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army
Pastor,
Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel
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