The nation’s largest Protestant denomination just made it clear: they’re praying away your rights. At their national gathering in Dallas, Southern Baptist delegates endorsed a sweeping resolution calling for the legal dismantling of same-sex marriage — and then some. With over 10,000 messengers in attendance, the conservative denomination made no attempt to mask its intentions: overturn the Supreme Court’s Obergefell ruling, erase any legal recognition of LGBTQ families, and re-anchor civil law in their interpretation of “biblical truth.”
The resolution, drenched in theological dogma, took square aim at queer Americans. It doesn’t explicitly say “ban,” but its language is crystal clear: “overturn laws and court rulings… including Obergefell v. Hodges.” This isn’t just about marriage certificates — it’s about stripping dignity from millions of LGBTQ people who dared to imagine family and love on their own terms.
Not content with marriage, the Baptists also came for your gender, your womb, and your Saturday night bets. The same document insists that lawmakers uphold “the biological reality of male and female,” and calls any recognition of trans identities “falsehoods.” They bemoan declining fertility rates, shaming those who choose not to have children, and prescribe marriage and childbearing as a civic duty. They even tossed in a call to cut down on porn and sports betting, lest you thought this was just about love.
Make no mistake: this isn’t some fringe doctrine. The lack of debate around the resolution speaks volumes about how deeply entrenched this anti-LGBTQ stance has become within their ranks. Southern Baptist Convention President Clint Pressley presided over the convention, and the delegates seemed unified in pushing these reactionary ideals forward.
While the marriage resolution made headlines, another shadow loomed large over the event: the recent death of Jennifer Lyell, a former publishing executive who blew the whistle on sexual abuse within the denomination. Lyell, who died after suffering multiple strokes, had endured years of backlash for speaking out. Her absence — and that of many other abuse survivors — was a haunting reminder of how little progress the denomination has made in confronting its own sins.
Despite public hand-wringing and formal apologies in past years, meaningful reform remains elusive. The SBC’s Executive Committee has backed off plans to create a sex abuse database, and critics see their efforts as hollow. Meanwhile, the same leadership now seeks $3 million in funding for legal expenses tied to these abuse cases — an ironic twist given their fixation on “moral clarity.”
The impact on the LGBTQ community is chilling. This resolution may not have legal weight, but its cultural force is undeniable. In an America where anti-LGBTQ rhetoric has been rising from pulpits to statehouses, this kind of language legitimizes hate — and fuels the fire behind the political campaigns looking to strip away rights hard-won over decades.
What Southern Baptists are preaching isn’t faith — it’s fear, wrapped in scripture. And for queer folks across the country, it’s yet another reminder that the fight for dignity and equality isn’t over. Not by a long shot.