For the past few days, social media has been abuzz about a transgender being barred from using the ladies’ room at a Quezon City mall which was in violation of the Gender-Fair Ordinance. The ordinance seeks to protect LGBTQ+ members from barring of entry and refusal of service. It also requires “all government agencies, private offices, and commercial/industrial establishments (to) designate toilet rooms and lavatories labeled as all gender CR.” Now this got me into thinking, what if this happens in a church? In our church?

According to one friend lawyer, a church is not covered unless it operates something commercial like a café but another friend lawyer says, “If private offices are included, all the more…(the) church since it is almost a public establishment.”

"She is being harassed for living her truth," one senator reacted.

Good that someone brought up the issue of truth. What is truth? The truth is “God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” (Gen. 1:27, NLT) Not more than two, just two. How people live out (or not) that truth is a different issue which brings us to a possible scenario in our church since we welcome anyone without discrimination. Are we therefore to allow a transgender to use the washroom of his/her gender identity? The answer is a given as we are to obey God rather than men (Acts 5:29).

But so as not to violate the ordinance, a church in QC can perhaps designate a facility for everyone (not just a particular segment) to use. But what if it does not have extra facilities especially if it is just renting? This is where we need to speak the truth in love. There are only two genders, not 58, which is why we will only have two CR options. But we need to back up our truth-speaking through actions by making sure our facilities are safe for everyone without violating the laws of God and men as well as ensuring that the environment in our church is safe for all the Gretchens and Greggs who want to know the Way, the Truth, and the Life.