Judge Blocks Obama School Transgender Bathroom Mandate

A federal circuit court judge in Texas issued an injunction in August temporarily halting President Obama’s mandate to public schools to make their bathrooms and locker rooms open to members of the opposite biological sex who “identify” as transgender. As its justification, the Obama Administration used Title IX of the federal code, which bans discrimination based on sex and threatened to withhold federal funding from schools that did not comply. The judge noted that Title IX “is not ambiguous”—it applies to biological sex, and not gender self-identification, and that the administration had exceeded its authority.

Christian Judge Punished for Free Speech

Wyoming’s judicial ethics commission has recommended the removal of magistrate judge Ruth Neely—for publicly stating her Christian beliefs. Judge Neely told a newspaper in 2014 that her Christian convictions require her to refuse to perform same-sex weddings. Opponents now want her removed from office—despite the fact that she has never been sought by a same-sex couple to perform a ceremony, and, thus, never actually refused. Quite simply, her “crime” is her point of view. Yet, the Wyoming Constitution explicitly guarantees that, “no person shall be rendered incompetent to hold any office…because of his opinion on any matter of religious belief whatever.” Her case will be heard by the Wyoming Supreme Court.

National Institutes of Health Lifts Ban on Human-Animal Embryos

The National Institutes of Health has announced it will begin allowing federal funding for the creation of “chimeras”—animal embryos with human cells. While researchers tout the cures and development of transplant organs they say could result, CNN notes that “some scientists are worried that these stem cells have the potential to create a human brain inside an animal.” As Discovery Institute Senior Fellow Wesley J. Smith warns, “If we had a science sector that believed in the intrinsic dignity of human life, we could [safely] explore these potentially beneficent avenues of biotechnology… Alas, we don’t live in that milieu and we can’t trust our regulatory bodies.”

Backlash Thwarts Anti-Christian Bill in California

A provision in a California bill that would have made it easier for homosexual and transgendered students to sue Christian colleges has been dropped after faith-based organizations fiercely opposed it. State Senator Ricardo Lara’s bill would have removed religious exemptions from the state’s anti-discrimination laws, meaning Christian schools would have to accept homosexual and transgender behavior among their students despite biblical teachings. “The goal for me has always been to shed the light on the appalling and unacceptable discrimination against LGBT students at these private religious institutions,” Lara told the Los Angeles Times. He indicated he might pursue the provision again next year.

Hillary Clinton: Religious Beliefs Must Change to Allow Abortion

Controversial statements demonstrating Hillary Clinton’s extreme views on abortion have resurfaced. In her speech accepting the Democratic nomination, Secretary Clinton called for taxpayer funding of abortion. Pro-life activists then revisited a 2015 speech, where Mrs. Clinton said that “deep-seated cultural codes, religious beliefs and structural biases have to be changed” regarding abortion. Daily Caller contributor Matt Lewis noted that Secretary Clinton and others on the left are “finally getting around to openly confessing something all of us sort of know—yet few will say out loud: Achieving a liberal social agenda will necessarily require first extirpating many ‘deep-seated’ Christian values and tenets.”

Jihadist Attack in Virginia?

The FBI is investigating a stabbing attack in Virginia as a terrorist attack. 20-year-old Wasil Farooqui shouted “Allahu akbar” [Arabic for “Allah is great”] as he assaulted his two victims, who were seriously injured. The FBI had been tracking Farooqui over the past year as he traveled to Turkey and possibly Syria, but had not detained him. Previously, Omar Mateen, the terrorist shooter who killed 50 people in an Orlando nightclub, had been interviewed twice by the FBI, which determined he was not a threat.