When I recently visited my local county fair, I was immediately greeted by not one, not two, but three explicitly Christian booths along the fair’s main strip.
TAKE THE SURVEY
GOD MOBILE:
ARE YOU GOING TO HEAVEN OR HELL? TWO-QUESTION TEST
WHY THOUSANDS OF SCIENTISTS THINK DARWIN WAS WRONG.
These giant signs, begging for better graphic designers, shouted at you from every direction in the blistering summer heat. It was overwhelming, but at the same time, undeniably intriguing, like an older gentleman ringing a bell, screaming how the end is near. What did the people behind these signs have to say? What was their grand mission? And how would they treat someone like me?
For context, I am a transgender woman. That means I was born male and lived as male until one day I decided I’d had enough of that nonsense and started going by a different name and taking hormone replacement therapy. My choice to actively transition has made me perfectly happy, but a lot of people on the religious right seem to think it somehow affects them negatively. They call transness a “recent phenomenon” and a “delusion” that must be tended to like a disease despite all evidence to the contrary.
The truth is this: The most present danger for trans people (and all queer people, for that matter) in the United States is coming from the religious right. “Conversion therapy” camps, for instance, would not exist without the intersection of religion and conservative politics. At these camps, pastors and counselors use biblical justification to force kids back into the closet. Survivors have talked about abuse and lasting trauma, and the “success” rates are a crumb compared to the heightened rate of suicide attempts these camps inflict. These camps persist not out of scientifically proven benefits but baseless religious cruelty that jeopardizes the physical and mental health of the forced attendees.
It’s scary stuff. Of course, there’s vocal opposition to the religious right’s anti-LGBT tactics, but sometimes the ones who want us “eradicated from public life” ring louder. The idea that there’s this huge target on my community’s back and the current president won his campaign partially by airing ads that stoked anti-trans vitriol sits horribly. (There was a whole Trump-themed merch tent at the fair by the way, with TRUMP 2028 flags and all. Seeing it so close to the religious booths gave me the shivers).
So, logically, a lot of trans people would never set foot toward a trailer labeled GOD MOBILE or a tent that says TAKE THE SURVEY next to some spiritual messaging. We’ve been collectively duped by (seemingly) well-meaning religious tactics one too many times. Of course, there are Christians who don’t use their faith to oppress us, but you never know who’s who. There is a legitimate risk in approaching the wrong people as a trans person, is all I’m trying to say.
But I was feeling confrontational, so I did it anyway.
Stop #1: Genesis Walk Museum
The Genesis Walk Museum, this bizarre exhibit packed into a trailer, was my first stop. Look at all the animals on the side! It scarcely registered as religious propaganda for a second, which is probably by design. One thing it was hard to ignore, though: the big sign out front that said “Why do Thousands of Scientists believe Darwin was Wrong? What’s the Evidence?”
Are they really trying to disprove evolution? I thought. Maybe it’s because I’ve been taught evolution for as long as I can remember. The idea of debunking it seemed almost quaint — like shooting a water gun at the sun. There are plenty of Christian scientists who support evolution, so it’s not that the ideas are incompatible. What were these guys on about?
Well, while the trailer indeed attempted to disprove evolution — “Day 6: God created dinosaurs (Job 40)” — it also more generally used the gospel to undermine various science-based ideas that have driven waves of social progress in the past.
Take this display, for instance:
It’s the classic Christian nationalist ideal of gender and sexuality: rigid roles, no gray area, NO WEIRD STUFF.
Since the writing on the image is difficult to read in the photo, I’ll transcribe the most notable parts: “God created the two genders to become one in marriage” (transphobic, homophobic), “Sex and gender are determined by God,” (I could actually see a pro-trans angle to this), “Males have a Y chromosome, and females do not,” (ah, back to your regularly scheduled transphobia).
The idea that humans were created to fit tight boxes and appease a divine creator flies in the face of everything from LGBT rights to reproductive freedom to bodily autonomy in general. Why have any agency when you might deviate from God’s will and get sent to hell for it? Certain Christians like to pound guilt into everyone for simply existing. It’s tiresome and gross to see, but unfortunately, nothing new.
An anti-evolution pamphlet handed out at the Genesis Walk Museum, “Unlearning the Lies You Were Taught in School.”
Stop #2: Spiritual Survey
The spiritual survey tent (crudely recreated below) was my next stop, and, against all odds, this one was actually not awful. It was the first of two times I would sit across from a religious volunteer that night, so I came prepared with some questions of my own.
I wish I could remember the exact questions on the survey, but the broad strokes were about one’s belief in heaven and whether the bible has influenced their faith. I told truths and half-truths: Yes, I think I should get into heaven (as in, I can think of no justification for hell to exist), and, yes, the bible has shaped my faith (as in, it’s something to oppose).
The girl running the survey (I never got her name, so let’s call her Suzie) seemed like a decent person. If you ditch the fact that Suzie was using exploitative tactics to sell people on her faith, we might have even gotten along.
I almost felt bad — the poor girl was practically shaking by the time we got to my main question. She had been preaching God’s love and acceptance, and how heaven is open to anyone willing to let God into their life; that seemed like a perfect opening.
“Hey, let me ask you something,” I said. “One thing that I believe is very beautiful about my life is that I was born as a boy, and I have decided to live as a woman now. And I think that’s beautiful and great, but some people think it’s not such a great thing. Would that be… sinful?”
“Um,” Suzie paused for a bit. “The bible does say things about that, but it doesn’t say anything about that preventing going to heaven.” She went on: “So, it doesn’t matter our lifestyle, it doesn’t matter our choices. The bible says if we just believe in Jesus and face our sins, we can get to heaven.”
“Well, that is good to know,” I said. In my head: What an unclear answer. Suzie didn’t outright confirm or deny anything, really. Her wording could be taken as “Yes, God lets trans people in as long as they stay holy,” or “Being trans is a sin actually, but it’s something you can relinquish and I’m going to tell you that in the most roundabout way possible.”
Here’s a sheet they gave me that I couldn’t make much sense of:
I left feeling unsatisfied. To be clear, being trans is not a switch you can just turn off, if that’s what Suzie was insinuating. There’s no evidence that any form of conversion therapy works, so if it is a sin, I guess I’ll see all my fellow trans people in hell.
Stop #3: GOD MOBILE
My final stop was the infamous God Mobile. I wish I’d taken a photo of the two-question survey, but here’s what I answered:
Do you think you’re going to heaven?
- Yes
- No
- I hope so
- I don’t think so
If yes, why do you think you deserve heaven?
- I try to follow the Ten Commandments
- I go to church every week
- I’m basically a good person
- (There were other options, but I don’t remember them)
These answers are all flawed, said the guy behind the booth (let’s call him Steve) before explaining the only way to reach heaven is by relinquishing our sinful ways. A two-question survey and both were trick questions. Ya got me there, Steve.
I let Steve proselytize for a bit, telling me about how he used to be a delinquent but was saved when he let God back into his life. I’m never sure what that means, being saved by God, but I wasn’t there to judge Steve’s life story. I was there to put him on the spot.
“One thing I think is beautiful about my life is that I was born a boy but now I live as an adult woman,” I asked Steve, “what does God think of that?”
Steve hung his head, mulling over how to best approach this. “God is not in the business of condemning,” he said eventually.
All right. Sure, fine. God doesn’t condemn — he just has very specific guidelines on how to enter his holy kingdom. And if you don’t meet these abstract qualifications, you get tortured forever. But that’s not condemning, it’s God’s will. I felt like I was being half-stepped again, but I didn’t say anything.
Steve ended the talk by leading me through a prayer – something about letting God into our lives — and then said, “[God’s] desire for you is to one day be confirmed in the image of the Son, Jesus Christ. He’s willing to do that for you.”
“I sort of have been escaping being crafted in other people’s images my whole life,” I said, backing away slowly. Christ’s image? That gave me the creeps. “But I’ll consider what you say.”
Final Thoughts
And that was it. My experience with the religious right at my local county fair was confusing, a bit frightening, and mostly reaffirming. Seriously, I feel like I’ve been pushed further away than ever before from embracing Christianity, if that’s possible. This hesitance to accept gender diversity and queerness in general (which was overt at the Genesis Walk Museum and maybe implied at the other stops) outlines just how narrow-minded and dangerous certain misguided religious beliefs can be. Insisting that God created two genders to love each other in one specific way is so frustratingly limiting, not to mention scientifically inaccurate.
Intersex people, for instance, aren’t considered at all. How do you fit into this narrative when you’re born with male and female biological traits? Spoiler alert: You don’t.
The same goes for all queer people, including trans people like me. The “conform or get punished forever” sentiment is nothing new. Religion is a powerful, and convenient tool to shape the world exactly as you want it, in the name of a higher power.
County fairs are a deliberate choice for religious groups to spread their influence. Hear me out: They’ve been around since forever and are seen as an essential staple of the American childhood. The fair is an all-encompassing utopia of tradition. Look, I’m no fun-hater (I went on the Tilt-a-Whirl and had a blast), but there are consequences to this kind of overly idyllic thinking. Nostalgia is inherently backward-looking and imperfect. It invents perfection where there is none. So does conservatism. So does religion. See where I’m going here?
What I’m saying is this: Harkening back to an idealized past is so deeply entrenched into Christianity and modern conservatism alike that I would call them inseparable from that value. Something as timeless and wholesome as a county fair is the perfect conduit to spread their influence. Tradition! Staying holy! Jesus! Funnel cake! Have we mentioned tradition?
Anyway, that’s about all I’ve got. You can be a Christian and be LGBT-friendly. Acting like the two are incompatible is lame and outdated and so not What Jesus Would Do. Christians, atheists, agnostics, everyone, just try to be a little kinder, alright? And think critically about what you preach because, for all we know, this life on Earth is all we have.
Disclaimer: The views in this column are of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Freedom From Religion Foundation.
