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A Christian case against Washington’s I-001 and I-638
Two initiatives on Washington’s November ballot target transgender residents. A Christian writer says Scripture’s call to love our neighbors, and the belief that every person bears God’s image, will guide her vote.
By Rev. Katy McCallum Sachse | FāVS News Columnist
The views expressed in this opinion column are those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views of FāVS News.
In 2026, 813 bills that would block transgender persons from receiving healthcare, education, legal recognition and the right to publicly exist, were proposed across the United States. Sixty-three of those passed; 281 remain active; 470 failed. Two such initiatives will be on the ballot in Washington State this November: I-001 and I-638. I-638, in particular, is one of the most extreme measures of its kind.
No Hate in WA State stands against both of these initiatives. Its campaign is supported by teachers, medical experts, survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault, the ACLU and numerous others, but voices of faith also matter deeply in this conversation.
As a Christian, I believe God calls us to love our neighbors as ourselves in real, practical and meaningful ways: through our daily choices, our words and our treatment of one another. Another very practical, very significant something is our vote. And in reaching toward the world I desire — a world I believe God desires — for all of us and our children, I will be supporting the work of No Hate in WA State on my ballot this fall.
There is a disproportionately loud version of Christianity among us proclaiming that God ordained a strict gender binary and anyone who defies that binary is outside the will and love of God. That kind of language doesn’t stay in church buildings (nor is it meant to). It seeps into public rhetoric, political rhetoric and in the absence of other faith voices, it becomes the presumed norm. “That’s what the Bible says,” people hear, and so they believe it’s true.
It’s not. It’s profoundly untrue, and silences the broad biblical witness to the radical love of God and our call to love one another. There are plenty of places to find this in the Bible, and many scholars who can guide you along the way but for now, and for me, these are the two core convictions that will decide my vote.
Every person bears the image of God
The creation stories in Genesis aren’t intended as a scientific explanation of the universe; they are fundamental claims about the character of God and the place of humanity. God creates by word, not violence. God creates with joy and gladness, not drudgery or obligation. God even creates a day of rest so that all the Earth and its creatures remember they are not made for unending labor.
When God creates humans, they are not just good, but “very good,” the first time this phrase appears. And in creating those humans, God says, “let us create humans in our image, according to our likeness.” “So God created humans in God’s image; in the image of God they were created; male and female God created them.” (Genesis 1:26-27)
Yes, it says, “male and female.” But if both men and women are created in the image of God, then God must be gender diverse. God is not male; God is not female. Jamie Bruesehoff, author of Raising Kids Beyond the Binary, writes, “if God is gender diverse, there are parts of God we are missing out on if there are not gender-diverse people in our midst…transgender and gender-diverse people allow us to see and know parts of God we wouldn’t otherwise see or know.”
As Bruesehoff and others also remind us, the God who made light and dark also made sunsets and dusk; the God who made land and sea also formed marshes and beaches. And there are no exceptions made regarding the image of God, no footnote that reads, “except for the following,” or, “this translation is unclear.” All people are made in the image of God.
The truth will set us free
The truth is that these initiatives aren’t about protecting girls, or parental rights. They masquerade under this language because who would object to such things? The truth is that these initiatives dehumanize our fellow human beings, who are equally made in the image of God.
The truth is that these initiatives remove protections from kids who need trusted adults at school when the adults at home aren’t safe. The truth is that these initiatives punish any girl who wants to participate in school sports by demanding invasive and expensive exams from which boys are fully exempt.
There are other truths, too. That transgender persons are far more likely to be the victims of crime than the perpetrators. That there are 5-10 transgender athletes among the more than 200,000 school sports participants in Washington State — hardly the threat they are portrayed to be.
But it’s also true that our relentless human tendency is to find those who are already marginalized, already at risk, already hurting, and cast them in the role of villain. History is full of these stories, and the damage we have done to one another. We can’t change the past, but we can learn from it. And we can choose a different way.
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