Books

Gay Shame: The Rise of Gender Ideology and the New Homophobia

By Gareth Roberts   Available from Amazon

Read LGB Christians' review of  Gay Shame: Gender Ideology and the New Homophobia.

Book review

by  Jonathan Wheeler Gay Shame – Gareth Roberts (Swift Press - Forum,  2024) This is not a book written specifically for religious individuals. However for me, as a Christian and same-sex attracted man, I found it hugely helpful in navigating what is going on in the broader UK culture relating to Gender and how the LGB movement morphed into LGBT+. I finished the book in about two sittings, even though it is 250 pages long. At no point is there anything in this book which a traditional Christian would have any objections to. Gareth (who grew up in the 1980’s has written a very engaging (and surprisingly funny) book about how the British Gay rights movement was taken over by a Trans agenda, to the extent where same-sex attracted people are being actively harmed by most mainstream LGBT+ charitable bodies in the UK.

The ‘leap’ is that, by bringing Trans people into the LGB grouping, you have to ignore the reality that there are only two sexes which are immutable and it is not possible to change your sex

 
Gareth tracks how, by 2015, same-sex attracted people in the UK had basically achieved everything the campaigners had been petitioning for (achieving equal legal rights in the UK, even up to the point of being able to marry). At this point Stonewall UK had a significant campaigning organisation and staff and they essentially had nothing left to campaign for. In order to maintain their reason for existence, they decided to move into the Trans campaigning space, ignoring a number of LGB people who warned them against doing this. This required (on Stonewall’s part) what Gareth calls a ‘mental leap’. The ‘leap’ is that, by bringing Trans people into the LGB grouping, you have to ignore the reality that there are only two sexes which are immutable and it is not possible to change your sex. This mental leap requires the belief that a man can fully become a woman in every sense and therefore assume the rights previously only given to women. Some of the rights lost by women are, as a result, the right for women to associate without men (who identify as women) in their spaces, the right to single-sex wards in NHS hospitals, the right to not have biological men incarcerated with them in female prisons or shelter in women’s refuges without men present or even to be able to compete only against women in specifically women’s sporting categories.

We know the obvious reality that a same-sex attracted man is not going to be attracted to a woman simply because she feels that her inner ‘gender identity’ is male.

 
However, the ‘Genderist’ movement (as he neatly calls it) also required that the definition of homosexuality be changed from someone who is same-sex attracted to someone who is same-gender attracted. This may seem like an unimportant semantic point, but it essentially makes same-sex attraction meaningless. We know the obvious reality that a same-sex attracted man is not going to be attracted to a woman simply because she feels that her inner ‘gender identity’ is male. To believe otherwise is self-evident nonsense, but it is the mantra that we have been bullied into adopting since 2015.

Young same-sex attracted people are being led to believe that you can actually change your sex.

 
Whatever we as Christians believe regarding the sinfulness of same-sex attracted relationships, what this new Genderism movement has resulted in is the ideological indoctrination of same-sex attracted young people to believe that they are not same-sex attracted, but they are in fact ‘Trans’. The result has been a 100-fold increase in UK referrals to Gender clinics since 2014-15 which has led to puberty blockers and then cross-sex hormones for many. Young same-sex attracted people (over 80% of referrals are same-sex attracted people, according to the recently published Cass review) are being led to believe (by a combination of teaching materials in schools, broadcast media, the entertainment industry and guidance received through ‘gender dysphoria’ treatment in the NHS) that you can actually change your sex. This is even though anyone thinking rationally knows this is an impossibility. Anyone daring to speak this obvious truth is hounded out of their jobs or the public space by HR functions and activists who are promoting a skewed comprehension of ‘diversity’ and also reflecting the Equality Act as Stonewall would like it to be (rather than actually detailed in the Equality Act itself).

Banning trans conversion therapy means mandating gay conversion therapy.

 
The terminology used by this activist movement also uses the term ‘Conversion therapy’ to mean stopping a person from accepting their gender identity (as the person self-declares it). However, what this would lead to in reality would mean actively promoting Gay conversion therapy, by pushing essentially same-sex attracted young people into gender stereotypes and thereby pushing them into gender reassignment. To be clear here, banning trans conversion therapy means mandating gay conversion therapy. At the end of the book, he describes two possible futures, one where we row back to a reality grounded discourse and on the other, we enable safeguarding issues to avoid accusations of bigotry. I think this book is useful from a Christian standpoint. For many years now, the Church of England has been progressing with its ‘Living in Love and Faith’ initiative, in order to discern how same-sex attracted people should be considered, both theologically and pastorally. Publications, such as Bishop of Oxford’s essay (‘Together in Love and Faith’, 2022) where he makes the case for LGBT+ relationships to be affirmed by the church would, I believe, have been much more persuasive if they were not discussed as encompassing the entire umbrella of ‘LGBT+’ people. If Bishop Stephen (and others) are going to take a theologically coherent position, it makes sense to treat same-sex attraction as different to people who profess they are not in the right body at all. This is their body, remember, which is created by God. The theological considerations for these two groups are therefore fundamentally different and yet LGBT+ activist groups are asserting that these are all the same group of people without pausing to consider the differing impacts. Whether you think same-sex attracted relationships are God-inspired or not, your eventual position is absolutely capable of being different for same-sex relationships compared to how Trans identified people should be theologically and pastorally treated. Personally speaking, I can just about theologically understand that God might be willing to permit same-sex monogamous relationships in a fallen world (as it is not good for man to be alone) in much the same way Moses allowed divorce, for example, even though this was not God’s design. But it does not automatically follow that God would be happy for young people to take medical treatments to prevent the natural onset of puberty and have healthy body parts surgically removed, just in order to present as an approximation of the opposite sex (and all the damaging life-long medical issues that clearly result for those individuals). Even if you disagree with some of Gareth’s book, where you will almost certainly agree is that he asks (in the conclusion) that we try and treat same-sex attraction as simply a small part of our identity and to look beyond the historical stereotypes to understand how better we can live our real and healthy selves. He also signposts other newer groups such as LGB Alliance, who do not favour an LGBT+ group-wide approach. Gareth’s book is a coherent and persuasive book and as a Christian and same-sex attracted man, I recommend it to you.  

We asked Jonathan why he wanted to write for us, what experience he brings and what he'd most like to see for LGB Christians and our friends.

  Q: Why did I want to write for LGB Christians? As a lay member of the Church of England, in the Diocese of Oxford and as a same-sex attracted man who does not go along with gender identity ideology, I am keen to understand the issues better. Q: What experience do I bring? I’ve been a member of the Church of England for 20 years and on my local church PCC for most of that time. I also work in the private sector (for a software company) as well as having been a member of the Army Reserves for over 15 years. In all those varied environments I can see the impacts of gender ideology and how well meaning people (who do not understand its impacts) are being pressured to go along with activist organisations that do not have LGB interests at their root. Q: What change would I most like to see for LGB Christians and our friends? That we continue to take a nuanced and rigorous theological and pastoral approach to LGB issues for Christian members of the faith, whilst holding on to the wider importance of the entire Christian fellowship’s purpose here on earth, which is to bring about God’s Kingdom.

Lower than the Angels: A History of Sex and Christianity

By Diarmaid MacCulloch   Available from Allen Lane

Read LGB Christians' review by Mark Bratton and Benjamin Morse's interview with author Diarmaid MacCulloch The Bible observes that God made humanity ‘for a while a little lower than the angels’. If humans are that close to angels, does the difference lie in human sexuality and what we do with it? Much of the political contention and division in societies across the world centres on sexual topics, and one-third of the global population is Christian in background or outlook. In a single lifetime, Christianity or historically Christian societies have witnessed one of the most extraordinary about-turns in attitudes to sex and gender in human history. There have followed revolutions in the place of women in society, a new place for same-sex love amid the spectrum of human emotions and a public exploration of gender and trans identity. For many the new situation has brought exciting liberation – for others, fury and fear. This book seeks to calm fears and encourage understanding through telling a 3000-year-long tale of Christians encountering sex, gender and the family, with noises off from their sacred texts. The message of Lower than the Angels is simple, necessary and timely: to pay attention to the sheer glorious complexity and contradictions in the history of Christianity. The reader can decide from the story told here whether there is a single Christian theology of sex, or many contending voices in a symphony that is not at all complete. Oxford’s Emeritus Professor of the History of the Church introduces an epic of ordinary and extraordinary Christians trying to make sense of themselves and of humanity’s deepest desires, fears and hopes.

The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness

By Jonathan Haidt   Available from Penguin

After more than a decade of stability or improvement, the mental health of adolescents in many countries around the world deteriorated suddenly in the early 2010s. Why have rates of depression, anxiety, self-harm and suicide risen so sharply, more than doubling in many cases? In this book, Social Psychologist Jonathan Haidt argues that the decline of free-play in childhood and the rise of smartphone usage among adolescents are the twin sources of increased mental distress among teenagers. Haidt delves into the latest psychological and biological research to show how, between 2010 and 2015, childhood and adolescence got rewired. As teens traded in their flip phones for smartphones packed with social media apps, time online soared while time engaging face-to-face with friends and family plummeted, and so did mental health. This profound shift took place against a backdrop of diminishing childhood freedom, as parents over-supervised every aspect of their children’s lives offline, depriving them of the experiences they most need to become strong and self-governing adults. The Anxious Generation reveals the fundamental ways in which this shift from free-play to smartphones disrupts development – from sleep deprivation to addiction – with separate in-depth analyses of the impact on girls and boys. Grounded in ancient wisdom and packed full of cutting-edge science, this eye-opening book is a life raft and a powerful call-to-arms, offering practical advice for parents, schools, governments, and teens themselves.

The End of the World is Flat

By Simon Edge   Available from Eye Books
Image of Cover of The End of the World is Flat by Simon Edge

Mel Winterbourne’s modest map-making charity, the Orange Peel Foundation, has achieved all its aims and she’s ready to shut it down. But glamorous tech billionaire Joey Talavera has other ideas. He hijacks the foundation for his own purpose: to convince the world that the earth is flat. ​Using the dark arts of social media at his new master’s behest, Mel’s ruthless young successor, Shane Foxley, turns science on its head. He persuades gullible online zealots that old-style ‘globularism’ is hateful. Teachers and airline pilots face ruin if they reject the new ‘True Earth’ orthodoxy. ​Can Mel and her fellow heretics – vilified as ‘True-Earth Rejecting Globularists’ (Tergs) – thwart Orange Peel before insanity takes over? Might the solution to the problem lie in the 15th century? ​Using his trademark mix of history and satire to poke fun at modern foibles, Simon Edge is at his razor-sharp best in a caper that may be more relevant than you think.

Gay Shame

By Gareth Roberts   Available from Hachette
Book cover of Gay Shame by Gareth Roberts

Only a few years ago, it seemed that the fight for gay rights was won in the UK: legal equality was achieved, prejudice rapidly dying out. Mission accomplished, right? Wrong, argues Gareth Roberts. Homophobia is making a major comeback under the guise of the ideology of ‘gender identity’. The enforcers of this new creed insist that attraction to people of the same sex is ‘hateful’. They argue that effeminate men and butch women can’t just be gay, but must ‘really’ be trans. Worse, this ideology has colonised the gay rights movement, capturing institutions like Stonewall and the gay press completely. Anyone who disagrees risks professional suicide. So what happened to the funny, grown-up culture, truth-telling and knowing irony of gay men? How and why was the older gay rights activism, which gifted such progress to homosexual people, hijacked? In this passionate, witty polemic, Gareth Roberts answers these questions and argues that we need a new gay liberation movement.

Transsexual Apostate

By Debbie Hayton   Available from Swift Press

In 2016, Debbie Hayton underwent gender reassignment surgery. Fast forward to today, and Hayton’s refusal to validate the standard gender identity orthodoxy has led to excommunication by the trans activist community. What happened? In a compelling first-hand account of what it means to be a transwoman — and where she feels the impulse comes from — Hayton explains why much of gender identity ideology is, in her view, false and damaging. Once a prominent member of the TUC LGBT+ committee, she charts how her views developed and put her at odds with the majority of trans activists. Instead, she issues a compassionate call to move beyond ideological conflicts, and acknowledge the legitimate concerns that many have with an agenda that asserts that transwomen are women. Hayton’s honest, humane and moving book shows that by accepting reality, transwomen can live their best lives based on the truth of who they are— rather than the fantasy of who they are not.

The Reckoning: How the Democrats and the Left Betrayed Women and Girls

By Kara Dansky   Available from Amazon

Democrats and the establishment Left have abandoned and betrayed American women and girls on the altar of “gender identity,” doing untold damage in the process. It’s time for liberals and progressives—especially feminists and free speech advocates—to hold them accountable. In The Reckoning, Kara Dansky, a radical feminist and lifelong Democrat, exposes the invasion by men into female-only spaces, the harming of children, and the silencing, punishment, cancellation and even violence against women who speak out. Meanwhile, the Democratic Party, which claims to represent the interests of women, ignores the problem, while its allies in the organized Left and mainstream media paint all opposition to the “trans” agenda as “right wing.” But radical feminists are not “right wing.” They are leftists who know that sex is real and are not afraid to demand women’s hard-won rights to safe spaces and privacy. The Democrat-Left wing establishment knows all the ways in which “gender identity” harms women and girls—and plenty of boys. Yet they are sacrificing women and children to a vicious profit-driven industry that allows men to invade women’s spaces and sports, denies that sex is real, and slices up children’s bodies. Now the Democrats are facing a reckoning. Detransitioners are starting to speak out, clinicians are blowing the whistle, and women and girls, including many lesbians, have had it. Even now, the tide of common sense and decency is starting to turn in other countries that have banned harmful medical and surgical procedures for underage children and a handful of Democrats are bucking the trend at the state level. Elected Democrats will later claim they didn’t know, that they couldn’t have known, that the science has changed. But they knew. They have known all along. This book provides the evidence.

Trouble With Gender: Sex Facts, Gender Fictions

By Alex Byrne   Available from Polity Press

In this provocative, bold, and humane book, the philosopher Alex Byrne pushes back against the new gender revolution. Drawing on evidence from biology, psychology, anthropology and sexology, Byrne exposes the flaws in the revolutionary manifesto. The book applies the tools of philosophy, accessibly and with flair, to gender, sex, transsexuality, patriarchy, our many identities, and our true or authentic selves. The topics of Trouble with Gender are relevant to us all. This is a book for anyone who has wondered ‘Is sex binary?’, ‘Why are men and women different?’, ‘What is a woman?’ or, simply, ‘Where can I go to know more about these controversies?’ Revolutions devour their own children, and the gender revolution is no exception. Trouble with Gender joins the forefront of the counter-revolution, restoring sex to its rightful place, at the centre of what it means to be human.

Women’s Rights, Gender Wrongs: the global impact of gender-identity ideology

By Kath Aiken (Editor), Sally Wainwright (Editor)   Available from Women's Declaration International

Women's Rights, Gender Wrongs explores the diverse ways that the global spread of gender-identity ideology has affected all aspects of women's lives. Writers from all continents and all walks of life discuss its personal and professional impacts on many levels. They range from a myth-busting Brazilian academic to an Angolan lesbian, from a Canadian ex-prisoner to the mother of a gender-dysphoric teenager. They cover grassroots resistance in Japan, women's spirituality, and reproductive exploitation in South America. Writers consider the loss of single-sex and lesbian space, surrogacy, prostitution, men in women's prisons, children's and human rights. There are also personal stories of women's political activism and resistance.

Tough Crowd: How I Made and Lost a Career in Comedy

By Graham Linehan   Available from Eye Books

Having cut his teeth in music journalism, Graham Linehan became the finest sitcom writer of his generation. He captured the comedy zeitgeist not just as the co-creator of Father Ted but also with The IT Crowd and Black Books, winning five Baftas and a lifetime achievement award. Then his life took an unexpected turn. When he championed an unfashionable cause, TV commissioners no longer returned his emails, showbiz pals lost his number and his marriage collapsed. In an emotionally charged memoir that is by turns hilarious and harrowing, he lets us into the secrets of the writing room and colourfully describes the high-octane atmosphere of a sitcom set. But he also berates an industry where there was no one to stand by his side when he needed help. Bruised but not beaten, he explains why he chose the hill of women and girls’ rights to die on – and why, despite the hardship of cancellation, he’s not coming down from it any time soon.