On February 4, 2020, I attended a protest for the sexist, racist, homophobic, and transphobic pastor of Christ Church in Moscow, Idaho. Doug Wilson was hosting a talk at the University of Idaho, even though he could speak at his own school, and the talk was to be on “The Virtue of Sexism.” A lot of fellow LGBTQIA+ men, women, and nonbinary folk attended, and we filled the room, took the front row seats, spread out with our pride flags, and laughed at his statements. Doug declared that the superbowl was a “skank fest,” and that current fashion trends “degraded” women’s worth. That women were so pressed to be self-made that they were settling for abusive men. 

    Around me, the crowd booed and declared he was making broad strokes, asked where his sources were, asked for any backing outside his own personal opinion. Doug offered none.

    Eventually, the floor opened for questions. Being a queer Christian, I knew the talk to use to trap him, I knew what to inquire to make him show more of his true colors. He answered many of mine, much to my delight. The crowd surged with distaste at more and more of his homophobic views, more of his hatred, more of his lies. He stated that nonbinary people were not mentioned in the bible, so he didn’t believe they existed. I asked if he believed flamingos existed, since those weren’t mentioned in the bible. Did the bible mention bengal tigers? 

    That’s one he didn’t answer.

    A question was asked by the person on stage. We had texted in our questions and he screened them on his ipad. The young man, college age NSA student (NSA being New Saint Andrew’s, Doug’s school), looked up and asked: “What would you say to a woman who didn’t want to get married?”

    “God’s blessing to women is marriage and motherhood.” 

    The crowd roared. I managed to cut through and ask a follow up: “What if I just didn’t want to? I thought about it and I don’t want to get married or have children.” 

    Doug looked me straight in the eye and said: “I would urge you to reconsider.” 

    I let the crowd rage that time, the anger spilling forth as people booed him. He obviously got off on it. I sat back and watched him, listed to him answer question after question, declaring transmen and transwomen were confused, saying nonbinary people were ill, saying that gay people went to hell, declaring that women’s place was in the home and that was where God designed them to be. I watched the face of the man with the scraggly face hair, the hate filled words, the ignorance he spewed from his cracked lips. And I remembered something.

    I personally knew the people who agreed with him. 

My Statement On Christ Church

Good day, everyone! 

I wanted to address some quick things before moving on with regularly scheduled content. I figured posting this along with my piece above would be a good way to talk about my feelings. In my town, there is a “church” called Christ Church, or CC for short. From here on out, I will be referring to it as CC, as the “church” aspect is greatly lacking from the organization as a whole.

The founder, Doug Wilson, is a pedophile-sympathizer and abuser protector. Please consider the sources listed below for further information to read up about it yourself. However, on multiple occasions, Doug has gone to bat to protect pedophiles, rapists, and molesters, even going so far as to pair a young girl from his school with said pedophile, who then molested his infant son to gratify himself. Doug had a hand in keeping this pedophile in the public, and wrote a letter defending the abuser and urging the judge not to cast the abuser out of society, and instead have the abuser come back to the church where Doug could mentor him. 

This is not the only case.

Doug also argues that slavery “wasn’t that bad,” and that it brought some good, because it brought Christianity to Black people and other POC. 

Doug actively fights against lgbtqia+ rights, and encourages women to stay home and bear children, as that is where god’s blessings come from (this particular aspect I can’t site as he said this to me directly in person, however, looking over his sermons should show this to be true and in line with his thinking). 

Doug Wilson is not a man I support or condone. I do not support any of CC’s teachings, and I urge everyone of marginalized communities to stay away from their members, and those that are out of a place of privilege to speak out against CC and Doug. 

Because I find my employ under those who attend this church, and because I share the name of some of its members, I want to make it abundantly clear: I am a queer woman. I do not support CC. I do not support Doug. I am disgusted by the teachings of CC. I actively condemn Doug Wilson and CC’s teachings and I aim to speak out against them both when it is safe for me to do so. 

Thank you all for listening. 

Stay safe everyone <3