LOVEboldly Denounces HB693 as a Dangerous Attack on LGBTQIA+ Youth

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

February 12, 2026

Contact: Rev. Dr. Ben Huelskamp, Executive Director, LOVEboldly – admin@loveboldly.org 

LOVEboldly Denounces HB693 as a Dangerous Attack on LGBTQIA+ Youth

Westerville, OH – On February 10, a misguided and Queerphobic group of state legislators introduced a bill which would legalize the abuse of LGBTQIA+ children and overturn the significant work of Ohio communities that have banned the pseudoscientific practice of conversion “therapy.”

The bill, sponsored by Representatives Josh Williams and Gary Click, represents a fundamental assault on evidence-based practices to affirm and protect LGBTQIA+ children and adolescents. House Bill 693 (HB693) would create an explicit legal right to subject transgender youth to conversion therapy, a practice condemned by every major medical and mental health organization as harmful and ineffective. The bill would also prevent judges and child protective services from intervening when parents abuse their LGBTQIA+ children, effectively legalizing family rejection and maltreatment of Queer kids under the guise of parental rights.

“This bill is not about protecting families. It’s about authorizing harm,” said the Rev. Dr. Ben Huelskamp, Executive Director of LOVEboldly. “Studies continue to show that Transgender youth who are affirmed by adults at home, school, and in their faith communities have lower incidences of mental health concerns and higher levels of empowerment and self-confidence.”

HB693 goes even further, threatening the professional licenses of teachers, therapists, and healthcare providers who use gender-affirming language with youth. The bill would prohibit child placement agencies from collecting basic data about LGBTQIA+ youth in foster care, data essential to ensuring these vulnerable children are placed in affirming, safe homes rather than environments where they face rejection or abuse.

The legislation comes as no surprise given its sponsors’ records. Rep. Williams previously introduced legislation to create “Natural Families Month,” while Rep. Click has built his legislative career on attacking transgender Ohioans, including sponsoring Ohio’s ban on gender-affirming healthcare. Tuesday’s press conference supporting the bill featured representatives from designated anti-LGBTQIA+ hate groups, including the Center for Christian Virtue and the Heritage Foundation, both of which have recently joined an attempt to overturn marriage equality based on the ridiculous idea that same-gender marriage harms children.

“It is particularly telling that Rep. Click, a Baptist pastor, would propose legislation that blatantly transgresses the words, actions, and model of Jesus Christ who called children, all children, to come to him as theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” said Rev. Dr. Huelskamp.

People of faith know that our sacred texts call us to protect the vulnerable, welcome the marginalized, and create communities where all of God’s children can thrive. HB693 violates these foundational principles in the clearest sense. LGBTQIA+ youth are already overrepresented in Ohio’s child welfare system, often because they’ve been rejected by their families. This bill would codify that rejection into law and prevent the very interventions designed to keep children safe.

The implications extend beyond the protection and flourishing of LGBTQIA+ youth. HB693 represents a dangerous precedent for government interference in medical care, professional practice, and family decision-making, issues that should concern people across the political and religious spectrum.

Call to Action

LOVEboldly urges all Ohioans, particularly faith leaders and people of faith, to contact their state representatives and state senators to oppose HB 693. As legislative hearings are scheduled, opportunities to submit written or oral testimony will become available. Please follow LOVEboldly’s bill tracker for updates on HB693 and other legislation.

To find your legislators and learn how to contact them, visit www.legislature.ohio.gov.

Faith communities have a moral obligation to speak out against legislation that authorizes harm to children. Our faith demands we do better. Ohio's children deserve better. HB 693 must be defeated.

About LOVEboldly

Founded in 2011 and celebrating its 15^th anniversary in 2026, LOVEboldly is an Ohio, faith-based nonprofit that exists to create spaces where LGBTQIA+ people can flourish in Christianity. Learn more about LOVEboldly’s work at www.loveboldly.org.

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No Labels, But Tables

The Rev. Dr. Sigrid Rother

Allied Person of Faith and Pastor

Quote

“He went on his way rejoicing.”

-Acts 8:39 (NRSV)

Devotion

Labels are everywhere. Labels tell us what something is, or what is inside, or what ingredients are used. Without a label, a clear bottle may be filled with clear water, bleach, or pure alcohol.

Labels are important. They help categorize objects but become dangerous when used on people. During the 3^rd Reich, the Nazi party used more than 30 symbols and colors to label individuals. People were not seen as individuals but only by the label they wore: six different colors and patterns were used to categorize, shame, and criminalize others. It was a system of control, dehumanization, and hate.

Thankfully, people are no longer required to wear these identification badges.

Nevertheless, many are still using internal prejudices and labels. Throughout the centuries and across various cultures, people have used labels to categorize individuals into “us” and “them.” These labels are not used on the outside of clothing, but people have been and still are divided over whom it is acceptable to socialize with and whom it is not.

As followers of Jesus, we are called to see people, not labels. Jesus urges us to bridge divides and reach out to those others might exclude, across social, racial, and sexual borders.

In Acts 8:26-39, Philip is directed in a vision to travel along a wilderness road where he will meet a wealthy Ethiopian eunuch riding in his carriage. We don’t know the man’s name; he is only identified by his sexuality, social status, and country of origin. Due to his identity, he is prohibited from participating in all religious activities at the Temple. He reads Scripture on his own, but does not understand it, so he asks Philip for clarification. Philip responds, but we don’t know exactly what he says. He rides with the Eunuch, though we don’t know how long they spend together. What we do know is that Philip disregards societal opinions and crosses racial and sexual boundaries. His actions demonstrate that labels do not define us; they are human constructs. God’s love is what truly matters. What defines us is God’s love, not human-made labels.

Because of Philips’ words and actions of love, the stranger who was defined only by labels, was transformed and ‘went on his way rejoicing’ (Acts 8:39).

This bible story reminds me to check the labels I use for others. This story also reminds me to see beyond what other people think or say about others and to reach out. This story also reminds me of God’s love for all people. There is no distinction of who is in or who is out, there is no division of who deserves more or less love, there are no labels: only God’s unconditional love to all, regardless of what other people call you or what labels they use for you.

As Christians, we are not defined by labels, but by Christ’s table where all are invited to taste God’s goodness, love, and new life.

Reflection

1. How do your words and actions include people whom others exclude?

2. How do your words and actions inspire others to rejoice?

3. How does your faith and belonging to a faith community make you rejoice?

Action

If you are part of a (faith) community, how do you advocate for inclusivity and diversity?

Love (Exclusions Do Not Apply)

Maritza "Shay" Nelson

LGBTQIA+ Person of Faith

Quote

We, though, are going to love—love and be loved. First, we were loved, now we love. He loved us first. If anyone boasts, “I love God,” and goes right on hating his brother or sister, thinking nothing of it, he is a liar. If he won’t love the person he can see, how can he love the God he can’t see? The command we have from Christ is blunt: Loving God includes loving people. You’ve got to love both.

1 John 4:19-21 (The Message Translation)

Devotion

It seems that whenever I open the news or social media, our world has devolved into us versus them—left versus right; black versus white; gay versus straight; the rich versus the poor; liberals versus conservatives. The news and social media would have us thinking that our side stands on righteous moral high ground and the other side is not just wrong but needs to be punished or destroyed for being wrong. We are the insiders and those “outsiders” must be taken down a notch. They certainly don’t deserve to be loved. And it’s easy to believe that only the “other side” treats “us” that way. But if I’m honest with myself, then I have to admit that I probably do it just as much as anyone else. After all, it’s human nature to look out for ourselves and protect our “tribe.”

As an attorney, I’m trained to see almost every situation in an adversarial way. Fighting for my clients often means finding the creative interpretation that allows the ends to justify the means. It’s how we get to the outcome that our clients want. The law says X, but X isn’t clearly defined. Therefore, we can interpret it to mean Y, which gets my client to result Z. Admittedly, this oversimplifies what we as lawyers do, and I’m not saying that the results we seek for our clients are necessarily bad or wrong. Most of us are fighting the good fight. But the fight over words and language and laws is a fight over interpretations.

So, it doesn’t surprise me that in the Parable of the Good Samaritan, it was a lawyer who sought a creative interpretation to limit God’s command to love. (Luke 10:23-37). After telling Jesus that love is the key to inheriting eternal life (love God and love your neighbor), the story tells us that “wanting to justify himself,” the lawyer then asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” (NKJV). The implication is obvious: Surely, I don’t have to love everyone because not everyone is my neighbor. Surely God only expects me to love the “right” people. And I can justify how I treat others as long as I get to decide who is “right.”

Jesus then responds with the well-known parable, a story in which a man from Jerusalem is robbed and left for dead. For the lawyer, the man in the story is just a hypothetical example…the kind of argument we have in law school as we are learning to “think like a lawyer.” For the thieves, the man was an easy target. The man is then passed over by a priest, who goes out of his way to cross to the other side of the road to avoid the man. Then there is the Levite, who comes and looks at the man as if a crime victim is some object of curiosity to be gawked at , before he too crosses the road to avoid helping the man. But then a certain Samaritan, a racial “other” group deeply despised by the Jews of that time, showed the man compassion. The Samaritan dresses the man’s wounds and brings him to an inn, taking care of him, regardless of the financial cost or the racial animosity between their groups. And once again, the implication is obvious: Everyone is our neighbor (especially those in need), regardless of their racial, religious, or socioeconomic background.

God calls us to love people, period, full stop. Our response to those in need should not be to interrogate their background, beliefs, qualifications, or how they ended up in their current mess. Our job is not to ask the man what he was doing out in that part of town or what he was carrying to make him so attractive to thieves. Whether we help the man is not dependent on his immigration status, health insurance coverage, sexuality, race, or political beliefs. It’s not about whether or not he is part of our group. He is a beloved child of God and that alone makes him our neighbor, makes him one of us.

And so, when I look back on 1 John, it seems clear that we are called to love, not just those we deem “our brothers and sisters,” not just those we deem worthy, not just those who are on our side, but everyone. Anyone who boasts of their Christianity and how much they love God while simultaneously refusing to help their neighbors - because they are poor, or immigrants, or another religion, or a different political party, or because they fail to satisfy some other arbitrary prerequisite - is a liar.

If we love God, we also have to love people. And that’s hard. But wouldn’t the world be such a better place if we all loved more and judged less? Isn’t that what the Kingdom of God should look like? In my quiet time with God, whether I’m reading the word, or praying, or worshipping, I am constantly amazed by His grace and love and acceptance and openness. No matter what, we are His children. No matter how much we mess up, He loves us and wants to be in relationship with us. No matter what, we belong to Him. Despite our differences, other people are also His children. Despite their mistakes, He loves them. We just have to figure out how to love them too.

Reflection

1. In what ways does the media that you consume make it difficult to love people?

   
   

2. Can you recall a time when you have been like the robbery victim in the Parable of the Good Samaritan? What would love have looked like for you in that instance? How do you wish that you had been treated?

   
   

3. Can you recall a time when you have avoided helping someone? What would you do differently if you encountered that person or situation again? What would love look like?

Action

Love in action can be something “big” like volunteering or donating your time, money, or skills. But you don’t have to wait for a big idea. Love in action can also be a simple phone call or text to reach out to a person who just needs to be heard. It can be spending a few minutes to understand someone else’s point of view. It can be as simple as learning to breathe through moments of inconvenience, rather than lashing out at traffic or paperwork or your boss or co-workers. Take a moment to ask God to soften your heart towards others so that you can show love and compassion rather than anger or indifference. These tiny actions, stacked on top of each other, will make the world such a better place. on you.