A far-left Texas Democrat running against GOP candidate Ken Paxton for U.S. Senate has made controversial statements about religion and children’s education.
James Talarico, a current member of the Texas House of Representatives with a master’s degree in divinity, asserts that God is non-binary and describes trans women as needing abortions. He also characterizes Jesus Christ as a “radical feminist.” In 2021, Talarico opposed a bill to keep boys who pretend to be girls out of women’s sports. He used biblical references to justify his opposition, claiming the bill’s proponents used Scripture to “justify hurting children.”
During an interview on popular podcaster Joe Rogan, Talarico stated: “The first two lines in Genesis use two different Hebrew words to describe God.” One is the masculine Hebrew noun for divinity, and the other is the feminine Hebrew noun for spirit. According to Talarico, this means “God is both masculine and feminine and everything in between.”
In a sermon on the U.S. Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade, Talarico declared: “Every one of our neighbors with a uterus became the property of the state.” He also added that “our trans community needs abortion care too.”
Talarico’s church, St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Austin, has been reported to stock children’s library collections containing books that include explicit descriptions of sexual activities such as anal rape, incest, and oral sex. The church describes these materials as part of its mission to promote empathy and justice for diverse perspectives. Specific titles found in the catalog include “Gender Queer,” which features illustrations of sexual acts; “All Boys Aren’t Blue,” which discusses anal rape and incest; and “Becoming Nicole,” a story about a gender-confused teen boy who identifies as female with family support. The church states it provides such books to children to help them develop empathy and understand the call to justice among all people.