Texas church given 'Millstone of the Month Award' for facilitating out-of-state trans surgeries

By Jon Brown, Christian Post Reporter Thursday, October 19, 2023

A Texas church was recently awarded a "Millstone of the Month Award" by a nonprofit for founding a grant program by which minors can be transported out-of-state to obtain opposite-sex hormones or body-mutilating trans surgeries.

U.S. Parents Involved in Education (USPIE) gave their Millstone of the Month Award in October to the leadership and congregation of Galileo Church in Fort Worth for exhibiting what they described as "blatant disregard of biblical principles and the welfare of confused children," according to a press release from the nonprofit earlier this week.

USPIE describes their Millstone of the Month Award as "a monthly recognition of an individual who is actively working to deceive, indoctrinate, or negatively impact children with leftist, anti-God propaganda."

The award's name is a reference to Matthew 18:6, where Jesus Christ warns strongly against scandalizing children by saying, "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea."

Galileo Church, whose chief missional priority is to promote "justice for LGBTQ+ humans, and support the people who love them," according to its website, rolled out the North Texas TRANSportation Network (NTTN) last summer as an "integrated auxiliary ministry."

NTTN "provides travel grants to North Texas families seeking out-of-state health care for trans and gender-diverse minors," according to its website. The program began in response to Texas Senate Bill 14, which was signed by Gov. Greg Abbott in June and prohibits "procedures and treatments for gender transitioning, gender reassignment, or gender dysphoria and on the use of public money or public assistance to provide those procedures and treatments."

NTTN's website explains that the nonprofit believes "withholding necessary care for trans kids is state-sponsored cruelty."

“The outrageous lengths to which these people are going to facilitate the mutilation of children is insane," USPIE President and Founder Sheri Few said in a statement. "Gender reassignment surgery is damaging to both the physical, mental and emotional wellbeing of children."

"The very idea that a church is putting its mission to spread the Gospel behind this liberal agenda is horrifying," Few continued. "I urge people in the Fort Worth area to boycott The Galileo Church and its leadership. It’s high time concerned citizens stood up for what’s right regarding America’s children. If we don’t start protecting children from the insidious forces that intend to indoctrinate the future of the nation, soon it will be too late."

Galileo Church is associated with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), a mainline Protestant denomination that is governed congregationally.

Galileo Church did not respond to CP's request for comment, but the Rev. Katie Hays told The Epoch Times that her church started the program "because Jesus calls us to be good neighbors to vulnerable people."

USPIE began issuing their Millstone of the Month Awards in March, and other recipients include Colorado's Poudre School District, "1619 Project" author Nikole Hannah-Jones, North Dakota Superintendent Rupak Gandhi, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, as well as California Attorney General Rob Bonta and New Jersey Judge David Bauman.