FORGING A SACRED WEAPON: HOW THE BIBLE BECAME ANTI-GAY, with Kathy Baldock

Kathy Baldock, author, LGBTQ+ advocate, and founder of Canyonwalker Connections, based in Reno, Nevada, is a leading expert on historical and present discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community, in particular, discrimination from the socially conservative Christian church and political sectors.

Baldock is one of the main researchers featured in the award winning documentary 1946: The Mistranslation that Shifted Culture. Her next book, Forging a Sacred Weapon: How the Bible became Anti-Gay (Winter 2024), is a historical and contextually-based survey following male-female roles, human sexuality, procreation, and Bible translations, as impacted by cultural, social, medical, political, legal, and military influences from ancient to current times. The book focuses on original research into the reasons the word “homosexual” was included for the first time in the 1946 Revised Standard Version NT Bible.

Her first book, Walking the Bridgeless Canyon (2014), pieced together the history of cultural and religious discrimination against LGBTQ+ people and contains personal stories of LGBTQ+ people impacted by non-inclusive theology.

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FORGING A SACRED WEAPON: HOW THE BIBLE BECAME ANTI-GAY, Saturday March 8, 2025, 9:00 am - 5:00 pm

The multi-hour presentation is a historical overview of male-female roles, human sexuality, procreation, and Bible translations, as impacted by cultural, social, medical, political, legal, and military influences from ancient to current times.

We begin with the prevalence of patriarchy in pre-history, then examine the context and meaning of scriptural passages most often used to stigmatize first, people who participated in same-sex, then extended to those who are LGBTQ+.

The presentation is filled with stories and facts that make the journey through history captivating. We’ll examine when and how people who were attracted to the same-sex were first “noticed” in the middle of the 19th century. The time period between the 1850s and the 1940s is fascinating.

Participants will have a clear understanding of the cultural context in which the RSV team made their decision to place the word “homosexuals” in the Bible for the first time in 1946. You’ll be equipped with tools and information to have often-times challenging conversations with a greater level of confidence.

Event Venue

City of Refuge UCC, 8400 Enterprise Way, Oakland, United States