Calling evil good

Progressives frequently invoke Jesus’ kingdom parables to challenge and subvert the moral order. They stretch the Parable of the Prodigal Son to undermine penal substitutionary atonement, invert the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus to advocate wealth redistribution, and otherwise “read between the lines” to extract interpretations that conflict with the rest of Scripture and sound reason.

The familiar tactic resurfaced this week when Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, expected to run for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination, appeared on The View. Citing the Parable of the Good Samaritan, he defended his 2023 veto of legislation (Senate Bill 150) that would have banned permanent, irreversible “gender-transition” procedures—such as surgeries, puberty blockers, and hormone therapy—on minors, in line with transgender ideology. The Republican-led Kentucky General Assembly swiftly overrode Beshear’s veto on March 29, 2023, allowing the bill to become law.

While it is nothing new for a Democrat to equate love with affirmation, what makes Gov. Beshear’s argument particularly noteworthy—and troubling—is his misuse of biblical language to defend what is contrary to both natural law and scriptural teaching on human sexuality and the body. He claims: “Most of the decisions I make are based on the Golden Rule that says we love our neighbor as ourself, and that Parable of the Good Samaritan which says everyone is our neighbor. When I’ve taken actions, like vetoing the nastiest piece of anti-LGBTQ legislation that ever came through my state, I described it in those terms. I said: My faith teaches me that all children are children of God, and I didn’t want people picking on those kids.”

Joe Rigney has insightfully noted how the world attempts to steer believers through name-calling, slapping ugly labels on true things, and good labels on false things. We see examples of this above whenever Gov. Beshear labels Senate Bill 150 as the “nastiest piece of legislation that ever came through my state,” and accuses the General Assembly of “picking on those kids,” when in actuality they were seeking to protect minors from irreversible and harmful surgeries. He is affixing an ugly label on a misrepresentation of the motivations of the General Assembly that (mercifully) overruled him.

Gov. Beshear goes further than mere name-calling. He also applies good labels to his own deeply immoral actions, emotionally manipulating others by cloaking his failure to protect the vulnerable in virtuous language. Notice how he invokes the Golden Rule and the Parable of the Good Samaritan to justify vetoing the bill. These are, of course, noble and virtuous biblical principles that should guide Christian conduct. Yet the governor uses them here to mask actions that are harmful and are in actuality a dereliction of his duty as a governor to safeguard the innocent.

The Golden Rule is: “whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them” (Matthew 7:12). This directly condemns Gov. Beshear’s stance. Ask him: If you had struggled with gender identity as a boy, would you wish adults to chemically castrate you, leaving you permanently unable to father children? That is the reality for many who receive these “interventions.” As Christians, we must speak truthfully: So-called “gender-affirming care” for a ten-year-old boy often leads to chemical castration. The label may be pleasant, but the reality is ugly and must be named as such. We must not live by lies.

Gov. Beshear is far from acting as a Good Samaritan by vetoing a bill that would protect minors from irreversible surgeries. When we look beyond surface-level claims of love and affirmation and examine the documented harm caused by “gender-transition” procedures, he is not acting in accord with the Good Samaritan. In fact, the governor’s actions do not even align as much with the Priest or Levite who merely pass by the injured man in Christ’s parable, but more so with the robbers who beat him and left him half dead (Luke 10:30). By actively seeking to block protections for Kentucky's youth, which spare them from lifelong health complications, he enables rather than prevents profound harm to vulnerable children.

Gov. Beshear positions himself as a protector of Kentucky’s vulnerable youth, claiming he “didn’t want people picking on those kids.” Yet he vetoed legislation that would have banned the surgical and chemical “picking apart” of these very children—while invoking God and his Christian faith as the reason behind his actions. Woe to those who call evil good and good evil.