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Welcome to the Friday Five! Every Friday we share our top five articles, stories, and quotes for you to read and share with your friends and church families.

We would be very grateful if you could make a donation of $100, $50, $25, or $10 today towards our work producing these Friday Fives and fighting for your values on the public square!

1. NC VALUES: Help support the “MED Act” and the “Youth Health Protection Act”

Earlier this week, NC Values advocated for the passage of H819 (“Medical Ethics Defense [MED] Act”) in the North Carolina House Health Committee. Executive Director Tami Fitzgerald said, “H819 ensures a doctor or a nurse will not get fired, demoted, or otherwise discriminated against by their employer for exercising their right of conscience.” In support of the bill, we also brought a doctor and nurse to testify on the importance of protecting nurses and doctors from being required to perform medical procedures that violate their conscience.

Thankfully, the MED Act passed its vote in the House Health Committee and now heads to the Judiciary Committee. That means we still have some work to do to get this bill into law.

The “Medical Ethics Defense Act” protects the conscience rights of medical professionals and entities from being forced to provide any health care service which violates their conscience. The second bill, titled the “Youth Health Protection Act,” protects gender-confused children against medical transitioning procedures including sterilization, mastectomies, castrations, puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and other life-altering procedures and treatments.

Click here and here to contact your NC public officials and ask them to support these pieces of needed legislation.

What these bills share in common is a goal of preserving the central tenet of Western medical practice: doing no harm; either to one’s body, or one’s conscience.

2. NC VALUES: Here’s the letter we sent to the Department of Education after proposed Title IX rule on transgender athletes

We recently sent a letter to Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona addressing our concerns with the Department of Education's proposed changes to Title IX that prohibit schools from banning transgender students from participating with teams that cohere to their gender identity and not biological reality.

“The April 6, 2023 proposed changes to Title IX have nothing to do with providing equal opportunities to women and girls in athletics. Rather, these proposed regulations, if adopted, will transform this law from one designed to protect women to a Transgender Rights law which will eliminate equal opportunities for women in sports and jeopardize their physical safety in competition. This proposed change in Title IX will effectively eliminate women’s and girls’ sports.”

3. NY POST: Forcing girls to compete against trans athletes is also DANGEROUS

"Letting people who’ve gone through puberty as boys compete in girls’ and women’s sports isn’t just unfair, it can be dangerous.

As North Carolina lawmakers prepared to ban trans athletes from playing on female teams, they heard testimony from Hiwassee Dam HS senior Payton McNabb, who says she had to quit volleyball after a formerly male player spiked a ball into her face."

4. NEWS & OBSERVER: ‘Great day’ for NC? GOP lawmakers set to allow universal private school vouchers

"Republican lawmakers have agreed on a plan that will allow any North Carolina family to receive taxpayer funding to attend a private school. At a news conference Wednesday, state House and Senate GOP leaders said they will approve an expansion of the Opportunity Scholarship program that eliminates income eligibility limits for voucher recipients. Vouchers would be awarded based on a sliding scale with lower-income families getting the most money.”

5. FOX NEWS: Olympian says it's 'unfair' transgender runner beat women in marathon after competing as male in past

"Two-time Olympian Mara Yamauchi has voiced her displeasure after a transgender athlete beat thousands of women in the female category of the London Marathon. Yamauchi finished in sixth place in the marathon at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 while representing her home country of Great Britain. Yamauchi did not mince words when she spoke on transgender racer Glenique Frank's win at the marathon over the weekend. 'Males in the [female] category is UNFAIR for females,' Yamauchi wrote in a tweet."

Weekly Prayer: NC Officials

LORD, you also have instructed us to pray for our governing officials, and we come to you in the spirit of this petition. We pray for our state government and its executive, legislative, and judicial servants. May they indeed be servants unto the people, and govern in a manner that protects liberty and virtue. In the same spirit, we pray for public servants across our local governments. May they all heed your mandate in Romans 13:4 to be in positions of authority as "God's servant" and for the "good" of the public. They govern in what we confess are difficult times. May they plead with you to give them wisdom, and may your grace to govern wisely be poured out on them.

Protect us from the oppression and loss of freedoms that other countries have experienced, and help us to value and preserve freedom, which we know comes only from You.

"I have indeed seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groaning and have come down to set them free." Acts 7:34

Amen

Will you chip in $100, $50, $25, or even $10 to help the NC Values Coalition continue to fight for your rights? You can donate by clicking here.

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Sincerely,

Tami & Team
NC Values