Pastor Running For Senate Doesn’t Know What To Tell Parents

A Democrat Senate candidate campaigning heavily on his Christian faith once said he was confused about what to do when young children identify as transgender.

Largely silent on the issue of transgenderism on the campaign trail, Kansas Democrat Senate candidate Adam Hamilton’s past comments unearthed by The Daily Wire shed light on how he handled the issue as a pastor. Hamilton, a liberal pastor in the United Methodist Church, once told his church that he was unsure if he should encourage parents to embrace their child’s gender-confusion.

“Do we give guidance? Do we not give guidance? What do we do here? And I think this comes up here [on the topic of bisexuality], and it also comes up when we think about smaller children in the question of transgender,” Hamilton said during a talk on sexual ethics at his church back in February 2019.

“Trying to figure out, you know, because I have this, from time to time, with parents of smaller children, and it’s like, OK, do I leave it up to the child to completely try to think through these things, and their understanding of their identity? Or is there some role that you play in that?” Hamilton added.

The Senate candidate made the comments while hosting self-described feminist therapist Hillary McBride for a discussion on sexuality at Church of the Resurrection back in February 2019.

Hamilton has cultivated a faith-centric moderate image while challenging GOP Senator Roger Marshall in ruby red Kansas. Marshall, a doctor, has introduced numerous bills targeting transgender ideology while in the Senate, including a proposal to ban doctors nationwide from doing gender surgeries on kids and looking to define male and female in federal law.

When pushed on the issue of transgenderism in recent months, Hamilton’s campaign has claimed he opposes gender surgeries on kids and boys competing in girls’ sports.

“But no one should attack or demean a small and vulnerable group of people just to score political points,” campaign spokesman Tyson Brody said. “Adam thinks Washington spends far more energy on this issue than on the things Kansans actually lose sleep over, like fixing health care or lowering costs.”

His position on athletics appears to have shifted from November 2024 when he said in a letter to his church that he didn’t know how to “resolve” the intersection of transgenderism and athletics.

“I don’t fully understand the experience of gender dysphoria, it is not my experience. And I’m not sure what I think about how we resolve the issues surrounding athletics and bathrooms (here at Resurrection we’ve got a number of gender-neutral restrooms). I can tell you what I do understand: treating people with compassion, love, empathy, kindness and dignity is the way of Christ.”

In February 2025, Kansas Republicans overrode a veto from Democratic Governor Laura Kelly to pass a ban on transgender procedures for kids.

Polling shows the race between Hamilton and Marshall surprisingly close as the state has not sent a Democrat to the Senate since the 1930s. Republicans have shifted some financial resources to back Marshall’s re-election bid.

Senator Tim Scott (R-SC), the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, admitted last week that the race in Kansas was competitive but that he was not worried about the final result.

“I believe that Kansas is a competitive state,” he said during a press call attended by The Daily Wire. “I will, however, say that as I look at all the data, it tells me that Roger Marshall will be successful, albeit closer than I want it to be.”

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