'Out lesbian' chaplain at Talarico's church says pivot on trans ideology is election scheme

Is Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico just paying lip service when it comes to his pivot on trans ideology? 

A self-identified lesbian minister at Talarico’s church in Austin says she believes Talarico is merely playing politics on where he stands on human sexuality and other topics and will “change his tune” if he’s elected, according to an undercover video released by Jacob Wheeler and The Daily Wire. 

In the video, the Rev. Babs Miller, an "out lesbian" chaplain at the parish at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church (PCUSA), characterizes Talarico’s shift on support for a national ban on gender-transition surgeries for minors and opposition to trans-identified male athletes competing in girls’ sports as simply a temporary political makeover.

“He’s getting some advice that I don’t think he should be following,” Miller said in the video.

She then suggested Talarico would once again embrace some of the LGBT movement’s most extreme elements if he wins the U.S. Senate race against Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton.

“I can guarantee you that once he gets elected, he’ll change his tune back to where he was,” she said.

When asked whether Talarico must “play this game” to get elected, Miller agreed, adding, “That’s what his campaign has convinced him of. The Democratic Party is backing off on their stances on [transgenderism] and all of this, and so his staff is encouraging him to kind of do the same thing, just for the next 50 weeks, whatever days.”

She added, “I think it’s bad advice personally, but if it helps him win, OK”

The report comes just days after Talarico’s longtime pastor, the Rev. Jim Rigby, who has pastored at St. Andrews for more than 35 years, was recorded promoting an “inclusive” translation of the Bible that strips the text of gendered language for God, including Jesus’ titles as Lord and Son of God.

According to video recorded in August and first reported by The Daily Caller, Rigby discussed The Inclusive Bible with an undercover journalist posing as a prospective new church member. Noting the church typically provides new members with a copy of The Inclusive Bible when they join, Rigby claimed, “It’s good on the gender stuff.”

“The more, like, metaphysical stuff, it’s not a very good translation, if that makes sense. I think it’s really important to have a good translation, so you can let go of the stupid stuff,” he added.

The video also depicts a new member named Larry being given a copy of the inclusive translation to applause during a service at St. Andrew’s.

“And Martha’s here to give Larry his Inclusive Bible,” a woman says in the video. “It’s the Bible that we use at this church. It’s been rewritten so that there is only inclusive language and that it doesn’t use the gender-fueled language that the King James Version uses.”

Talarico, who raised eyebrows for claiming God is non-binary, has touted Rigby as one of his most influential mentors, whose church he has attended since childhood. The pastor baptized him, officiated his parents' marriage and delivered the invocation before his 2019 swearing-in ceremony at the Texas House of Representatives. In a recently resurfaced clip from 2023, Talarico praised Rigby's church by noting it taught him "the idea that Christianity is just another word for causing trouble."