A new ad paid for by the Ken Paxton for Senate campaign accuses his opponent in a bid for the U.S. Senate of “weaponizing” the Christian faith for political purposes. In the 30-second ad shared by Paxton’s campaign Tuesday, the AI-generated lookalike of James Talarico is shown writing with a crayon in "The King James Talarico Bible," reciting his own spin on Scripture.
With a caption that reads, “James Talarico is weaponizing faith to sell a radical agenda, and he even brags about hating Christianity,” the ad highlights some of Talarico’s most controversial statements, including, "God is non-binary," "there are six genders," "Jesus was a radical feminist," and "I always think of myself as a Christian who hates Christianity," to portray him as an outsider to orthodox Christianity. Talarico made the “non-binary” comment during an Oct.
14, 2021, speech on the Texas House floor in opposition to House Bill 25, which requires public school students to compete in interscholastic athletic events based on their biological sex as stated on their official birth certificate.
A lifelong member of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) who is working toward a Master of Divinity degree at the denomination's liberal Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Talarico also claimed in an April 2021 Texas House Public Education Committee hearing that “modern science acknowledges six biological variations based on chromosomes to argue that sex is a nuanced spectrum, not a strict binary." In an interview with CBS News in May, Talarico rejected his previous statement, adding, “I know there are two sexes, men and women.
I also know there's a very small percentage of people who have these chromosomal abnormalities, and I believe they deserve to be treated with dignity and respect.”