رونوشت کامل Katy Faust: From Anonymous Blogger to Global Voice for Kids

prioritized above their rights. And I put those in three main categories: children of divorce and abandonment, children of reproductive technologies, and children raised by same-sex parents. Each of them have really distinct challenges. Like each of those different buckets come with their own variety of loss and pain. But they actually all share one commonality. And that is that in those situations where typically the way it's supposed to work is that parents are understanding, supportive, and accommodating of the children. But when you lose a parent or a stable home because adult desire is prioritized above child rights. The child has to function as the adult. They have to be understanding, supportive, and accommodating of what their parents are doing. So I definitely saw some of that in my life. You know, I had to be understanding and validating for the new relationships or you know, the the new romantic pursuits that that some of which came into my life, my parents' life after that. and I think that that's pretty standard for kids of divorce or in non-traditional families. Karl Faase (06:29.944) You were now a an advocate and you as you just talked about the the idea of us before them and it's all influenced by your Christian faith and you've just mentioned that that wasn't part of your family. So how did that become part of your life? Katy Faust (06:42.54) Well, it is influenced by my Christian faith, but it's much more influenced by rage. I just got really, really angry when the whole gay marriage thing came on the scene. And I got angry that you had this whole movement dedicated to normalizing the absence of a child's mother or father in the name of adult rights. the Christian part of my life came at the end of high school. I was invited to a youth group. Karl Faase (06:47.863) Okay. Katy Faust (07:10.946) by a friend and I started attending the youth group and gave my life to Christ at a Billy Graham youth rally in in Portland, Oregon in nineteen ninety two. Really, really gave God everything when I was a senior. And that is when, you know, I I often say, like, I loved God with all of my heart right away. But it took me like four years to love God with all my mind. especially on topics of sexuality and morality. Yeah. Because it was foreign to me. Like I just It took a long time to really have those those biblical absolutes. Karl Faase (07:46.72) Intriguing that you say that because a lot of people would assume you become a Christian, then you just accept it all. And you're saying that you you know the the validity and of of Jesus, the the difference it's gonna make in your life, but what that meant for what you believe about morality. Right. D did the fact that you're sitting there with your mums in the background, was that part of how that became hard for you? Katy Faust (08:10.462) I don't have mums. Okay. I have a mother and a father like everybody else. Yes, good point. And my mom has a partner who is not my mother. Yes. But she is my

friend. Yes. And so I think that all children have a really God given protective instinct of their parents. And that's good. Right? It's really good to honor your mother and father. It's really good to rely on them. It's really good to follow their guidance. And I think that that is a God given protective instinct. Yes. So when you have To be at a place where you might need to be critical of or reflect back on some of the decisions they made that maybe were not right. it it's almost counterintuitive for the child because you want this loyalty and you want this allegiance because you love them. You love them more than anybody else. So now it's it's interesting because I catalog the stories of children who have lost their mother and father to divorce. reproductive technologies, same sex parenting. And what I've found is it usually takes ten years for the child to be out of the home before they can accurately reflect and objectively look back on how they were harmed by it. sometimes it means starting their own family and having their own children before they go Having no father impacted everything about me and I've only started to realize it now. So it's oftentimes it it is a process that takes some time and takes some reflection and usually means you're out from under the financial or even the literal roof of your parents to really have a chance to say, Actually two Christmases wasn't all that awesome. Okay. Karl Faase (09:50.454) Yes. What were the conversations like for you around that? Katy Faust (09:55.756) Well, thankfully I have been blessed by especially a mom who is so tolerant. I mean, really, like tolerant in the truest sense. she's also not super political and she just wants a relationship and a connection, and she is a wonderful mother. wonderful when I was a child, wonderful still today. Yeah. I often say that. The things that I intuitively do well as a mother, I do because that's how my mother mothered me. And she still mothers me in a lot of ways. So there were some conversations about actually there were conversations with both of my parents about how when they come to visit, I'm more than happy to prepare two separate rooms for the people that they're bringing. and those were terrible because I like peace. I don't like conflict. I would rather have everybody just get along. I am not a natural truth teller in the sense that it's it's really easy for me. I would rather keep my relationships because I love I love everybody. I love the blue haired cashier who's ringing me up and I definitely love my parents. So any conversation where I feel like there's a possibility of losing or hampering a relationship can bring me to my knees. Yeah. But there are times when all of us have to have those conversations. you know, and I love what Luther says, you know, unity when possible, but truth at all costs. And there's times where you even have to have those truthful conversations with the people that are close to you. I don't think they should be

frequent. I don't think that you need to rail against it. I don't think you need to initiate it. But when the conversation comes to you, you have to be willing to say, This is where I stand, this is what I believe. And I think all of us Christians probably have to develop a theology of losing friends. Like what is it the kind what is the kind of thing that I will not be silent about or I will need to tell the truth about, even if it results in losing a relationship? Karl Faase (12:06.366) Was there any times that you feared for both your mum and your dad of losing that relationship after coming to faith and your new framework? Katy Faust (12:14.798) Katy Faust (12:19.092) Never with my mom. She she is wonderful and has always been willing to find a way through. Even though I know that some of the things that I think and say may be challenging. my dad and I had to have some conversations to really work that out. And thankfully we were able to. Yeah. Karl Faase (12:40.696) Fabulous. You you t we talked earlier about rage. So let's go back to rage. What was the what was the piece that triggered? Because it was actually a a kind of political decision, wasn't Katy Faust (12:51.258) I don't like conflict. I knew that there were culture wars raging. I especially around abortion. And I was pro-life, obviously. I had never been super involved because there were so many other people doing pro-life work. And I appreciated them and I cheered for them and I encouraged them. But I was like, that's covered. But it was the gay marriage fight that came. And I heard the other side advancing this idea that kids love having two moms or two dads. And I had been working with kids at that point for 20 years. In youth ministry, in the adoption world, I had had children of my own, their friends were coming into my home. I had lots of close contact with children. And some of them had lost their mother or father, and none of them loved it. None of them said, Fantastic. Yeah, I love this. Many of them were dealing with it. You know, many of them were figuring out how to walk with a limp after they were wounded by family breakdown or their mother leaving them or the divorce or their father coming out or whatever. And I knew that the thing that pains children the most and the longest is losing their mom or dad. So when I heard the other side normalizing mother or father loss and promoting it in the name of, you know, being constitutional, I I got really angry. And I and and I was frustrated because even the pro-marriage side, the pro-traditional marriage side, they weren't talking about kids. They were talking about religious liberty. They were talking about their sacred institution. And I'm like, Gay marriage is not a means to protect your 501c3 status. Right? Or like fighting gay marriage. Marriage is about justice for children. And so I started an anonymous blog. Karl Faase (14:34.99) Which is so funny, isn't it? 'Cause Katie we're chatting. I've seen some of the the work

and ministry you've done. You're you're confident, you're clear, you you know what you're you're about, you're unapologetic. An anonymous blog is a little odd, isn't it? Katy Faust (14:49.742) Because I was afraid. Yeah. Not just of what they were going to do to me, but they would what they would do to people who knew me. And those fears are justified. Yeah. There is a price to be paid. And it's a sp what it is these days is it's a relational price. The other side, I would say, especially in the social sector, right? If you're doing these culture war issues that touch on marriage and family and life, what is it that the what's the main weapon they aim at you? And it is the threat of isolation. It is the threat of loneliness. And that's what they'll do. They will weaponize your relationships. They will make it politically expensive for somebody to be associated with you. And so you do have to count the cost. Because if you do choose to speak up on behalf of children, their right to life, their right to their mother and father, their right to be born free, not button till their need for their own mom and dad, you will lose relationships. And it's such a powerful weapon to silence people. Because we need connection more than we need food. We are relational creatures. And losing a relationship is harder than than fasting, I think. And I hate fasting. So I I just think, you know, they have found the pressure point that works for especially Christians who are seeking to love those around them, even those who disagree. And it kept me out of the fight for a long time. But once they came for the kids, I thought this is worth losing relationships over But at first I thought I'm gonna do what I can to sort of minimize the fallout. Karl Faase (16:17.88) Did you so what is it was it a blog at the time? And and did it get picked up as you people were reading it, re inter interacting with it, responding? Katy Faust (16:20.63) It was a blog. Katy Faust (16:26.658) Thank God for the first year or two, I would get like seven views on, you know, blogs that I spent three hours or seven hours writing. Because I had a lot of holes that needed to be worked out. A lot of things that I hadn't really thought through, that I would be challenged in the comments and I'd think, you know, they'd say, you you care so much about children having a mother and a father and you're railing against gay marriage. And yet you haven't said anything about divorce. And I thought, yeah, it's kind of a blind spot. You know, or you think that it's so important for children to have mothers and fathers and that's why you disagree with lesbians using sperm donors. What about all the heterosexuals that use sperm donors? And I like, Yeah, I guess I I haven't really thought about that much. So Karl Faase (17:09.112) Th that the anon the anonymous position and push back actually helped you frame up a a more coherent argument, is that fair? And Katy Faust (17:17.678) Do it out of the spotlight. Yes.

Yes. You know, I didn't have to make as many mistakes in public. Yeah. Because I was doing them so profoundly in private. Yeah. So that happened for a couple of years. where I didn't want my name out there. I went on a couple radio shows, but I would never let them use my name. and then I was outed. Well, I didn't know a whole lot about tech. And I posted a picture of myself. I think I did an a post about my anniversary or something like that. And some Karl Faase (17:36.204) How did that happen? Katy Faust (17:46.068) Very savvy gay blogger who had 20 times the number of followers that I did. But by that time I had been making enough sense that I had attracted some attention because my arguments were good. And I was not slinking away if somebody called me a name. Yep. And I would just keep going. And so he looked at this picture that I posted, attached my IP address, traced it back to the source, which happened to me my husband's church. So he doxxed several members of my church, put their names and addresses up on his very big blog. Immediately our church was flooded with negative Yelp reviews, and he said He he was like a master at like SEO and things like that. And he said, I'm gonna make sure that if anybody ever Googles the name of your church from now until forever, they see what I've written about at first. And what he wrote about it was terrible. So it, you know, it was what I feared. It was not just targeting me, but the people that I love and making people that had no idea that they I had this midnight crusade pay the price for what I was doing. And I went to the elders of my church, you know, one of them knew. and follow and he's You're doing great. A lot of them didn't know. And I said, I'm so sorry that I've brought this storm on you. I'm so sorry that my private calling has had to be your consequences. And I said, you know, if I am like Jonah and you need to throw me overboard so the storm will stop, I'll never write again. I don't want you guys to have to deal with this. And they thought about it for a while, these good men who, you know. One was like a Microsoft at Exet, one was a bus driver. You know, they're just good, normal, godly men that God had raised up to lead this local congregation. And they thought about it and they talked about it for a while. And they said, Yeah, you could stop. Or you could go big. And I was like, Okay. Okay. So then my name was out there. And one of the very first things I did once my name was public is I went to Australia. Yeah, wow. And Katy Faust (19:56.418) Talk to all of your MPs right before as they were figuring out whether or not they should legislatively enact gay marriage. Yes. and I visited several of your MPs with a woman named Millie Fontana and let her share her story of being raised as a donor-conceived atheist with two moms. and went the very first big media appearance I have had was Late Line with Tony Jones back in 2015. Karl Faase (20:21.322) Knowing Tony Jones and and and that whole show, that that would not have been a pleasant experience. Katy Faust (20:26.914) You should clip it in to this video. Yes. Go back and find it. And people said, do not do this interview. He is a shark. Yeah. And this is going to be an ambush. But at that point, God had tutored me to hear his voice. So when I needed an answer, I knew that he would tell me what to do. So I remember as I was figuring out whether or not I should go on this podcast totally jet-legged after speaking to all your MPs and Like I my eyes were watering because I was so so tired. And I opened up the Bible. I always my rule is I read until God speaks. And at that point I opened it up and read the verse in Deuteronomy that says, They will come at you in one direction, but they'll flee in seven. I was like, Okay, let's see what happens. So I went on. And later I heard that it was the most watched clip in ABC history. Because it just wasn't I don't think it was what Tony expected. Karl Faase (21:27.692) No, and and and they wouldn't. And and it's it's one of the disappointing things about that I actually stopped watching that show 'cause I found myself spending most of my time yelling at the TV, which is very unhelpful. But the point the point was that they would often set up people to fail. And they had a well known Australian older Christian politician who they put on with four people with an opposing view when this was supposed to be an open debate. I mean it's it people were being set up all the time and and you did incredibly well. I want to go back in the story just quickly because you didn't you just sort of glanced over the fact that your husband was the pastor. Yeah. And so you went to see the elders, but how was he going? Katy Faust (22:05.676) My husband? Yeah. he is a good, good man. but he also understands that leadership, he is not the top dog at the church. Right? He's the first among equals. Yeah. And so we are an elder led church. And we see that God's will can be expressed through the unity of good men who have been called to this purpose. And so I both of us were willing to submit to, you know, their collective. Decision for how to lead the church well, knowing that their calling is to protect this flock. Yes. So, you know, we were both willing to submit to. Karl Faase (22:39.086) Where'd you meet? Katy Faust (22:40.794) on the third day of college, it was the you know, we got to go to college for the first week, just the freshman before any of the upperclassmen came. And he was hanging up like posters and unpacking in his room, and there was this really noisy girl that he kept hearing, and he he thought, if she does not shut up, I'm not gonna be able to. So he stormed down the hall, threw the door open. And I was in a room talking with two other guys that were in his dorm. He threw the door open and he goes, Hey. I'm Ryan. I know. Yeah, yeah. So like this this super annoying he literally was coming down the hall to tell me to shut up. And then he was

like, Maybe not. So yeah. And then a few days later he heard clogs coming down his hall. He was all the way at the end of the hallway in his dorm, and I clogged my way in these European clogs I had just bought in France a couple Karl Faase (23:22.318) So clearly he's wise insightful. Katy Faust (23:46.966) months before and we started talking and we were just good friends for the first year and started dating at the end of freshman year. Karl Faase (23:52.758) Him going becoming a pastor, was that something that you felt drawn to yourself? Was that an easy choice? Katy Faust (23:58.744) So he felt the call to be a pastor. And we had been doing ministry together i since before we were married. We had been volunteering at the youth group where we this church, he was a brand new we were both brand new Christians when we went to college. And we went to a college that we thought was a Christian college, but ended up being pretty hostile to historic Christianity. And so this little church off campus discipled us. You know, they took us under their wing and they showed us how to defend the faith. They showed us how to be, they modeled for us. Great parenting and great marriage relationships. You know, they answered a lot of our questions that were brought up by the professors. And so we both kind of cut our teeth in how to stand firm in the faith, really by these ordinary people off campus who were just ministering to college students. It was, it was great. so when he felt called to go into seminary, we had already been doing it together for a while. And I love being a pastor's wife. I loved it. I think that there's a lot of women who like, I don't like being in the spotlight or there's so many demands of me. And like, no, it's a privilege, it's an absolute privilege. And he has now stepped away from church ministry and he's in another vocation. And it was hard for me when he left being the senior pastor of our church because I it was a big part of my identity to shepherd and nurture the people coming through and be feel like I'm the primary person responsible, especially for the women of the church. but God in his providence was spot on with that tr that transition because now that I don't feel responsible for a local flock, it's kind of it's just globalized the pastor's wife role. So now I go to places like Ark and I've I've already read the Bible with four different people who have found themselves in a place of crisis or need where they need direction from God. And so it's interesting that I'm moving in somewhat influential and high power spaces. Yep. And you'd think that these people have it all together. But a lot of times that means that if they are in crisis, there's really no one they can talk to. Yeah. Because they're they're public figures. Katy Faust (26:14.72) And so if they do go into a church or if they do go to a counselor or if they do disclose something to somebody and somebody's filming it, or somebody tweets about it, they don't have

a lot of safe places to talk. Who do they trust? Yeah. And I, if the world wasn't on fire, if the world was not hell bent on child destruction, all I would do is read the Bible and pray with people because I'm much more of a shepherdess. Karl Faase (26:25.89) Who who do they trust? Katy Faust (26:40.12) than I am a culture warrior. Yeah. So it's just so, so wise of God to have moved us away from local ministry. And so it frees me up to do more of this. Karl Faase (26:51.054) So jumping back into your story, your your the the elders said go big, you you go to Australia, you you then start an organization. Why why start I mean, that sounds like a dumb question, but why start an organization and how did that come about? So Katy Faust (27:04.17) it took me a long time to catch on that I should start an organization. But one of the places that made it clear that I should was after that late line appearance with Tony Jones, I was on Q QA, your QA. And that was one of those like four against one. Except I had this guy named Brendan O'Neill who also was on the panel that I didn't know much about at the time. Yes. So I wasn't totally alone. But it was a setup. Yes. And they did plant people in the audience, you know, say, well, I was raised. by a single mother and a sperm donor and I'm fine and I feel like you're campaigning against my existence. Well, I was adopted by two men. And if it wasn't for them, I would still be in the gutters of the foster care system. Are you saying that I shouldn't be, you know, you I don't deserve a stable life. And I had answers and I had some responses, but I also realized that I needed a place, you know, they'd I I would say things like, well, a lot of children with same sex marriage feel like they've struggled with mother hunger or father hunger. And they're like, really where? And I'm like, Trust me. So it's like, you know, I really do need a place where I have a story bank. Yes. where there's testimonies where I can say, go to this website, you can read their stories for themselves. And you know, or the bazillion people that are like, studies show children with same sex parents, fare no different or even better. And there's no abuse in lesbian households. And and I would say, That's not what studies say. And they're like, Really, prove it. And I'm like I will at some point. And I just realized like I need a place where all these things live. Yes. Yes. and then I also, after, you know, that encounter where I was like, I really need fortification. Yes. the hits to kids kept coming legislatively, not just in the United States but globally. And I thought children really need a presence in the courtroom. They need somebody to testify at different congressional meetings. They need somebody in the committee hearings to represent their interests. So ultimately I started them before us in 2018 because I was like, children need formal representation in the culture and the courts, in the personal and the political. They need a voice. I feel like there's in America like a hundred organizations trying to represent them in anti abortion conversations, but nobody was doing it in the family conversations. Yep. Karl Faase (29:19.086) Yeah. So it what are the kind of key pillars of what you're doing with them before us? 'Cause that sounds to me that you've got the legal, the developing information research, posting it on on a website for information. So are those the sorts of pillars that you're working with? Katy Faust (29:37.304) So if I have to like high level what are we doing? Change hearts, change laws. Right. You can't do just one or the other. Right? Laws matter. Laws actually will direct behavior. So you can't just say, Well, I just want cultural change. But you can't just change public opinion, right? You can't just change laws. You have to change public opinion too. You have to do both. Right. You have to bring people around to the rightness of your argument. And then you need to take that into the policy space as well. Yes. So we try to do both. Like I do, 17,000 interviews a year or something. I mean, like, it's I don't know. It's ridiculous. I talk to everybody. I will like get the message out wherever I can. We have a great social media team. and I do think that if you are looking for arguments from the child's perspective against things like gay marriage or against surrogacy or a critique of IVF, we are probably some of the most public-facing voices that are making those arguments. we are spearheading. A massive national coalition to overturn gay marriage in the United States. It's called Greater Than. Greater ThanCampaign.com. If you want to see more about that. I mean, I've got I've got all of not all, I've got almost all of the conservative superstars and the major conservative organizations on board. So we're serious about legislative change. We are serious about helping people look at all these things from the child's perspective, creating educational content. you know, we just premiered our This Is a Child documentary last night. Karl Faase (31:02.796) That was the thing I was gonna ask you about. Tell us about the documentary. Katy Faust (31:05.994) If you want to see my speech here at ARC, it's called This Is a Child. I I'm pretty sure that's what they'll title it because that was the title of the speech. it's 12 minutes on the non-negotiables of the human child and why they're never going to change, regardless of the technology, regardless of the political slogans, regardless of sort of the cultural narratives that are out there. And the documentary is the speech brought to life. So five different subject matter experts, the testimonies of four different children. We actually went to Australia to film one of those testimonies of a woman who was. abused by her stepfather because one of the pillars that we talk about is how unrelated adults in the home increase risk of abuse and neglect in the lives of kids. So it is the speech with flesh and blood on it and it will be available streaming globally hopefully in the next couple of months. Karl Faase (31:53.752) Katie, you got you got a lot on in in at at Arc and we're really pleased that one of the seventeen thousand interviews you did this year was with Insight. So thank you. Katy Faust (32:03.278) So good to be with you. Thanks for having me. Karl Faase (32:13.794) This has been Insight brought to you by Olive Tree Media. If you'd like more resources to inspire and encourage you in life and faith, visit olivetreemedia.com.au. Special thanks to Excelsior University College for their support, Vision Christian Media, and to Christian Finance for sponsoring this podcast. Thanks for listening. Katy Faust (32:39.086) This is you by Olive Tree Media. If you're looking for videos and impact of the gospel on lives and in our world, visit the Watch Plus platform for more. You'll find the wherever you're watching or listening. Karl Faase (32:44.652) And interviews that share the visit our Link below