Have you noticed the seemingly unstoppable force of transgender ideology in the past few years? And have you wondered if people, the culture even, would ever say, Now, wait a minute?
Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #63 of Discerning What Is Best, a podcast applying unchanging biblical principles in a rapidly changing world, and a Christian worldview to current issues and everyday life.
Transgenderism, or trans ideology, is the belief that human sexuality is not biologically determined, is not what’s now called “binary” meaning only two options, male or female, but is rather something that is psychologically determined, and that sexuality is socially constructed and a matter of individual decision.
This rather astounding anti-science, ahistorical, anti-common sense, anti-biblical, irrational view has rapidly reached a level of majority acceptance in the American population.
With the 2015 Supreme Court of the United States decision in Obergefell vs. Hodges, allowing for the legal existence of same-sex marriage, sexual liberation activists immediately shifted their focus to transgenderism.
While much groundwork and other social developments took place earlier, in just the past eight years since that court case, trans ideology has come to dominate American public education from kindergarten to graduate school.
Trans people and ideas are now commonly presented in television media and even more extensively online. And the idea of being trans, that a boy can “identify as,” meaning become a girl, and a girl can transition to become a boy is now considered by trans activists, many within the American public, and at a few points of law to be a civil right.
Now, to disagree or in some way to be perceived as an obstacle to trans individuals pursuing their trans lifestyle is to be considered not simply intolerant and a bigot but also a legal impediment, perhaps someone guilty of hate speech, which of course means you could find yourself in a lawsuit.
The speed and outright steamroller with which trans ideology conquered American culture has been both amazing and disheartening to watch.
Aren’t there any cultural elites moral enough, brave enough, reasonable enough to stand up against this? Is there no one to point out the dangers and degradation? Do people really believe what trans activists are saying and demanding?
We’ve been treated to a long list of not only school curriculum being given over to devilish sexual ideas but also to public displays, like Drag Queen Story hours at local libraries where elementary school children are invited.
Why would the American Library Association support this kind of perverted nonsense, for children no less?
In Grand Rapids, Michigan, a Drag Queen Brunch with lewd videos featured on the event’s website is now being promoted.
“Drag queen depravity…celebrates that which is shameful and normalizes that which is perverse. And it does so in the most exaggerated, even overtly demonic form, with Drag Queens wearing Satanic horns while reading to tiny little children.”
“The Michigan Department of Education has adopted a radical gender theory program that promotes gender ‘fluidity’ beginning in elementary school and encourages teachers to facilitate the sexual transition of minors without parental consent.”
Trans workers are now suing for healthcare benefits, and there’s more: medical professionals, as well as others, are saying men can give birth, men are competing as women in women’s sports, physicians and children’s hospitals are surgically removing healthy body parts to create the appearance of the other sex.
California has become a “sanctuary” state for transgender children and their families. California “passed legislation that protects parents and their children from legal ramifications for pursuing cross-sex medical treatments, while also blocking California courts from enforcing out-of-state court orders revoking custody for parents who allowed their children to get illegal sex changes.”
“California’s Department of Education urges kindergarten teachers to dispel gender stereotypes, laying groundwork ‘for acceptance, inclusiveness, and an anti-bullying environment,’ because ‘some children in kindergarten or even younger have identified as transgender.’”
An “Ohio school district tells teachers not to notify parents about students’ name and pronoun changes.”
Prison systems, meaning states, meaning taxpayers, are bearing increased costs, risks, and legal challenges because of transgender activism and confusion.
Social media is a major contributor to gender confusion.
“Placating the mob has led to the rise in dangerous euphemisms like "gender-affirming care," a phrase that means the exact opposite of what it claims. In today's world, "gender-affirming therapy" means telling a girl she can be transformed into a boy, but "conversion therapy" means telling a girl she's a girl. The corruption of reality has led to the rise of a pseudoscientific cult that performs irreparable mutilation on kids, with puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones and life-altering surgeries.”
But at long last there is some pushback.
Oklahoma has banned “gender-affirming care” for those under 26 years old, arguing a person’s brain is not fully formed until that age.
The Ohio Board of Education voted against President Biden’s expanded LGBTQ+ Title IX protections.
In an article entitled “They Paused Puberty, But Is There a Cost?” the New York Timesfinally admitted “gender affirming care” is dangerous.
Scientific evidence trumps what the woke media wants us to believe.
“America’s war on truth, science, and children has rendered America increasingly an outlier in the Western world. (But thankfully,) more and more European countries are rejecting the perverse” sexually aberrant views of leading American hospitals, universities, and news media.
“Swiss citizens ‘are entered into the civil registry as male or female, with no other option.’ The Swiss Federal Council declared, ‘The binary gender model is still strongly anchored in Swiss society.’
Sweden…has also broken with America on the transgender issue.
Sweden’s National Board of Health and Welfare ended the practice of prescribing puberty blockers for minors under age 18; and…mastectomies will only be offered in the rarest of circumstances.”
England is now backtracking on its activist transgender-friendly laws and culture, in part because the costs, financially and emotionally, are becoming too great to ignore.
Even a trans psychologist who helps teens transition says it’s now ‘gone too far’.”
To protect children, re-establish educational priorities in schools, and to restore common sense, the state of Florida and Governor Ron DeSantis are beginning to wage war on transgender activism. In various laws, so has Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Montana, Mississippi, North and South Dakota, Oklahoma, and Tennessee.
By the way, the media does not typically note that these laws protect girls and women but rather describes them as “anti-trans” laws, trying to win the battle of vocabulary by making these states and lawmakers into haters.
“On the social scale, a major con is the allegation that an individual can change his or her gender. ‘Society has accepted a destructive lie that you can create your own reality and define your own identity,’ says author Ben Shapiro.
‘Transgender isn’t real,’ says women’s advocate and author Kara Dansky. ‘It was simply made up. Words like gender identity don’t have any meaning. Every single human being is either a male person or a female person.’”
“According to a new Trafalgar Group/Convention of States Action poll, 78.7 percent of Americans oppose sex changes, puberty blockers, and transgender-related medical procedures for kids. An overwhelming amount of voters believe minors should have to wait until they are at least 18 to make the life-changing decision about their bodies.”
Sex reassignment surgery does not work. A boy or man cannot ever become a girl or woman, or vice versa, no matter what ideas and ideology are embraced, no matter what meds are taken, no matter what irreversible mutilating surgeries are endured.
To argue that sex is not determined at biological birth is to argue against the God who created us in his image, male and female created he them, who created every human being for a purpose, and who loves us one and all, including those who struggle emotionally.
While it is true that gender dysphoria exists, that individuals emotionally struggle with their sense of themselves, and it is Christian to say we should care for and care about these people, still, this does not change reality. Trans transitioning simply trades out one set of problems for far more.
So, it is heartening to see some pushback, some practical acknowledgement the world God created and what’s best for human beings.
Well, we’ll see you again soon. This podcast is about Discerning What Is Best. If you find this thought-provoking and helpful, follow us on your favorite podcast platform. Download an episode for your friends. For more Christian commentary, check my website, r-e-x-m as in Martin, that’s rexmrogers.com.
And remember, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm.
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