What’s at stake in the transgender moment is the human person. If trans activists succeed in their political agenda, our nation’s children will be indoctrinated in a harmful ideology, and some will live by its lies about their own bodies, at great cost to themselves physically, psychologically, and socially. Lives will be ruined, but pointing out the damage will be forbidden.
Transgender activists are not merely asking for tolerance or kindness. They are demanding affirmation, not just from adults but from children and adolescents who are already challenged by the process of sexual development.
How did we get to this point in our country where a child decides what gender they should be?
From the error of inflexible sex stereotypes, our culture swung to the opposite error of denying any important differences between male and female. The result is a culture of androgyny and confusion.
...children need assistance in the difficult process of sexual maturation. They need parents.
As new gender ideologies are promoted throughout America, the lies will impact not only those who suffer from gender dysphoria, but all children who need to mature in their self-understanding as a boy or girl, man or woman, a potential husband or wife, father or mother.
In a culture where transgender identities are not only affirmed but celebrated, everyone will be compelled to construct their own gender identity, unaided by a common understanding of sex differences and why they matter.
A more cautious therapeutic approach begins by acknowledging that the vast majority of children with gender dysphoria will grow out of it naturally. An effective therapy looks into the reasons for the child’s mistaken beliefs about gender, and addresses the problems that the child believes will be solved if the body is altered.
Hell hath no fury like a vested interest masquerading as a moral principle.
The simple reality is that you can’t change your sex. There is no way to “reassign” sex because sex isn’t “assigned” in the first place. The best biology, psychology, and philosophy all support an understanding of sex as a bodily reality, and of gender as a social manifestation of bodily sex. Biology isn’t bigotry.
The Heritage Foundation has long opposed the expansion of antidiscrimination laws to elevate “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” as protected classes. Where enacted, these laws—known as SOGI laws—are frequently used as swords to persecute people with unpopular beliefs, rather than as shields to protect people from unjust discrimination.
Part of the problem with these laws is that they treat reasonable actions as if discriminatory. So, for example, if a baker creates custom wedding cakes for marriages, but won’t design or create them for same-sex unions, that’s considered “discrimination” on the basis of “sexual orientation.” If a Catholic adoption agency works to find permanent homes for orphans where they’ll be raised by a married mom and dad, but won’t place children with two moms and no dad, or two dads and no mom, that’s considered “discrimination” on the basis of “sexual orientation.” If a small business provides health insurance that covers a double mastectomy in the case of breast cancer, but not for women who want to transition and identify as men, that’s considered “discrimination” on the basis of “gender identity.” If a school provides separate bathrooms and locker rooms for male and female students, but won’t let male students who identify as women into the female places, that’s considered “discrimination” on the basis of “gender identity.” These reasonable policies on disputed questions should not be penalized by the government as if discriminatory.
Compelling governmental interests can at times trump fundamental civil liberties, but laws on sexual identity and gender identity do not pass this test. Rather, they trample First Amendment rights and unnecessarily impinge on citizens’ right to run their local schools, charities, and businesses in ways consistent with their values. These laws do not protect equality before the law. Instead, they grant special privileges that are enforceable against private actors.
These laws would impose ruinous liability on innocent citizens for alleged “discrimination” based on subjective and unverifiable identities, not on objective traits. They would further increase government interference in markets, potentially discouraging economic growth and job creation.
In essence, elevating “gender identity” to a protected class across our federal antidiscrimination laws could impose a nationwide transgender bathroom policy, a nationwide pronoun policy, and a nationwide sex-reassignment health care mandate.
In short, laws on sexual orientation and gender identity seek to regulate decisions that are best handled by private actors without government interference. They disregard the conscience and liberty of people of good will who happen not to share the government’s opinions about issues of marriage and sexuality based on a reasonable worldview, moral code, or religious faith. Accordingly, these laws risk becoming sources of social tension rather than unity.
What’s at stake in the transgender moment is the human person. If trans activists succeed in their political agenda, our nation’s children will be indoctrinated in a harmful ideology, and some will live by its lies about their own bodies, at great cost to themselves physically, psychologically, and socially. Lives will be ruined, but pointing out the damage will be forbidden.