It pains me when I encounter the stories now too often being told by parents who are dealing with a child who has “come out” as transgendered. I can’t imagine the extreme anguish this tragedy must create for their families and other loved ones. And I sympathize with responsible legislators and policy-makers at every level who are dealing with the highly contentious implications for public policy.
In Washington, the so-called Equality Act, twice approved by the House, is waiting action by the Senate. This bill would essentially codify in law the Supreme Court’s decision in the Bostock case by adding sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of protected characteristics under the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and also redefine “sex” to include gender identity for all purposes. Various initiatives on this and related issues, both pro and con, are pending in a number of state legislatures.
As I have previously written, aside from the sympathy I have for the families involved, to me the transgender issue is all about human chromosomes. And while I am fully aware that a predisposition to identify with a gender other than biological can be in evidence as early as age three, to my knowledge there is no “transgender gene”. Human genetic sex is determined at the time of conception. That is a reality that must be dealt with in common sense, particularly when puberty inevitably intervenes.
But I also realize that it must also be dealt with in public policy, and to that point I thought the Arkansas legislature recently had it right, and so did National Review. The Arkansas legislature overrode Governor Asa Hutchinson’s veto to enact a law banning the use of drugs and surgeries on children as part of “gender reassignment” therapy. National Review’s commentary applauded the decision and suggested that other states follow suit, then added “if states have an interest in protecting children from those who would sell them drugs and alcohol, as they do, certainly they have the same interest in halting therapies that can result in irreversible damage to their minds and bodies”. Amen to that.
Transgenderism is a fraud, pure and simple. It is not up to children not even in their teens to “choose” their bodies, to undergo irreversible medical and, appallingly, surgical therapies. It is a sign of our era that parents of these kids abandon their parental responsibilities, as in “Not no, but Hell no”.
The Johns Hopkins data and that institution’s decision some years ago to stop ALL surgical/medical interventions for ADULT sex change is strangely ignored. The now-shes were not more happy than the former hes, and vice versa; the suicide rate among this population was not trivial.
Dissatisfaction with one’s young body is a (usually) transient mental disorder. To make this a political matter is just another sign that our secular American society is itself sick, probably beyond salvation. Aborting a child of unwanted sex (M/F) or a Down’s kid is a Chinese custom now on our shores, just another indicator of severe societal depravity.
I would suggest that the disorder is emotional rather than mental. The transformation from childhood to adolescence to adulthood is painful, more or less, to human beings. It must be endured in a sober manner, perhaps with the support of the mature adults who have themselves experienced it.
Our Texas Legislature must vote to end this just as Arkansas has done.
Ken
Well Jim, as you know common sense is increasingly short supply. Especially in issues where science conflicts with objectives of the left.