Earlier in April, we reported on breaking news regarding a proposed transgender guidance statement issued by the Michigan Board of Education. This policy would allow students of all ages to choose their gender, change their name and pronoun, and use the bathroom of their choice – all without parental knowledge or permission. In essence, the policy recommends that schools should deceive parents about their child’s gender identity and allow children of any age to make life-altering decisions that have immense ramifications.
Recently, news broke that the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against a Virginia school system which provided a commonsense solution to transgender bathrooms – providing single-use bathrooms for a girl who “identifies” as a boy and had demanded to use the boys’ facilities. In a 2-1 decision the court ruled the school “discriminated” against the student, using a phony interpretation of the 1972 U.S. Department of Education Title IX policy, which prohibits sex discrimination in schools, as the basis for their ruling. Obviously when the law was adopted in 1972, it did not include “transgender” students. This first-of-its-kind ruling is chilling, and unless changes occur at the presidential/federal level, will set precedence for the mandating of transgender bathrooms and locker rooms in all public schools.
Those pushing such gender-neutral policies claim that not providing such accommodations to students who identify as transgender is a form of discrimination and leads to bullying, depression, and suicide.
So as Christians, what should be our response? No true Christian would be in favor of bullying; indeed, we should have great compassion for those struggling with gender dysphoria. Yet many school officials and legislators claim that compassion requires affirmation of gender confusion. However, as those who still recognize truth know, compassion is not equated with celebration – it does not mean we affirm or encourage a lifestyle that leads only to despair. That’s not compassion; its cruelty.
The American College of Pediatrics (ACP) has another word for it: child abuse. The American College of Pediatrics recently came out with a strong statement shedding much needed light on this issue. According to these pediatricians, “Conditioning children into believing a lifetime of chemical and surgical impersonation of the opposite sex is normal and healthful is child abuse.”
The ACP goes on to explain that gender is not self-determined, and to suggest otherwise will cause life-long harm. In this eight-point report, the ACP makes clear that gender confusion is a mental disorder – a condition that should be treated, not accepted. “When an otherwise healthy biological boy believes he is a girl, or an otherwise healthy biological girl believes she is a boy, an objective psychological problem exists that lies in the mind not the body, and it should be treated as such”.
With what other mental illness do we encourage those suffering to embrace their condition? As commentator John Hawkins writes: “We don’t do this with depression, schizophrenia, paranoia, multiple personality disorder or almost anything else because it’s a terrible idea. It’s like telling someone who’s depressed that he’s worthless and everyone else would be better off without him. We would be appalled if anyone did that; yet encouraging someone to mutilate himself in a futile attempt to change genders is an even more horrible thing to do to another human being.”
Studies prove that those who fully embrace a transgender identity don’t find contentment or happiness. As the ACP also points out, suicide rates are twenty times higher among adults who use cross-sex hormones and undergo sex reassignment surgery, even in Sweden which is among the most LGBQT – affirming countries.
Yet children as young as three-years-old are being “diagnosed” as transgender as their parents enable and encourage them to live as the opposite sex. The Center for Trans Youth Health and Development in Los Angeles had approximately 400 patients in 2014. In 2008 that number was only 40. They are currently adding 3 to 4 new patients a week.
And such young people are not being treated for the mental disorder of gender dysphoria; rather they are counseled on how best to embrace the transgender lifestyle. Some are given hormone suppression treatment to prevent them from naturally entering puberty, others are given hormone replacement therapy so that a boy develops female characteristics and vice versa, and then there is gender reassignment surgery. Remember, we’re not talking about adults – but children and teenagers!
Such treatment will have lifelong consequences, including losing the ability to have biological children of their own. No young person can grasp all the weighty implications.
And as school officials such as the Michigan Board of Education push students to embrace this “identity,” the American College of Pediatrics tells us that “as many as 98% of gender confused boys and 88% of gender confused girls eventually accept their biological sex after naturally passing through puberty.”
While those figures are very encouraging, it only highlights the incredible moral insanity of pushing gender-confused young people to pursue a harmful lifestyle they will most likely outgrow. And for those few who continue to struggle, we do them no favors by treating gender dysphoria as a civil right, rather than the mental illness that it is.
And they won’t be the only ones who suffer. As policies such as those proposed in Michigan are adopted in schools across the nation, the safety, privacy, and innocence of every student is compromised – all for the comfort of a tiny minority of gender-confused kids.
Instead of doing what is in the best interest of all students – including those with gender identity issues – education bureaucrats are using our nation’s children as pawns to implement and legitimize their radical gender ideology and undermine parental authority.
Transgenderism is not a sexual orientation – it’s in part a mental disorder, but ultimately it’s rebellion against God and His design. It’s not about bathrooms, but defiance against His authority. And, sadly, those struggling with their gender identity won’t find peace no matter how much affirmation they receive. Only by embracing God’s design, and finding salvation in Him, will true identity be found.
Urge the Michigan Board of Education to rescind their proposed transgender guidance policy which smacks of social engineering puts children at risk, and usurps parental responsibility to guide and protect their children.
Your comment must be received no later than May 11.
Express your concern at www.everyvoicecountsmi.org, by fax to 517-373-1233, or by mail to:
Kim Kovalchick, Supervisor
Michigan Department of Education
Coordinated School Health and Safety Programs unit
P.O. Box 30008
Lansing, MI 48909
In addition, click here to sign our online petition or download a petition to circulate here.
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