This topic somehow has become one of the most important subjects in America. It is characterized by some as “the civil rights fight of our time.” A recent column by one of the “sterling” columnists at the New York Times finally made me address this issue.
Jamelle Bouie belongs to the chorus of writers at the New York Times and Washington Post who advocate jumping on the bandwagon of any current trend. While Mr. Bouie’s opinions on this matter might very well be heartfelt, one might also think at least one of these agenda items to radically change our lives would face some resistance.
Bouie’s column is entitled, “There is No Dignity in This Kind of America.” It reveals where he is heading from the start.
One must wonder where Mr. Bouie was on this issue before June 26, 2015, when Gays were granted the right to marry by the U.S. Supreme Court. The transgender issue was nowhere on the agenda and since then has become transcendental. Someone involved in the Gay community informed me that every relevant organization turned immediately to this issue after the ruling. They had won that long fight for gay marriage and now had no issue to drive fundraising. Transgenders went from nowhere on their websites to the most burning issue and fundraising came along with it.
Bouie starts his column with the bold statement, “Over the past year, we have seen a sweeping and ferocious attack on the rights and dignity of transgender people across the country.” He does not state how these new laws will discriminate against transgenders; you must simply accept his premise.
He loses credibility when he proceeds to cast the entire argument as not just going after transgenders, but the entire LGBTQ community. It just ain’t so, Jamelle, and that is where so many people are antagonized.
I have a long history of support for the Gay community as I will once again state the best man at my wedding was and is gay. I will say I wasn’t the first to accept Gay marriage, but I did before the Supreme Court ruled and I believe it is a settled issue as virtually no one is arguing for change.
The issue of transgenders is different for me as it is for a lot of people and a lot more than Jamelle might think. People don’t like being bullied into making this such an important cause. I believe many people have a lot of concerns, as I do. Many believe that just because our medical science has reached a point where we can alter males to appear like females and females to appear like males that may just not be the right thing to do. We are also concerned about long-term medical effects from the procedures taken to make the transition. And many certainly believe if someone chooses that path, it is nobody’s business. But it should not be on our collective dime.
The single most disconcerting aspect of this matter concerns minors – as in educating or sharing information with them. It is clear scientifically people do not achieve full mental development until they are roughly 25 years old. Not only is this issue being addressed to young adults, but also to adolescents. It never fails to amaze me how focused or preoccupied some get on issues like this that they cannot accept reasonable boundaries. And then they call the opposition zealots.
Yet schools and public authorities are encouraging minor children to pursue transgender activity while not informing parents. Connecticut has legislation proposed that would protect teacher-student conversations from parental access. How misguided is that. Many suggest children get in their heads that they are not a boy or a girl, but a member of the other sex. It is as if they are little Einsteins generating original thought and they just happened to land in the same spot.
Bouie ties the supposed attacks on transgenders to the fight over abortion. In my mind the only tie is the supporters like Bouie feel their cause is so just that parental authority needs to be discarded. Those nasty parents just don’t understand the issue or what their children are experiencing. Abort that child of the fifteen-year-old; cut off those breasts of the developing fourteen-year-old; we just know better.
To me the transgender movement is a bridge too far. I believe many just don’t see them in with the “alphabet soup” the movement has created. I wish them no harm. I encourage adults to make prudent decisions about their experience because a gender change is a major, major decision. I will harbor nothing but glad tidings for anyone who makes that decision and Godspeed.
But I won’t encourage it. I will also not be bullied by the Jamelle Bouies of this world into thinking this is the most serious human rights issue in the country. That means if you are involved, please keep it to yourself.
