The Christian Religion and Gender Identity: A Refutation

According to the Gospel Coalition, the Christian religion views people who do not associate with their gender identity assigned at birth as people who are experiencing gender dysphoria. The Church holds these beliefs because according to the bible, God made men and women different so it is philosophically impossible for a man to become a physical woman and vice versa. The article called “The Christian Response to Gender Dysphoria” defines this condition as the experiences of distress associated with the incongruence when one’s psychological and emotional gender identity does not match one’s biological sex.

By calling people who don’t identify with their biological sex “gender dysphoric” the Church is basically refusing to acknowledge these individual’s inner feelings and thoughts about their gender. Instead, the Church believes these people just falsely perceive their gender identity, making it seem as if they are deranged. The article goes on to say, “biblical counsel would begin by helping a person embrace that their birth sex is a testimony to their true birth sex.”

I feel that the ideals that the Christian religion holds about gender identity are completely wrong. Many people turn to religion when they are in times of struggling, and it is unjust that transgender people do not have the same freedom. Religious buildings are supposed to be safe spaces and transgender people should feel comfortable going to these places. If they were to seek help with their identity changes from the Church, their struggles would just become worse because the Church would not be able to validate or affirm the feelings that the transperson is struggling with. The church would tell these people that their feelings are a false perception and would try to persuade them to embrace the true gender they were born as. Instead, the Church should accept these people with compassion and sympathy because the transition for these individuals is difficult enough.

States Laws Versus the Federal Government: A Refutation

Discrimination based on gender identity is not prohibited under federal law at this time, but passing such a law is the only way that transgender individuals can truly achieve equality. While there are legislative efforts being made to make discrimination based on gender identification illegal, as of right now protection against gender identity discrimination is up to each individual state. Some states in the United States are enraged about the Supreme Court’s legalization of same-sex marriage and are continually upset about the protections being made for LGBTQ people.

According to the Civil Rights Act, the federal government has found that discriminating against transgender employees is a form of sex discrimination and is prohibited. This type of discrimination has only been outlawed in one-third of the 50 states, meaning that there are laws protecting those in the LGBTQ community from receiving differential treatment.

Many believe that the federal government should not be in control over whether or not states should have to enforce protections against the LGBTQ community. On April 11, four North Carolina House Republicans filed a bill to restore the state constitution ban on same-sex marriage. Republican lawmakers in North Carolina explained that they wanted to stop the newly approved ordinance, which would prohibit discrimination in public accommodations based on someone’s gender or sexual identity, from taking effect.

Another bill that North Carolina passed is the House Bill 2, which required citizens to use facilities that went along with their biological sex as stated on their birth certificate. North Carolina and Texas are just two of the many states that believe that state governments should be allowed to take action against LGBTQ people and not protect them from discrimination.

Texas, being extremely conservative and having a majority Christian population, recently unveiled the Senate Bill 6. The policies set by this bill requires for people to use the room designated to the gender they were biologically given for bathrooms, locker rooms, dressing rooms, showers, and other public places.

I disagree that state governments should be allowed to make and pass laws that regulate gender identity and equality. Policies need to be enforced by the federal government to ensure that all people, no matter what gender they identify as, have equal rights and protections. These laws are thinly veiled attempts to allow prejudice and are created based on the false beliefs. These states say that the law will provide greater safety for non-transgender people, but the facts do not bear this out and actually indicate that these restrictions lead to greater danger to transgender individuals with no benefit to non-transgender people.  The states also seek to justify their position by claiming that they are protecting the rights of non-transgender people to privacy and to respect, but before the Civil Rights error they used similar language to promote segregation.

Racial prejudice is not right and neither is gender identity prejudice. It took federal legislation to ensure equal rights in the 1960’s and it requires federal legislation now to ensure that all Americans including those in the LGBTQ community are guaranteed their rights.

Gender Identity Discrimination in the Workplace: A Refutation

Discrimination against members of the LGBTQ community is an extremely prevalent issue within workplace environments across the country. Many instances in which people were denied jobs, fired, harassed, and more simply because of their sexuality or gender identity unfortunately continue to occur in America today.

In 2014, a few steps were taken towards finding a solution when former president Barack Obama signed an executive order that prohibited the federal government from contracting with any firms that discriminated against their workers, customers, or clients for reasons such as their sexual orientation or gender identity. Ten days after, he signed an additional order which stated that all firms doing business with the federal government were required to prove their adherence to federal laws and executive orders. This enforced his initial executive order by having all workplaces demonstrate that they are completely fair as well as respectful towards LBGTQ employees.

Years later, in 2017, our country has unfortunately regressed in terms of this matter under the presidency of Donald Trump. Despite his assurance at the beginning of his term that not only did he intend to protect the LGBTQ community but also that he would not rescind the executive order concerning their rights within the workplace, he later proved that he was not on the side of those who are gay, transgender, etc.

On Monday, March 27, President Trump annulled Obama’s second executive order on the issue. By doing so, he took away the requirements for firms having to confirm their compliance to the order regarding discrimination against LGBTQ workers. While that order may still be in place, there is now nothing that is there to back it up and ensure that employers are not violating the law. Not only does this give firms the opportunity to discriminate against those within the LGBTQ community essentially without facing any consequences, but it sends the message to the people that the government does not care whether or not you break the law, which makes doing so ok.

It is upsetting that this order has been rescinded, as well as it is upsetting that no additional action has been taken towards improving the lives and opportunities of those who identify as LGBTQ in work environments. Everybody should be treated equally and with respect despite their sexual orientation or gender identity. The fact that President Trump voided Obama’s order lets the public believe that it isn’t important to respect people who may be different from you and that they do not deserve the same equal rights as everyone else.

Everyone, no matter what sexuality, gender, or gender identity, should be granted the same freedoms as everybody else. It is unfortunate that this may no longer be demonstrated within workplaces following President Trump’s recent decision, but hopefully further action towards putting a stop to LGBTQ discrimination will be made in the near future.

Against Gender Identity in Schools: A Refutation

Gender identity has become a topic of great debate in recent time. A controversial issue appearing in many school districts across the U.S. is whether or not to include gender identity education in curriculum. While many schools are making changes to their policies to accommodate the progressiveness of gender identity in our society, the schools often face opposition to any changes they try to make. The main group that is resisting the new accommodations that schools are trying to implement is parents with children in the school districts.

A recent article on WashingtonTimes.com, called, “ Parents Outraged over Fairfax ‘Gender Identity’ Policy” reports on an attempted block on a public school board’s inclusion of gender identity in its nondiscrimination policy. The Fairfax County Public School Board created this new provision to allow the transgender student and staff members to be considered a protected class. A main argument against the policy changes is that parents don’t have ample time to understand the repercussions of the policy change. Board members are pushing to have the policy change postponed.

I disagree that the policy change needs to be postponed because harassment and discrimination of transgender people is a serious issue. Policy changes need to be made immediately to ensure that these people feel safe and protected in learning environments.

Another argument is that taxpayers would bear the costs of any changes that needed to be made once the policy is put in place such as building new gender-neutral bathrooms for school buildings.

However, the school district is public so it’s funded with public taxpayer money. The use of this money for gender-neutral bathrooms is completely justified because it’s at the benefit of the public, specifically those who do not identify with the gender they were given at birth. The article argues the policy will hurt the majority of the students who do not feel comfortable with being in a bathroom with a person with gender identity issues. However right now, students with these issues have don’t have a place to use the restroom without fear of discrimination. In my opinion, this policy change is necessary to ensure that children with gender identity issues do not feel discriminated against in public school.