This Sunday I am preparing to preach a sermon on transgenderism. Then on Jan 22 our Care Ministry is going to be hosting a movie about sexuality and transgenderism. You can learn more about the event HERE.
So, I have been doing a lot of reading and studying as of late. One book that is utterly fascinating is “Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters” by Abigail Shrier. Shrier has done an excellent job when it comes to research on this topic and it shows in her writing.
On page 71 she begins to talk about the connection between transgenderism and anti-bullying policies and laws. I wanted to learn more about this because the city in which I live has been having these types of discussions.
How did a radical view of gender become so common place?
How did educators and activists manage to mainstream a radical view of gender through the schools? Like so many successful sales, this one was facilitated by irresistible packaging: anti-bullying. Appealing to both a moral imperative and Gen X parents’ extreme preoccupation with the children’s physical safety, the pitch was hard to resist. All of this sexual orientation and gender identity was necessary-educators claimed-to prevent the battery, harassment, and acute psychological distress of LGBTQ children. p. 71
Shrier’s point is that the radical view of gender is taking place in our schools, at least partially, by anti-bullying initiatives.
Anti-bullying is great, but what else is happening here?
I have no doubt that legislators who pass anti-bullying laws and educators and school boards who implement gender identity and sexual orientation are sincerely concerned about the welfare of LGBTQ-identified students-as all decent human beings ought to be. But where a measure taken to fix a problem goes so far in excess of remedy, it becomes clear that simple remedy was not primarily what the fixer had in mind.
This is the sense in which so much under gender identity and sexual orientation, delivered with the tireless passion of priests, pretext for an ulterior motive. There is simply no good reasoning for insisting that students be made to imagine themselves as gay or transgender of pansexual. There is no very good reason to imagine they might be a boy in a girl’s body or a girl in a boy’s. There is no reason to teach students, in the words of one of the most highly regarded manuals, that the “expression of transgender identity , or any other form of gender expansive behavior, is a healthy, appropriate and typical aspect of human development.“
Let’s pause for a moment. The above paragraph should concern you quite a bit. Is there a better way to promote anti-bullying in our schools? Yes.
All that’s required is the insistence that the students display decency, civility, and kindness to their classmates. Follow the Golden Rule. Stand up to bullies. And singling out of others for their differences-physical, religious, sexual, or otherwise-should be met with neither indulgence nor toleration. Bad behavior should be met with swift punishment. p. 72-73
The point that is being made is that any reasonable person hates the idea of bullying. And furthermore, that in the schools (and society in general) we should work to stop bullying. But, we don’t have to go so far as to “indoctrinate” young children in “gender ideology.” As parents, and concerned citizens, it is imperative that we stay alert to what is being taught and promoted in the schools where we are sending our children.
“Irreversible Damage” by Abigail Shrier is a must read.
MichaelWallenmeyer.com 