Bryan Fischer
No, let's not compromise on transgenderism
By Bryan Fischer
Follow me on Twitter: @BryanJFischer, on Facebook at "Focal Point"
Host of "Focal Point" on American Family Radio, 1-3pm CT, M-F www.afr.net
A well-meaning but naive writer for National Review, J.J. McCullough, is urging conservatives to "compromise" on transgenderism in the interests of "preserving a social order (which is) peaceful and free."
He in essence blames social conservatives for the social unrest around transgenderism because we have released our "inner reactionary" which somehow is to blame for the "petty tyranny" of the left. We are to blame for "cruel bigotry" for declining to adopt the pronoun thesaurus of transgenders with its "ze" and "zir" and "yo." (Sample sentence: "Ze reminded zirself to pick up zir umbrella before going outside.")
"Acts like ostentatiously calling people by pronouns they don't want, or belittling their personal struggle, are boorish and petty." Well, what if it's not done "ostentatiously" and without "belittling?" Would that be okay? He doesn't say.
To his credit, he does ask the transgender lobby to compromise as well. "There must be a halt in their use of state authority to impose accommodation of transgenderism in a fashion far more totalitarian than is rationally justified." Note the use of the word "must." If this halt must occur, and transgenders aren't willing to acquiesce, whose going to make them? Again, McCullough doesn't say. But the reality is quite simple: if the tyranny of state authority over the sexually normal is going to be broken, conservatives are going to have to be the ones to do it, and it will be a long and painful fight.
This is a civil war in which compromise is impossible. One side or the other must win. Either transgenderism will be seen for what it is – a mental disorder – or we conservatives will be compelled against our will, and against our right to religious liberty, to accept it as normal. There is no middle ground. Compromise is simply a strategy for ultimate and total defeat.
The reality is that we as conservatives by and large are perfectly willing to let transgenders live out their twisted sexuality as long as they don't force us to surrender our inalienable rights in the process. If we could send our children to schools we fund with our tax dollars without having our 4-year olds indoctrinated into accepting sexual weirdness as normal, or if we could run our businesses according to religious conviction without being fined, silenced, and put out of business, transgenders could pretty much live as they want. But they are not content with that. They will not rest until everybody in our culture is forced to bow the knee to the gods of sexual deviancy.
We as conservatives understand that sexual behavior is ultimately a matter of choice, and transgenders must desire to change their sexual identity before efforts to help them can succeed. But the sexual deviancy lobby isn't content with that. No, they want to make it illegal even to offer such help, or to sell books (such as the Bible) that clearly teach that such behavior is wrong and can be overcome. Parents of sexually confused teens are not even allowed to seek professional help for their children in a half-dozen states. If we want that to change, we're going to have to fight, not compromise.
Influential social regressive Chai Feldblum is about to to resume her seat on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), a federal agency whose tentacles reach into every workplace in America. Says Ms. Feldblum, "There can be a conflict between religious liberty and sexual liberty, but in almost all cases the sexual liberty should win ..." In fact, she declared, "I'm having a hard time coming up with any case in which religious liberty should win."
With that mentality in places of high power, our only choice is to fight back, to push back, to resist. Mr. McCullough is deceiving himself if he thinks that any ground can be taken back from the Sexual Left in any other way than inch by bloody inch. It is time for us to "Take up the whole armor of God that we may be able to stand firm in the evil day" (Ephesians 6:13). Let's plant our feet on the truth of God – that sex is designed exclusively for the union of one man and one woman in marriage – and refuse to budge no matter how much pressure comes against us.
(Unless otherwise noted, the opinions expressed are the author's and do not necessarily reflect the views of the American Family Association or American Family Radio.)
© Bryan Fischer
May 12, 2018
Follow me on Twitter: @BryanJFischer, on Facebook at "Focal Point"
Host of "Focal Point" on American Family Radio, 1-3pm CT, M-F www.afr.net
A well-meaning but naive writer for National Review, J.J. McCullough, is urging conservatives to "compromise" on transgenderism in the interests of "preserving a social order (which is) peaceful and free."
He in essence blames social conservatives for the social unrest around transgenderism because we have released our "inner reactionary" which somehow is to blame for the "petty tyranny" of the left. We are to blame for "cruel bigotry" for declining to adopt the pronoun thesaurus of transgenders with its "ze" and "zir" and "yo." (Sample sentence: "Ze reminded zirself to pick up zir umbrella before going outside.")
"Acts like ostentatiously calling people by pronouns they don't want, or belittling their personal struggle, are boorish and petty." Well, what if it's not done "ostentatiously" and without "belittling?" Would that be okay? He doesn't say.
To his credit, he does ask the transgender lobby to compromise as well. "There must be a halt in their use of state authority to impose accommodation of transgenderism in a fashion far more totalitarian than is rationally justified." Note the use of the word "must." If this halt must occur, and transgenders aren't willing to acquiesce, whose going to make them? Again, McCullough doesn't say. But the reality is quite simple: if the tyranny of state authority over the sexually normal is going to be broken, conservatives are going to have to be the ones to do it, and it will be a long and painful fight.
This is a civil war in which compromise is impossible. One side or the other must win. Either transgenderism will be seen for what it is – a mental disorder – or we conservatives will be compelled against our will, and against our right to religious liberty, to accept it as normal. There is no middle ground. Compromise is simply a strategy for ultimate and total defeat.
The reality is that we as conservatives by and large are perfectly willing to let transgenders live out their twisted sexuality as long as they don't force us to surrender our inalienable rights in the process. If we could send our children to schools we fund with our tax dollars without having our 4-year olds indoctrinated into accepting sexual weirdness as normal, or if we could run our businesses according to religious conviction without being fined, silenced, and put out of business, transgenders could pretty much live as they want. But they are not content with that. They will not rest until everybody in our culture is forced to bow the knee to the gods of sexual deviancy.
We as conservatives understand that sexual behavior is ultimately a matter of choice, and transgenders must desire to change their sexual identity before efforts to help them can succeed. But the sexual deviancy lobby isn't content with that. No, they want to make it illegal even to offer such help, or to sell books (such as the Bible) that clearly teach that such behavior is wrong and can be overcome. Parents of sexually confused teens are not even allowed to seek professional help for their children in a half-dozen states. If we want that to change, we're going to have to fight, not compromise.
Influential social regressive Chai Feldblum is about to to resume her seat on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), a federal agency whose tentacles reach into every workplace in America. Says Ms. Feldblum, "There can be a conflict between religious liberty and sexual liberty, but in almost all cases the sexual liberty should win ..." In fact, she declared, "I'm having a hard time coming up with any case in which religious liberty should win."
With that mentality in places of high power, our only choice is to fight back, to push back, to resist. Mr. McCullough is deceiving himself if he thinks that any ground can be taken back from the Sexual Left in any other way than inch by bloody inch. It is time for us to "Take up the whole armor of God that we may be able to stand firm in the evil day" (Ephesians 6:13). Let's plant our feet on the truth of God – that sex is designed exclusively for the union of one man and one woman in marriage – and refuse to budge no matter how much pressure comes against us.
(Unless otherwise noted, the opinions expressed are the author's and do not necessarily reflect the views of the American Family Association or American Family Radio.)
© Bryan Fischer
The views expressed by RenewAmerica columnists are their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of RenewAmerica or its affiliates.
(See RenewAmerica's publishing standards.)
