California Senate Bill 777 was recently signed into law by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. It is a law that our "Republican" governor signed into law even though NO Republicans in the entire state legislature voted for. In fact, a few Democrats abstained from even voting. It passed the State Senate 23-13 and passed the State Assembly 42-19.
Monday's edition of The Albert Mohler Program discussed this bill. If you would like to listen to it, go here. Skip the first nine minutes and then listen to the rest.
Here's a scary scenario made possible by this law: Andrew doesn't feel like a boy today. In fact, although he has a boy's anatomy, he thinks that today he is actually a girl deep down in his soul. Therefore, he tells his teacher and asks to be called Andrea today. He is now a "she" and a "her" and must be referred to as such. However, the teacher cannot tell the parents this or refer to Andrew as "she" or "her." Also, because Andrew is actually Andrea, he/she can now use the girls' restroom!
I would like to state here that this is most definitely NOT an attempt to bash gays, lesbians, bisexual people and transgender people. However, I believe in the inspiration and infallibility of every word of the Bible and I believe that homosexuality and other forms that I don't know how to name (along with all kinds of heterosexual sins) are deviating from God's good and perfect order. To corrupt and defile God's created order is sin. I do not deny genuine feelings of attraction in same-sex relationships. Just because I do not experience that same attraction doesn't make me somehow a more righteous person than they. I am attracted to many, many other kinds of sin and I pray daily - no, hourly - that God would save me from those.
Therefore, I would like to point you to this website: Save Our Kids. This organization is trying to get enough signatures to force a referendum on the next ballot for the citizens of California to vote on this horrendous piece of legislation.
8 comments:
sorry i cannot agree with you
until you realize these things you cannot understand another person's life
i am sorry, sometimes god cannot save us all. And welcome to america
what he did was give freedom to every human being
To whoever left that comment: Thank you for expressing your opinion. That's part of our freedom here in America.
I'm struggling to understand exactly what you mean by "until you realize these things you cannot understand another person's life."
First of all, it was very vague. What are "these things"?
Second, "if God cannot save us all," then how do you know he has the power to "give freedom to every human being"?
I would love to hear a response. Thanks again for your comment.
So, how do you think public school teachers should deal with the presence of trans-gendered students in their classroom?
la critika,
From a purely pragmatic standpoint, the hands of teachers are usually tied in this situation because of distracted administrators and the politicos of powerful teachers' union who are more interested in addressing so-called social issues in the classroom rather than teaching kids what they really need to know.
Happy's Pappy
Raphaelle,
Your question really has me thinking. I don't have a clear response to that question, but thank you for asking it. Also, I have never attended a public school so I must vicariously imagine the situation as well. Hopefully, I'll write a response soon. Thanks again.
and, hey, congratulations on the anonymous commenter! just when it seems like no one but our moms read our blogs!
Raphaelle,
To answer your question, I believe with all my heart that there is no such thing as a "trans-gendered" person. God has made each one male or female. Sometimes, because of genetic mutations and other circumstances that I'm not aware of, the issues are not so black and white. To the aspect of exact science, I confess I do not know enough about these things to comment too much.
However, if Andrew "feels" like Andrea, that is no different than Johnny "feeling" like he doesn't want to take his history test. The feelings don't change the facts. However, a teacher must have compassion for the confused child. The thing that I cannot understand in this bill is the part about not notifying the parents. That's absurd! They are the child's legal guardians. They must know what their own child is thinking, what their own child is going through. Ultimately, I think the public school teacher needs to work with administration and parents to help the child with these feelings so that the child can function in a classroom setting and learn, because that is what they are at school to do. I hope that at least somewhat answers your question. Thanks for asking, it really made me think.
Hi Happy, I just saw your response to my comment now. It's very thoughtful, although I obviously disagree absolutely with your assertion that being transgendered is similar to making a choice not to study, excel, eat spinach, etc. I wonder, if you are familiar with the bodily conditions that you alluded to (hermaphrodism, etc.) what makes you sure that each person is made male or female? What about people who have, frankly, both sets of genitals?
The issue of notifying the parents is interesting. The reasons that people like me would not want the teacher to have to notify the parents are as follows: if the parents are vehemently opposed to the possibility that their child is transgendered, the child's safety could be put at risk by notifying the parents. Of course, we are the kinds of people who can't imagine hurting our children (should we be so lucky as to have them) but what about children who would be beaten (or worse) upon such a notification? This is a big issue around the rights of gay teens, teens whose boyfriends/girlfriends are of a different race or religion, etc. My best friend works with abused adolescents and if they say "if you tell my father that I'm gay, he'll beat me up" what is the social worker supposed to do? Whose rights should be protected in that case? I know, or I think I know, that you think that parental authority is sacrosanct, but I, obviously, don't. This is one of the many reasons it is very hard to live in a democracy. My kids will be subjected to your values and your kids will be subjected to mine. Which is why, I suspect, you will send your children to a private Christian school and I will send mine to a leftist, hippie, humanist private school. And the great thing? They'll still be cousins. Life is crazy, n'est-ce pas?
Post a Comment