by Cheryl Lacey, First Principles on Education, ©2023
(May 28, 2023) — In 1969, in Greenwich Village, New York, in The Stonewall Inn – a small mafia-owned establishment – there was a riot involving police and gay activists. It catapulted gay rights groups and gay publications into public notice around the world.
The significance of that event just over 50 years ago, when gays fought against discrimination and for recognition, has all but been lost today.
Now, various groups demand acceptance for more than a dozen ways individuals might identify themselves. Here are some examples:
transgender, gender fluid, non-binary, demi-boy, bi-gender, trigender, pangender, agender, non-gendered, genderless, gender free, neutrois, third gendered, other gendered and gender queer.
Understanding these terms requires a distinction between sex and gender. The sex of an individual is based on biology – our reproductive functions and associated DNA. Your parents are fine examples. Gender, popularised during the 70s by the feminist movement, is based on social and cultural differences.
Activists today see biological differences as all but meaningless. An example is the term genderless, where an individual allegedly lacks the qualities typically associated with either sex.
With the help of leading children’s book publishers and government-funded organisations, schools are urging students to refute the significance of biology, identify with gender, and embrace gender culture.
Boys are encouraged to think they are not boys, and girls are encouraged to think they are not girls. We are fast becoming social order based on gender alone.
Deep down, however, the real issue isn’t gender. The problem is the followers, who are unable to think critically, too frightened to speak out, or too lazy to care.
Most mothers and fathers of school-age children aren’t like that.
They’re determined to ensure boys and girls are proud of their biological selves. They boycott bookstores and other organisations selling propaganda and boycott sexuality education taught by generalist teachers with no qualification to manage such sensitive and often very personal subject matter.
These determined parents demand that sex education be taught after hours, possibly at the school, and definitely by experts. And let’s not forget those teachers who are also parents. They speak out loudly and proudly, calling schools to account for mocking biological facts. They speak out first as parents and then as teachers.
Other parents and teachers – those who believe in social engineering via gender concepts – are failing to see one crucial reality. Claiming you are something other than male or female will eventually lead to your own irrelevance.
Remember that great line by Robin Williams in the film Mrs. Doubtfire? ‘This is me being a hotdog’. With no limits to how we can identify ourselves, perhaps that’s the next social order we can look forward to.
We are all entitled to look, feel and be ourselves, but not at the expense of our children or students being led by misinformation, propaganda and confusion over who or what they are.