Christian, Jewish, Muslim… Anti-Trans?
The National Records of Scotland just unveiled their most recent census results, revealing a faith demographic portrait unlike any other. For the religion category, the census offered a number of check boxes for common faiths like Roman Catholic or the Church of Scotland. It also allowed respondents to write in their own faiths.
The results? Some 2,883 individuals recorded their faith as "believer in biology" – a phrase used by activists who oppose expanding transgender rights and who push back against the notion of changing genders. Notably, amongst those write-in voters was one of the world’s most famous writers.
Is there a new anti-transgender faith in town?
The Biology Believers
The nearly 3,000 "believers in biology" didn’t come by their newfound faith by happenstance.
The campaign for women to record their religion as "believer in biology" was largely organized by the group For Women Scotland, a gender-critical feminist group well known for its women's rights activism – and its narrow definition of the word "woman."
The census campaign was reportedly led in protest of a new government policy allowing respondents to self-report their sex on their census form and removing the requirement to match the sex on their birth certificate.
Supposedly inspired by the suffragette movement’s mass census boycott in 1911, For Women Scotland asked Scottish census takers to write in their faith as "believer in biology" in protest of self-reporting. They say that only verifiable biological sex, as seen on one’s birth certificate, should be recorded on the census, because that data is used to determine the funding for social services impacting women.
“This means the data collected will be a mix of sex and ‘gender identity,’” they wrote, “and we will lose important information about the sex of our population – information that is vital in planning for services.”
Amongst those who wrote in their faith? Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling.
J.K. Rowling and the Anti-Trans Religion
“I was one of those people, [who responded ‘believer in biology’ on the census]” declared Rowling, who lives in Edinburgh.
Rowling is one of the most vocal critics of the transgender movement, often causing controversy online for her incendiary comments about trans people. This stance has often put her at odds with the film series’ young stars, many of whom have repeatedly spoken out against her comments.
Rowling has called the transgender movement everything from misguided to misogynistic, culminating in a 2023 interview where she compared transgender activists to Death Eaters, the soul-sucking villains of the Harry Potter series.
But is she the most famous face of the world’s newest religion? Well... hard to say.
Like the other respondents, ticking ‘believer in biology’ on her census form seems to be Rowling’s way of expressing her dissatisfaction with the transgender movement and its growing acceptance, rather than a sincere religious belief.
Yet this does open up an interesting question: when exactly does political ideology turn into a religious-like zealotry?
Some may argue when one documents it as their faith on a census form.
What do you think?
147 comments
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William Petrizzi
I seem to recall something about a golden calf. And maybe false idols. Don't remember where I read it.
People espousing and using faith to discriminate and dehumanize others they don't understand or like is sadly not a new thing.
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Rudolph M Garza
If Ron Hubbard can create a religion from a book, Dianetics, The Modern Science of Mental Health, and if the U.S. Constitution says, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion”, than it follows that such freedom put in the hands of people with no boundaries can create a religion from ANYTHING, so long as it does not break any other laws nor violate the rights of others.
I don’t think the writers expected to see a nation where.”religion” has taken on an unexpected meaning from the culture they lived in. Religion, after all, is a construct, made by humans.
So enjoy whatever you want to believe in and let others do the same so long as the rights of others are respected. I can only hope that the current conflicts are resolved in such a way everyone can be happy.
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Rudolph M Garza
If Ron Hubbard can create a religion from a book, Dianetics, The Modern Science of Mental Health, and if the U.S. Constitution says, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion”, than it follows that such freedom put in the hands of people with no boundaries can create a religion from ANYTHING, so long as it does not break any other laws nor violate the rights of others.
I don’t think the writers expected to see a nation where.”religion” has taken on an unexpected meaning from the culture they lived in. Religion, after all, is a construct, made by humans.
So enjoy whatever you want to believe in and let others do the same so long as the rights of others are respected. I can only hope that the current conflicts are resolved in such a way everyone can be happy.
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Father Flanagan
This is an absolute non issue as there is absolutely no such thing as “transgender” there are only males and females that are either heterosexual or homosexual which is unnatural being that nature designed female and male to procreate thus the vagina is self lubricating and the rectum is not.
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Rev. BH
How about the mouth?
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Russel A. Kester
Fr. Flanagan, according to your reasoning if man were meant to fly he'd have wings. Anything found in nature is natural. Males have sex happens in nature among different species and we have much more knowledge indicating very real biological basis for it. But if you want to maintain things should only be done for their teleological ends, then you yourself should never have sex unless your trying to have children as any other reason would be a sin according to your thinking.
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Deborah Jane Vogel
Do “Believers in Biology” also oppose the correction of cleft palates, providing biokinetic prosthetics to congenital amputees, withholding training in and the provision of electronic communications devices to those born with severe communication deficits, providing medication to children with Type I diabetes, providing lifesaving cardiac surgery to one with congenital heart defects, providing invasive treatments for cancer, removing a septic gallbladder that threatens an individual’s health, and therapeutic interventions for children/adults born with cerebral palsy or cystic fibrosis?
These conditions all have a biological origin that can affect the individual’s quality of life and their ability to function well in and contribute to society.
I would hope that all of our personal and spiritual paths are broad enough to allow others to join us on the journey forward- as the persons they are and the better persons they also strive to become.
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Anthony William Ellison
I agree with JK Rowling. I remember in junior high school our biology teacher said that there are two types of people in this world, what are they? Nobody said anything and I was wondering does he mean Christians and Jews, blacks and whites, it turns out the answer was male and female and we were all like duh, of course! Acceptance of the LGBQRSTUV movement is the equivalent of giving the inmates the keys to the asylum. IMHO.
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Matthew Mastrogiovanni
I'm so sick of all the hate.
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Russel A. Kester
But do you say hateful things to those who disagree with you?
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Quinn R Amaro
It does not matter to me what Rowling or any human says. It is not given to us to judge other's based on hate and personal disagreement. Those who judge other's based on their personal and twisted beliefs, Jesus made it very clear that they are the one's who will be judged with His words, "I know you not!"
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Michael S Cope
Again... the .1% demand justice. Justice for their mental disorder I think I'm gonna start telling g people I'm the CEO of The Walt Disney Company. I wonder how far I'd get at Corporate headquarters......
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Michael S. Russell
Let us not forget that Rowling made Headmaster Dumbledore gay in her books with an attraction for an underaged boy. So are we to take that as she believes in homosexuality or lesbianism? Also pedophilia? But not trans? She might have made a series many love, but her personal beliefs seem to counter what she writes.
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Sara Lizabeth Rawlins
I have always believed in "Do No Harm," "Live Let Live," and the biblical commandment, "Do unto others, as you would have others do unto you." These are three simple rules for governing oneself. It's disappointing that some people have closed their minds to what makes others happy to justify their beliefs.
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Rev. Carol M Anaski-Figurski
Very interesting topic. I never heard of believer of biology term, so this is a bit eye opening. my concepts are we are all the same when we knee down at the cross. It's in the Spirit of God & not the Flesh. You take it to the higher power the trinity. Jesus, God & the holy Spirit, Modern religion accepts everyone no matter what gender you are. All are welcome. It's your frustration in a man-made performance system.
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William Moses
I think we are confusing terminology with policy intent. If bodily reproductive rights and services are the issue, why not specifically ask if the person has a uterus and ovaries? We need not discuss whether they present as one or another. If they require those services, then we should be wording our question to directly relate to those that may need those services.
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Matthew W Meister
I find it interesting that they chose, "believers in biology" as there mantra, when biology itself runs against their beliefs. Clearly, they didn't want to use "anti-transgender", but as almost this entire conversation has been taken up by this one small part of biology, that is the only part of biology that they want to believe fits their beliefs. It is akin to people who are for capital punishment and support war and feel their government should not step in when people in the world are starving to death call themselves, "pro-life". They use some positive label that really doesn't reflect their very narrow political belief. I say let the people who believe as they do come up with a more fitting term to reflect what they are trying to do. In other words, let them be honest about their agenda and not paint it with a broad brush they will never live up to. My guess is the, "believers in biology" are as against biology in other areas as they can be. At the very least, if they are going to believe in biology, they should learn more about what biology really is.
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Stefano Di Stefano
Non sono d' accordo
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David J. Chandler
Rowling, of course, is using rhetorical means to further open discussion of the pro-transgender campaigns being waged around the world, but especially in the UK and the U.S.
One thing is rather obvious, however -- it is the transgender ideology that most resembles a religion. Simple, basic biology provides the empirical evidence that sex in mammals is binary and immutable. It is Postmodern Theory that eschews hard science in favor of "performance" (re: Butler) and the uncritical, superstitious beliefs of 'gender affirming care'.
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Kathryn Darcy Smith
I'm post-op transgender, and they're absolutely correct. I'm mentally ill. I would not wish it on anyone. I absolutely in no way support any LGBT anything! And I have zero pride. Hate for us is generated by those shoving it down people's throats. Self-generated hate. You cannot argue with me because I live it.
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Zekester
Finally. Someone who gets the mentally ill aspect of homosexuality.
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Russel A. Kester
Kathryn, thank you for sharing such a personal issue with us. With all my heart I wish you a happy and wonderful life. While I resist using a female personal pronoun for men who just slap on a dress and claim to be transgendered; in your case, it would be appropriate to use the female personal pronoun out of respect for the length you went to in changing yourself. I don't speak of this often here because of the woke idiots, but I submit that trans persons might feel the way they do because they lived many lives as a female and truly prefer it to living as a male. According to research done by Michael Newton, our souls prefer one gender over the other and we incarnate about 75% of the time in bodies with that gender. I believe he tells us an important truth in understanding this issue. Materialists and those who do not believe in reincarnation will refuse these thoughts, but they are not a deterrent to my beliefs. Again, thank you for your post.
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Le Roy James Watters III
Google Intersex or Hermaphrodite birth defect caused by pollution
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Lady Mutt Cat
I want to know why it is okay with a person with a penis to identify as a woman but it is wrong for a person with blue eyes to identify as black. I remember the hate dumped on Rachel Dolezal for identifying as a black woman. The language that was used was that she was "outed." Do we "out" people who identify as women who were born with penises? No, we are crucified for so-called deadnaming. And why are biological men forcing themselves into women's sports? Separate men's and women's sports were set up to distinguish between the sexes, not the genders.
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Russel A. Kester
Lady Mutt Cat, nice post. You brought up great examples for why we shouldn't allow this transgender nonsense when we don't allow other types of societal trans identities based on mere feelings. And you are also absolutely right that we separate the sexes in sports because we acknowledge the very real differences between the sexes. The ancient world did the same in many cases between the sexes, and I've come to appreciate why they did so for much the same reason that Diannic Wiccans keep their circles to just females to better engage with the mysterious and mystiques they associate with being female. The last I read they do not permit transgendered women but only biological women. Men need the same understanding and encouragement.
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Pastor Jim
Well said, Russel. Transgenderism is a mental disorder that affects people in varying degrees. Still, it is a mental disorder that many adolescents endure and manage to overcome with maturity. The best help is always based in fact and truth, especially with our own children, and should be shared with the intent to help, but with discretion, However, generally, if you were born with a penis, you are a male... if you were born with a vagina, you are a woman. And, by the way, a woman is an adult female whose body is fashioned to be able carry a gestating infant or human fetus (baby) to birth and viability.
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Stefano Di Stefano
I am Man e basta
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Cynthia Mandello
This is such a simple response that requires only one question: "is it loving to condemn/judge a person for wanting to be what they believe themselves to be?"
If funding is based on "numbers of people who identify as female" then wouldn't the amount INCREASE as a result of transgender identification?
Ok, that was two questions...
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Russel A. Kester
Cynthia, is it loving to enable a person to live in a make believe world and harm children because those who should be the adults allow these delusions to infest society in the name of being loving and nonjudgmental? Of course not. Getting these mentally ill people the proper healthcare they need and not enabling their delusions is the loving thing to do.
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Michael Hunt
Gender affirming care is the proper healthcare some transgender persons need. They have to spend years in therapy first and only after trying mental health therapy do doctors recommend gender affirming care. So many on the right are completely ignorant of the process of getting gender affirming care that they don't realize that the mental healthcare they say these people need is already something they receive on their path.
Being transgender isn't a mental illness much like being autistic is not a mental illness; it's a condition people live with and there are treatments to make being transgender or autistic less of a challenge.
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Robert Gagnon
Please read the newer S.O.C No therapy is required for transition now. A note from a parent co-signed by any form of doctor stating a child has started living with new pronouns and name qualifies for treatment. Therapy is recommended but not required. Affirming means to encourage identity disorder. A disorder by any other name is an illness. These ideas are written by the disturbed to normalize mental illness. Letting the lunatics run in the streets does not make them sane, only more vocal.
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Michael Hunt
"Illness" is a broad term that refers to a person's poor health or the presence of a disease or abnormal condition. It can describe any kind of health problem, whether physical or mental. "Disorder" typically refers to disrupting normal physical or mental functions. They are not the same thing.
I know a number of transgender persons and all of them had to go through years of therapy before they could transition. I know people who have had to wait years for their gender affirming care and they were and are so happy to be able to finally appear as the gender they identify with.
I have searched and searched for this updated standard of care you speak of but all I can find is an article posted in 2022 that says gender affirming care should be given after seeking and receiving mental health therapy.
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Robert Gagnon
S.O.C. 8 page 12 last paragraph pertaining to section. Chapter 18—Mental Health This chapter discusses principles of care for managing mental health conditions in TGD adults and the nexus of mental health care and transition care. Psychotherapy may be beneficial but should not be a requirement for gender-affirming treatment, and conversion treatment should not be offered And this is the result of affirming care from the S.O.C. \ Finally, sexual health outcomes for TGD people are poor. HIV prevalence for transgender women reporting to clinical organizations in metropolitan areas is approximately 19% worldwide, which is 49 times higher than the background prevalence rate in the general population (Baral et al., 2013). Sexual health outcomes for transgender men are also problematic (e.g., Mujugira et al., 2021).
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Michael Hunt
Thank you for providing that information.
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Robert Gagnon
WPATH S.O.C The standard adopted by American psychological Ass. in this matter. Old standards did require therapy first.
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Steven Ferrell
You can love them, without condoning their sin. When Christ stopped the mob from stoning the woman, what did he tell the woman after….He told her to Go and sin no more.
He did not condone her sin.
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James Riggle-Johnson
Putting the transgender issue aside for the moment I love the second to last line.
“Yet this does open up an interesting question: when exactly does political ideology turn into a religious-like zealotry?
Hasn’t it already happened?
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Asa William Sprague, II
I wonder how JK Rowling feels about Larch pines?
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April B
I don’t think it’s fair that gender affirming care doesn’t work both ways. If someone wants to transition to another sex, insurance will cover the cost. But if a woman wants to have breast augmentation, to feel more like a woman, she would have to pay out of pocket. THAT AIN’T RIGHT! 😡
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Michael Howard Schrader
Do you realize how insulting your comment is to smaller breasted women? What about breast-cancer survivors who had to have a mastectomy; are they no longer women? Your womanhood has nothing to do with your size.
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April B
First of all… I’m one of those women!!! Thank you very much. Don’t tell me what’s insulting unless you’ve walked in my shoes! You don’t speak for me and my experiences! Second, to clarify, I was talking about how certain surgeries are covered for some and not others!!!!!! 😤😡 Don’t get me started!!!! You trying to take what I said in another direction!!! Don’t go there with me!!!!!
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Rev. Dr. Father JJ
anger issues much?
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April B
Yup!!!
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Lady Mutt Cat
Being angered over idiocy is not an "issue."
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Robert Gagnon
They want facial and body reconstruction, even hair removal paid for also. I know a lot of women that would like that covered in their insurance. It would make real women fell better about themselves but, somehow only wanna be women get the perks?
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Thomas P. Davis
It is sad how society has dictated what we should look like and how we should act and not let us be satisfied with who we are.
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Cheryl Pettijohn
Learn to calm yourself and act like an adult
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April B
I’m not all sugar and spice and everything nice. I’m sage and hood and wish a mutha would. 😈✌🏽🧿
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Patricia Ann Gross
Michael, while I tend to agree with the original post, you are wrong on one point. Breast reconstruction after a mastectomy for cancer is covered by insurance. Standard cosmetic surgery for appearance sake is not covered by most insurance. Reconstructive surgery after accidents, surgery, and congenital deformities are covered by most insurance to restore functioning and general appearance. I'm sure there are limitations, but it would depend on how far beyond "restore functioning" a person wants to take it.
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Stephanie A Willey
The Believers in Biology are sadly ignorant of biology. Binary gender alone does not exist in the animal kingdom. In humans, there are 27 different X and Y chromosome combinations. Furthermore, gender identity and anatomical sex are not the same and during fetal development happen at very different stages and under very different conditions. It's science. Go look it up.
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April B
SMH. I have nothing against anyone in the LGBTQ community. However, it puzzles me that people think there is a gray area to human anatomy. It’s black and white. A person born a male cannot have a menstrual cycle; and a person born a female doesn’t need a prostate exam. I will call you by what ever pronouns you want. But at the end of the day, cosmetic procedures are just that. A means for the physical to connect with the mental.
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Rev. Klaire ThD, MA
For the ignorant among us, I'll just drop this here!
On biological sex: Open Ocean Exploration @RebeccaRHelm
Rebecca is a biologist and an assistant professor at the University of North Carolina, Asheville USA.
She writes,
“Friendly neighborhood biologist here. I see a lot of people are talking about biological sexes and gender right now. Lots of folks make biological sex seem really simple. Well, since it’s so simple, let’s find the biological roots, shall we? Let’s talk about sex...[a thread]
If you know a bit about biology you will probably say that biological sex is caused by chromosomes, XX and you’re female, XY and you’re male. This is “chromosomal sex” but is it “biological sex”? Well...
Turns out there is only ONE GENE on the Y chromosome that really matters to sex. It’s called the SRY gene. During human embryonic development the SRY protein turns on male-associated genes. Having an SRY gene makes you “genetically male”. But is this “biological sex”?
Sometimes that SRY gene pops off the Y chromosome and over to an X chromosome. Surprise! So now you’ve got an X with an SRY and a Y without an SRY. What does this mean?
A Y with no SRY means physically you’re female, chromosomally you’re male (XY) and genetically you’re female (no SRY). An X with an SRY means you’re physically male, chromsomally female (XX) and genetically male (SRY). But biological sex is simple! There must be another answer...
Sex-related genes ultimately turn on hormones in specifics areas on the body, and reception of those hormones by cells throughout the body. Is this the root of “biological sex”??
“Hormonal male” means you produce ‘normal’ levels of male-associated hormones. Except some percentage of females will have higher levels of ‘male’ hormones than some percentage of males. Ditto ditto ‘female’ hormones. And...
...if you’re developing, your body may not produce enough hormones for your genetic sex. Leading you to be genetically male or female, chromosomally male or female, hormonally non-binary, and physically non-binary. Well, except cells have something to say about this...
Maybe cells are the answer to “biological sex”?? Right?? Cells have receptors that “hear” the signal from sex hormones. But sometimes those receptors don’t work. Like a mobile phone that’s on “do not disturb’. Call and cell, they will not answer.
What does this all mean?
It means you may be genetically male or female, chromosomally male or female, hormonally male/female/non-binary, with cells that may or may not hear the male/female/non-binary call, and all this leading to a body that can be male/non-binary/female.
Try out some combinations for yourself. Notice how confusing it gets? Can you point to what the absolute cause of biological sex is? Is it fair to judge people by it?
Of course you could try appealing to the numbers. “Most people are either male or female” you say. Except that as a biologist professor I will tell you...
The reason I don’t have my students look at their own chromosome in class is because people could learn that their chromosomal sex doesn’t match their physical sex, and learning that in the middle of a 10-point assignment is JUST NOT THE TIME.
Biological sex is complicated. Before you discriminate against someone on the basis of “biological sex” & identity, ask yourself: have you seen YOUR chromosomes? Do you know the genes of the people you love? The hormones of the people you work with? The state of their cells?
Since the answer will obviously be no, please be kind, respect people’s right to tell you who they are, and remember that you don’t have all the answers. Again: biology is complicated. Kindness and respect don’t have to be.'
Note: Biological classifications exist. XX, XY, XXY XXYY and all manner of variation which is why sex isn't classified as binary. You can't have a binary classification system with more than two configurations even if two of those configurations are more common than others.
Biology is a shitshow.
Be kind to people.”
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Rev. Dr. Father JJ
Rev K, thank you for sharing that. And thanks to Rebecca Helm for taking the time to write this down so even the most ignorant among us can (with some effort on their part) understand this issue a little more clearly (hopefully).
But as we know, facts and knowledge does not mean a person will change their mind and also means that with some cognitive dissonance on their part and embedded within the proper community, they can still, after having read Prof. Helm's explanation, declare it just so much BS.
But at least the facts have been presented, people here can (and many will) ignore them in support of their trite, mean spirited religious beliefs and continue to carry on hating people they have decided are worthy of their hate (or displeasure, or dislike, or because they're different)
Her last sentence is most important because so many people are exactly NOT that, kind to people that are different from them. But they will still, and always, call themselves...kkkris chn
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April B
Rev JJ, I’m a medical professional. I’ve had several transgender patients. I don’t treat them any differently than the next patient. However, depending on which illness they are being treated for, specifically regarding reproductive organ issues, what they are born as determines the type of treatment options they have. Has nothing to do with someone’s feelings or religion. It’s modern medicine.
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Patricia Ann Gross
Thank you April, and I hope you are working to enlighten the rest of the medical community, as I don't see a lot of understanding there. It is starting to get better, but I know a trans-man that has severe medical issues not related to his sex organs or transition that has difficulty getting placed or admitted into the hospital since the rooms are usually shared and neither gender is appropriate, as only his top surgery is completed and he passes as male. He is uncomfortable with a male roommate because he still has female gentalia and a private room is either not medically indicated according to insurance requirements and placing him in a room with a woman would be awkward for both parties. I was once in the hospital after brain surgery and because my head was shaved and I have a masculine body build, my roommate had a meltdown because there was "a man" in the other bed in her room. Thankfully, her husband calmed her down and assured her that I was a woman. That was traumatic enough for me as a woman who identifies as her biological sex. I can't imagine how it would be for someone in transition.
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Rev. Klaire ThD, MA
April, I don't see you as a medical professional. I believe you're probably a hack and a poser attempting to exhibit faux credentials to illicit undue (or false) respect that you aren't due.
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April B
Look, you are just trying to think of something to counter what I’m saying. You don’t have to believe anything I say. You can just ask any MD or nurse near you and see what they say. Facts are facts.
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Le Roy James Watters III
April B are you intersex? My story is Hypogonadism discovered in 1975
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Rev. Klaire ThD, MA
JJ, thank you but my reposting of Prof. Helm's words wasn't necessarily to 'help' April but to contrast her ignorance with real professional understanding for others who read this. Your comments are a testament to how this works and I thank you for holding a mirror up to her.
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April B
Yeah blah, blah, blah. None of that matters. What matters is what manifests at birth for a persons care and treatment plan medically. A trans female will never have to get screened for cervical cancer because they don’t have a cervix.
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Rev. Dr. Father JJ
Of course it matters. Maybe not to you, but then nobody is talking about you, the discussion is about transgender and how it's the new hot button of hate. But it appears you're aware of that already...
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April B
What matters to me is how to care for my patients. I don’t like it when someone calls ignorance when they don’t have hands on experience. That does push my buttons. You can point your finger all you want. I’m keeping it 💯 with you. Biological gender matters in healthcare.
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Rev. Dr. Father JJ
Lighten up, nobody, at least not me, said biological gender doesn't matter in healthcare. That appears to be an issue you brought up and are arguing.
Meanwhile the rest of us are just arguing the issue of transgender and how some parts of the world seems to hate those people and their issues.
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Russel A. Kester
No, JJ, it isn't that some of us hate those people and their issues; it's that we resent social justice warrior activists pushing these things onto vulnerable children. We resent being told to call someone who is clearly a man by the wrong pronouns. We resent the cultic ferver of the ideologies of the wacky progressives who we see are doing everything they can to destroy our culture, our heritage, and our country.
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Ari Joseph Bertine
Just so you know, Russell, refusing to use the pronouns someone needs to hear for the sake of their mental health is pretty much being hateful. It costs nothing to use the name and pronouns someone asks us to use. I personally think it's incredibly stupid and outdated for women to automatically take their husband's last name without thinking about it, but I will still call a woman by her new last name if that's what she wants people to do, and it costs me nothing. I don't lose sleep over it even though I disagree with it, because in the long run, her life is not mine to dictate. It's the same damn thing with transgender people. Their lives are not ours to dictate, and it costs us nothing to give them the same basic respect we give anyone else and just call them what they want. It's not lying, it's not pandering, it's just being agreeable. And if it DOES cost someone any sort of misery to give that basic a level of respect to someone, that says more about the person having a fit about it than it says about anyone's self-identification. It's so incredibly not anyone's business that it is weird bordering on obsessive to make personal rules about how to handle it instead of just going with the flow, and that weirdness comes out in a very hostile manner. Why die on the hill of cruelty when kindness is what our world needs the most right now? We know that it hurts people to call them by other pronouns, that's not a contended point. It's not doing them any good; no one can claim that they've helped a transgender person by calling them by pronouns opposite of what they asked. They're not going to go "oh, I guess I was wrong". It's just piling more pain onto their already complicated and upsetting life.
Kindness costs so little, and it is one of the resources most scarce and desperately needed in the world these days. Withholding kindness deliberately may not be strictly defined as "hate", but it is certainly not an act of love, and it serves only to feed one's own desire for feeling right.
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Russel A. Kester
Ari, there is a cost the using a personal pronoun not in line with the person's sex/gender (which are the same always), it's the cost of the truth. It's the cost of creating confusion in children who are still trying to understand what their gender means to them, their peers, and society. None of this was an issue until pushed by gender activists. This could be a none issue if the activists would shut up and go away, but they won't. I've taken the time to read their books and their goals. And I am opposed to their activity and their reasons for their actions. That is not hate, that is keeping society grounded in reality and not the fairy tales of someone's psychological pathology.
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Michael Hunt
None of this was an issue until conservatives started throwing a fit about it.
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Patricia Ann Gross
Russel, I would actually be more comfortable if we removed gender from our pronoun use completely. I would also be more comfortable if we removed it from titles as well. I have always utilized the Ms. title since I didn't feel it was anybody's business whether or not I was married. Now, because I am small chested, have wide shoulders and short hair, I get called "sir" more often than "maam" by strangers, and yes, I correct them because it offends me. I am thankful that since I received my doctorate degree, that the Dr. title isn't different for female and male doctors. It should be the way everything is treated, because we are all human beings. Drawing attention to the gender through casual comments is a form of bias (which is what gendered pronounds do), and removing the gender from the pronouns helps accomplish that. I'm not for calling anyone an "it," because that would be a form of dehumanizing the person.
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Michael Hunt
Progressives are trying to improve our country not destroy it. Conservatives are trying to hold us back and strip rights from women and the LGBTQ community. If children are so vulnerable, as conservatives seems to think, why is indoctrinating them into a religion that teaches them to hate those different from them okay?
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Rev. BH
RAK - YOW! Never worth arguing with transmissions from the Twilight Zone. Always amusing, though.
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Russel A. Kester
You must've been seeing your reflection in a mirror when you wrote of living in the Twilight Zone.
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Rev. BH
OMG! "I am rubber you are glue..." - please! Aren't we adults here?
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Russel A. Kester
LOL. Most of the time we are adults. But at other times ...
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Le Roy James Watters III
Thank You Rev Klaire ThD, MA for the wonderful Biological Explanation of this issue. When I was 13yrs old I began growing Brest. In 1975 I learned I had Hypogonadism, and could not father children. I developed the Idea that my Job was to Protect the Children from Pollution, and I became a Community Activist.
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Robert Gagnon
Lets stick to sex instead of gender since gender has been so distorted. If you are born with the equipment to potentially inseminate a female, you are male. If you are born with the necessary parts to potentially ovulate, carry and feed a baby, you are female. A rare few people are born neither, but none are born fully functional both sexes. For the sake of procreation there are only two sexes, that is what most people mean by biology. Forget about X,Y, birth defects or identity disorders, it's potential procreation ability. And their are only two sexes, and that's binary.
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Le Roy James Watters III
What about Intersex, Hypogonadism, and Hermaphrodites ? What is the a person called when they are Born with missing reproductive parts?
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Robert Gagnon
What ever they can most likely function as. Extra parts or total lack thereof are birth defects. They should have both sex and gender on identification with the options of male, female or N/A. Your question concerns N/A.
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Patricia Ann Gross
Why not remove gender completely from our titles and pronouns? Let people live and work equitably and not make judgements based on then number of X and Y chromosomes or one's ability to procreate? Why just stick to "sex?" Just because you fully fit in with society's gender description of your birth sex, does not mean that everyone does. Actually everyone deviates from it somewhat, but for some it is a complete 180 degree difference. When discussing biological or medical issues "sex" is important. Gender is how a person fits in with society's definition of how that "sex" should behave. This topic is more broad than just the chromosomal makeup.
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Robert Gagnon
Either or, not neither. People are just like any other thing in the world. Hot to cold, up to down, left to right. It takes A and B to make C. How people treat each other is up to the individual. Different metabolisms serve different purposes in nature, and we are a part of nature. People tend to confuse civilization and logic with the natural order of things. Opinion and philosophy do not alter the facts. Were this so, women would need yearly prostate exams.
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Travis A. Lee
Comment removed by user.
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Russel A. Kester
The article asked "when exactly does political ideology turn into a religious-like zealotry." Look at wokeism as one example. But it's very interesting that feminism should clash with transgenderism. While there is much in feminism I am opposed to, I must credit those feminists in the article for understanding what a woman is and what one is not.
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Rev. Dr. Father JJ
what is the opposite of "wokism"? has to be 'asleepism'. eyes closed, oblivious, blanket pulled up over the head. yup, that explains what's going on on the other side of ''woke".
transgenderism? seriously? read a book, learn something, gain some empathy instead of condemning people for something they have no control over (and you personally disapprove of). you might just as well condemn the blind, or the epileptic or the left-handed...sheesh. for whatever 'religion' you lay claim to I'm pretty sure you're not doing them any justice (or maybe you are, either way, just plain sad)
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Robert James Ruhnke
Wokeism is a conservative projection which doesn’t actually exist. It’s a bogeyman shadow puppet they use to terrify themselves with in the back of the existential cave y’all refuse to get out of. These terfs aren’t about equality, they’re about gender essentialism where women are in control and on top. The actual male hating portion of the feminists. It’s hilarious how misogynists and misandrists are teaming up in an effort to use another to get to the top of their social structures by hating trans people. It’s weird and bizarre.
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Michael Howard Schrader
Wokeism? Seriously? So you are against being open minded and empathetic?
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Russel A. Kester
Far-left, woke ideologies are neither open minded nor empathetic. They operate with cultic religious fever. They're dangerous to our country.
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Michael Hunt
Making sure systems don't discriminate against people of color is dangerous to our country?
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Russel A. Kester
Michael, a non sequitur response to he sure. Our society for not discriminate against 'people of color' as you put it or against women or gays or lesbians or Democrats or secularists and the lost goes on and on. Come into the 21st century already. Your still fighting battles from the late 1800's.
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Michael Hunt
So women don't make less than men for the same job? Minorities don't have a fraction of the net worth that white families do? People of color aren't killed by police more than twice as frequently as white people? All of these things still occur in the 21st century. If you pulled your head out of the sand, maybe you would recognize it.
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Russel A. Kester
Michael, again, your statistics are wrong, wrong, wrong. Women do get equal pay for equal work. More black families suffer from being single parent households so their household income from which you try to make your case would naturally be lower. A sociology professor who publishes his classes online went through the statistics with his class and showed that more white men are shot by police than black men. As I said, it's time to upgrade your statistics and understanding and come into the 21st century.
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Michael Hunt
No, my statistics are backed up by data and studies. You just keep saying my stats are wrong while providing no sources to the contrary.
"In 2022, women earned an average of 82% of what men earned, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of median hourly earnings of both full- and part-time workers." https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/03/01/gender-pay-gap-facts/
The fact that Black families are more likely to be single-parent homes occurs in part due to racist policing policies that over-incarcerates people of color. Even then, it doesn't explain why the wealth gap between White and Black families is growing. "In dollar amounts, the wealth gap between White households and Black and Hispanic households increased from 2019 to 2021." https://www.pewresearch.org/2023/12/04/wealth-gaps-across-racial-and-ethnic-groups/
While numerically, more White men are shot by police, that's because a higher percentage of the population is White. If you adjust for percentage of population, "Black men and women, as well as American Indian/Alaska Native men and women, and Latino men have a much higher lifetime risk of being killed by police than their white counterparts. The highest risk, however, was among Black men who face a one in 1000 chance of being killed by police over their lifetime. Presently, police violence is the leading cause of death for young Black men in the United States." https://repository.gheli.harvard.edu/repository/13464/
Again, my statistics are backed up by current data. You're the one who needs to wake up.
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Russel A. Kester
Just to show how wrong you can be, you wrote, "police violence is the leading cause of death for young Black men in the United States" but Black Men's health wrote in 2022, "The One Big Takeaway Homicide is the leading cause of death for Black males ages 1-19 and 20-44."
https://www.blackmenshealth.com/one-big-thing-the-leading-cause-of-death-in-young-black-males/
As for the pay gap, this is from the Independent Women's Forum, "This raw wage gap is misinterpreted to suggest widespread wage discrimination against women, but the wage gap is largely driven by the choices that women and men make. As the BLS explains, these raw numbers do not control for factors that significantly impact a worker’s pay including the number of hours worked, education, job title, industry, job skills, and specialization. When controlling for those factors, the pay gap shrinks to a few cents."
https://www.iwf.org/2023/03/13/5-myths-to-bust-about-the-gender-pay-gap/
Your data on the numbers of black versus white men is also misleading as it 1) doesn't reflect the higher percentage of violent crime committed by black men as a proportion of their population to the general population and 2) the time that black men had weapons in their possession at the time of the shooting. You paint a very wrong picture because of the failure to include all relevant information.
It is not surprising when boys growing up without fathers become violent and have greater negative interactions with police. Those stats are clear regardless of the boys / young men's race. What one cannot do, but you do try, is to just look at the outcomes and declare some conspiracy to "keep the black man down." That just isn't true. More work does need to go into keeping families while and intact to address the concern expressed in you comments.
Again, your worldview is outdated.
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Michael Hunt
Death by police is homicide. Great critical thinking there. That article even states that while for that age range it is the leading cause of death, for Black men of all ages it is only the 5th leading cause. In other words, your source, Black Men's Health, doesn't discredit my source, Harvard.
The Independent Women's Forum is a conservative organization founded to promote a "conservative alternative to feminist tenets" and are contributors to Project 2025. They are hardly a unbiased source. To quote a New York Times editorial from 2013 they are "a right-wing public policy group that provides pseudofeminist support for extreme positions that are in fact dangerous to women." I'm no fan of the Times but from what I have been able to research on the IWF, it sounds pretty accurate.
Regardless of the numbers they present, I have personally witnessed in multiple companies women being passed over for promotions they are highly qualified for, women being paid less than their male counterparts, and I've even seen women passed over for hire or fired because the company wouldn't want to deal with them taking leave if they got pregnant, regardless if the woman plans to get pregnant or not.
I notice that you don't have any comment about the wealth gap growing between White and Black households. Maybe it's because you realize my data is scientifically sound while you're grasping at straws.
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Russel A. Kester
Per Google AI, "No, police shootings are not included in official FBI homicide numbers. Instead, the FBI tabulates police-related killings separately as justifiable homicides." which it got from
https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2019/crime-in-the-u.s.-2019/topic-pages/murder
Society has changed, time to change with it.
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Russel A. Kester
Now to address your second issue. You wrote, "Presently, police violence is the leading cause of death for young Black men in the United States." And I quoted an article from Black Men's Health which stated that homicide not police shootings were the leading cause of death. And I responded to your statement that police shootings are included in police shootings with a response from AI which quotes the FBI that shootings by police are not included in homicide rates as they are categorized as justifiable defense, and I provided the link to the FBI where AI got that information. Finally, you wrote in agreement, "That article even states that while for that age range it is the leading cause of death," but then added "for Black men of all ages it is only the 5th leading cause." Now look back at your quotes wherein you specifically cited the leading cause of death among young black men in the United States and then in your second quote you agreed that death by homicide is the leading cause of death among young black men but tried to move the goal post to the leading cause of death among ALL black men. That's a no-no. You are not allowed to move the goal post in that way. You cannot move from the leading cause of death among young black men to the leading cause of death among all black men as you are trying to do.
I've now answered two of your three objections. If you want to go on to the third about family income, we can. But stating that more black men go to prison does not prove any conspiracy in the difference of household incomes. It merely supports my claim that any disparity is explained to a great extent by more single parent black families than other groups. Also be prepared to explain why Asian and Indian Americans having higher household incomes than whites is any different than that of whites to blacks.
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Michael Hunt
I'll admit I made a mistake when stating it was the leading cause of death for all Black men. I can admit when I make a mistake or am wrong. It's also possible that, since my Harvard source was published in early 2019, some statistics may have changed so that gun violence is now the leading cause of death for young Black men. Unfortunately, your Black Men's Health source has no working links to the data they are presenting so you have no way of knowing if they are right or not. I'll personally put more weight on the respected collegiate institution over a health and wellness blog.
I never claimed there was a conspiracy to "keep Black men down" as you stated. I'm claiming that centuries of racism against people of color have lead to unequal outcomes in our society. Black people in particular were denied the ability to accrue wealth for centuries and now they represent some of the poorest communities in the nation.
There are so many different statistics that show Black people receiving markedly different outcomes in things like receiving healthcare or perceived intelligence. These things have been studied and researched by people smarter and more knowledgeable that you or I. I'm going to trust those people.
Your data and beliefs are steeped in racism, you just are blind to it.
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Russel A. Kester
Michael, this was a good post right up until the end. I sincerely appreciate that you saw your change from "young" to "all." I've had to do the same at times, so we're both simply human.
Yes, data can get outdated quickly. But believing anything published by Harvard could prove to be one's undoing as it has shown itself to be a mere shadow of its former glory.
Making statements such as your last is unwise as we really know nothing of our interlocutors on this blog.
It is true that I consider explanations other than those the radical left feeds to the feeble minded. But that is a strength not a weakness. If we see a disparity of outcomes between two groups, we must look at the issue honestly and try as best we can to not let preconceived ideas prevent us from seeing reality. That is difficult for younger generations today because they were educated in what to think not how to think. Let's hope for a better educational system in the future.
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Cheryl Pettijohn
Russell, I am always amazed at how much hatred you have for others. I should be used to it by now.
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Russel A. Kester
Cheryl, your accusation is untrue. I hate no one. I do despise bad ideologies and advocate for their abolishment and am unfazed by those who think that labels or the mischaracterization of me or my views is effective to silence me and the truth.
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Michael Hunt
If you despised bad ideologies, you wouldn't be a conservative lol! That's all conservatism is these days!
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Patricia Ann Gross
So a woman is someone that is a servant to a man? Paid less than a man, because they are taken care of by one? We are well aware of your desire to separate the sexes in public institutions (churches, schools, etc.) mainly to indoctrinate both on their role in society. I was born in the 1950s and have no desire to return there. As Rev. Dr. Father JJ said, your "asleepism" is showing.
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Russel A. Kester
Not "asleepism" dear Patricia but actually waking up to reality. It is those who follow wokeism who are asleep to the harm their ideologies are causing to the nation. No where did I refer to women as servants. That is a pathology of the woke left. It's a strawman. It seems that your comment reflects great distress at men learning how feminism has cuckolded them which means there's every reason to fight to free men from its abhorrent influence.
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Patricia Ann Gross
Can you give me one example of how women in the workplace has been detrimental to men in some place besides their ego? When women cannot raise children because by choice or cirmcumstance they don't have a man to "take care of them," then the system is horribly broken and it's against women. My mother lost my father to a fatal plane crash in 1959 and only by the help of family was able to raise her three children until she remarried. Since she only had a high school diploma and not much job experience so she couldn't teach and secretarial/bookkeeping work wouldn't pay a babysitter for three kids, so remarriage was her only option for sustatiable support in the long term. It is not a place where we need to return.. Women need the chance to be able to live independently, and if it cramps the style or bruises the egos of some men along the way, that's only because of the inflated status men have forced upon themselves being threatened.
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Russel A. Kester
Why do you equate feminism with working? Feminism is an ideology which has quite successfully condemned men at every turn calling them names and crying about toxic masculinity just for being men.
As far as women working, when our nation was still a young nation women worked full hard days. But I confirmed this with Google AI which responded, "Yes, women were involved in the poultry industry in the United States from the early days, including raising chickens and starting commercial broiler businesses." Life on the farm wasn't a picnic either.
My grandmother went to work when my grandfather died in his early 50's. Women have always worked. Sometimes more did than at other times. When my adoptive father died in a fatal car crash in his mid-30's he left enough life insurance so that my adoptive mother didn't have to work. That was good planning which would address some of your concerns about husbands dying.
I oppose feminism as a bad ideology. Men, and boys, need male spaces to bond and understand themselves. Feminism has sought at every turn to destroy those spaces as toxic while maintaining their women only spaces. Crapolla. I provided information in earlier posts showing how this ideology has affected boys' education.
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Patricia Ann Gross
Okay, I get it. You are attacking "feminism" and "wokeism" (if that's actually a word). I am attacking the unequal treatment of women. I suppose the two happen to collide here and there. Yes, the early pioneer women worked hard, but seldom got paid for it. If they sold eggs in the marketplace the proceeds were put in a joint account with their husband or their husband's account, because women were not allowed to have accounts or property in their own name. You can Google AI that, and I'm sure they will agree. I know, because my family was part of the westward migration, and I grew up on a ranch in the mid-west. My grandmothers were all hard working women, but nothing was theirs, but belonged to the husbands. Yes my mother got by on an insurance policy that she never imagined having to claim before she turned 30, and certainly was not enough to support her the rest of her life. Even Social Security survivor's benefits barely kept her above a poverty level. Do you have any idea how small they are, even today? If gaining the ability to work, own property, vote, and survive independently when bad things happen to their spouse was provided by the "woke feminists" you abhor, I don't see what's wrong with that. Fixing a broken system is going to create some chaos to those who benefited from the brokeness. Honestly there has been more progress been made for those who have been taken advantage of over the history of the world by those who are "woke" than by those who have benefitted from the status quo. I guess that's why it is termed "progressive." A friend of mine once characterized the place I grew up as a place where "men were men, and so were the women." We all got a laugh about that, because it was very true. Men want it all, but so do the women, and I guess we can't have it both ways. I'm sorry if that bruises your ego, but I'm not sorry that is the way things should be.
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Russel A. Kester
Patricia, as always you engage with the topic sensibly. My ego is not bruised by society's current problems. I enjoy addressing them as ideological topics to determine if the are beneficial or harmful to society. I am not advocating unequal treatment of women at all. I am saying that feminism advocates for the unequal treatment of men while falsely claiming to be about equality for women. It's a lie.
What you said about any money earned by a married woman going into her husband's account was true. But was also true that any debt incurred by the couple was solely the man's responsibility even if it was the wife who incurred the debts. Congress jumped in and passed a law that women could get credit in their own name not because it was being progressive, but because that was already happening especially as single women were securing jobs causing businesses to see an opportunity for growth in this market. Basic economics at work.
You wrote that you see nothing wrong with women having the ability to work, own property, vote, and own property independently. I never claimed to have any issues with any of those. In fact, I am the only family member to discourage my sister-in-law from selling her property because the proceeds would then become community property of the marriage in our state.
What all of this points to is that those worries and concerns members here keep listing as feminist battles to be won is rubbish because those battles have already been won; decades ago. There are no laws preventing women from the same rights as men and even privileges women by not requiring that they sign up for the selective service even though they enjoy the same protection.
So what is the feminist movement fighting for today?
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Patricia Ann Gross
I wouldn't know. I've never claimed to be one. You placed that label on me. I'm for more "woke" things like equity for all, which may seem like a threat to the privileged, but that's the fight I chose. No worries, most people place labels on me that don't belong there. And just so you know, I am not one who pushes the full "woke" agenda (if one actually exists. When I claimed being conserviative, I was labeled as a liberal because I was supportive of certain liberal things like a woman's right to choose and gay marriage. After I embraced being liberal, some of my conservative ideals surface. I hate the term "moderate" because some seem to think that it only means you refuse to "take a side." People don't realize that most ideologies and their oppositional views are on a continuum. Being liberal or conservative isn't an all or nothing proposition.
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Rebecca L Tice
Seriously... y'all can't figure out Wokeism and you're wondering if the church is ready for transgender Christians sitting in their Bible study....
Geeze.... I remember when it was a big deal for a "black" person to visit a "white" church and believe me, there was not mention of Messianic Jews in the church. What are you doing?????
We should all be praying about how to "love one another as we would have others love us".
That's not left or right.... that's Christianity. That's what Jesus told us to be working on until He comes back.
Geeze... y'all are like my kid sisters and brother. We would have to do the dishes and they would daudle and make excuses. The dishes were still waiting when Mom was due home any minute... then they would get busy.
Jesus is coming back. We are to love one another. What are you arguing about????
Geeze...
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Reverend Paula Copp
I don’t know about the veracity of this article, but it sounds like something Rowling would do…
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Monica Pena
Mobilize Recovery Day in the Park - Baltimore! MOBILIZE RECOVERY ROLLS INTO BALTIMORE FOR A DAY OF SERVICE AND CELEBRATION with MARYLAND LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR ARUNA MILLER!!
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Elizabeth Jane Erbe Wilcox
As the parent of a transgender child it disgusts me that anyone can just casually think their transphobia is legit. It’s not. And JK, you can go suck your own private parts…no matter what they might be.
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Rebecca L Tice
I married a man. I did everything right.... and then I came home from work early one day to find my "husband" in bed with a man. I did nothing wrong.
I tried to get out of that marriage right then and there. I was informed it was against my religion. Once married, you are married for life. "You made your bed, now lay in it."
Now I have a gay granddaughter.
Go ahead... tell me that it's Satanic... I did nothing wrong. My granddaughter did nothing wrong.
She even went to Catholic School!
Tell me again how it's Satanic.
What better birth control can you come up with????
Natural abstinence... maybe????
I did nothing wrong and neither did my granddaughter.... and there is something in the book of Revelation that was held from us... is it the gay side?????
Shut your mean faces.... we did nothing wrong... and I've been a Christian since 1962.
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Thomas P. Davis
You're half correct. Marriage is for life. But if one or the other commits fornication you are free to marry. again
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Rebecca L Tice
A preacher finally told me I could leave... after I had my third baby.
I was right... they were wrong... but then again... most Christians have no idea what the Bible says about Marriage.
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Reverend Paula Copp
You’re absolutely right! Most “christians” have only read bits and pieces of the bible, and those were usually out of context…
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arawngraalrd
How old is your grand-daughter? 11 Year Olds are often Tom Boys. It's an adolescent thing, but might carry on if fought. Have you read Summerhill, by A.S.Neil? Finland is producing good Family Therapists now. Rest assured, the world has been improving since God evolved Man. The belief in Biology makes a silly religion, but Ayurveda is a holy book. Birth Certificates don't always get the Sex right, but we've got "Medical Authority," making Confusion bad enough to induce Suicide.
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Rebecca L Tice
She's in her early 20's now. She is so cool too. She's kind and generous. She loves children. She took in a single mom with a couple kids over Christmas last year. Just so they would be safe and happy. She doesn't try to flaunt it... she's just her! Fabulous her! They got her physical sex right. She was raised in Catholic School by a Christian Mom. She is who she is.
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Alan Delayne Hart
with all the modern chemicals in food , water, air and other vectors , it is possible this is a matter that has it's genesis in environmental toxicity or perhaps there is a more nefarious source, the Ruling Parasites aka the global bankers aka Khazarians who worship mammon. Lots of room for speculation but the bottom line is ... This trend of sexual identity is ranging from strange to mental disorder screaming for intervention. This will not end well as it is in antithesis of orthodox faith and has no projected good ending for the practitioners that i can envision.
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Rebecca L Tice
You know... there were Eunichs in the Bible.... another word for Eunich... TransSexual.
When Daniel was captured by the Pursians and drug off by the ring they put in his nose... he was castrated.
The Persians didn't want the Israelites getting the Persian women pregnant... so they castrated all the men they took prisoner.
Think about it... Matthew 19:12 For there are eunuchs who were born that way, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others—and there are those who choose to live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it.”
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Cheryl Pettijohn
I have a trans-masc son. He is an amazing adult with a fantastic work ethic and tremendous kindness. I am very proud of him. He has also been hurt by anti-trans rhetoric, including from Southern Baptist family members..
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Rebecca L Tice
I'm sorry that happened.
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Echo
Rowling has become the foremost "death eater" as a proponent of hate speech against individuals trying to happy in life. Sad that a following has dehumanized human beings that have existed far longer than the Christian faith. We are all humans, and should have compassion not hate.
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Rev. Mike Eggleston
I used to have some respect for Rowling but I've lost all respect for her following her transphobic rhetoric.
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Nicholas J Page
This is news to me as nobody has heard of this news not even my scots friends and I have Scottish Ancestory also.
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Rev. MichaelRS
In the thousands upon thousands of years of human history if this gender ideology, your gender expression being really being different than your biological sex was a thing, you would think somebody would have figured it out a few hundred years ago at least.
But that aside, one aspect of this discussion is pretty interesting to me.
While there may be an isolated case of the reverse here and there (though I've not heard of one) have you ever noticed that it's pretty much always biological men/boys who transition to women/girls who are hard bent on getting into girls and women's sports and locker rooms and bathrooms?
You never hear any big controversies about biological women transitioning and then wanting to get into men's and boys sports and locker rooms in bathrooms.
Especially what you never hear about is a biological woman who is mediocre in whatever sport who then transitions and then starts to kick *** in men's sports.
And I've definitely never heard of a biological female who is claiming to be male then going into the boys bathroom at school and sexually assaulting a boy. But there have been several verified incidents of it being the other way around
Nor have I ever heard of a female who says she's a male being assigned to a male prison and getting pregnant because she allowed a few of the biological prisoners to lay with her. But once again there are verifiable reports of biological males who claim to be female being assigned to jails and prisons who have gone on to get biological female prisoners pregnant.
Kind of weird how that weirdness all works out that way
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Asa William Sprague, II
The human race is filled with weirdness. Like the fact that millions of people die every day from treatable conditions. How weird is that?
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Joseph Connor Smith
First, there are lots of points from the past that point to what we would now call trans people. These people were typically on the outskirts of society, much like queer people of today, but to a larger extent.
Second, the reason that people who don't engage with the trans community don't hear about trans men as often is because the media sources that often demonize trans people want to uphold sexist values. They want to portray what they see as men with feminine traits as predators and want to similarly infantalize who they see as women who desire to be more masculine. By doing this, not only do people of that mindset hurt trans women, but they also end up hurting trans men and even cis women.
How does this rhetoric hurt cis women? Cis women with "masculine features" have been accosted, kicked out of places, and even assaulted because people assumed that they were trans. Not even to mention the indignity that lots of people will have to go through if some people had their way and could start performing genital checks on people. Imagine just how violating that would be, not only towards trans people, but cis people as well. If you want to talk about increases to sexual assault, that's how it's going to happen.
Now, I don't think your intention is to harm. But I do believe that you're coming at this topic from a basis of fear. And that's understandable. But try to keep in mind that the vast majority of people aren't going to try and take things from you, including trans people. I'm not going to deny that there have been people that try to say that they're trans to get away with awful actions. But I ask you to keep in mind two things. One, that must trans people just want to live their lives being who they are in their heart of hearts. And two, that many of the articles that demonize trans people (or really queer people in general) both exaggerate things that have happened and bend the truth to further their narrative.
Have a nice day.
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Patricia Ann Gross
Rev. MichaelRS, I am very close to people who were born female and have transitioned who use the men's restrooms because their appearance would cause them to be arrested if they go into a women's restroom (i.e., they pass as men) and you are right, that they have never assaulted anyone in the restroom. As far as transgender being a "new thing," it's not. The medical technology has only been perfected in the past century that allows the physical transition to happen. I grew up as a "tom boy" and if I was born a couple of decades later, I would probably identify today as gender fluid or non-binary because I have more physical and emotional characteristics of the male of the species than the female. Gender is a social construct that has been steeped in misogyny since ancient times. It is unfortunate that those that "pass" as a gender other than assigned at birth (which can also be in question when there is genetalia that doesn't match either or both gender(s)) would be arrested in some states/areas regardless of which public restroom they use.
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Russel A. Kester
Michael, there are reasons for your observations, but most of society just doesn't want to hear them. So, this just needs to play out. The worst thing men can do is to rescue women for the mess they made over the last 60+ years. But most likely men's natural inclination to protect women, even from their own foolishness, won't stop them from doing so..
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Robert James Ruhnke
How misogynistic of you to say, Russell. A woman hating gay. That’s not first. Won’t be the last I’m sure.
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Russel A. Kester
No, Robert, neither misogyny nor hatred. Starting with a feminist publication back in the 1880's it was a stated goal to feminize men. Well, now they have it, and they can deal with the monsters their ideology creates.
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Thomas P. Davis
I have read the same over the years. I read a book back in the early 90's that was on women's clothing and how they were slowly changing it to be more masculine, then I listened to a sermon named " Save the males" it showed all the statistics on education and how it was feminizing men. Even when I was a scout leader, I could see the difference between boys joining the troop from off the street and those transferring from cub scouts where they were educated by den mothers, then most recently I have read where it a part of reducing the population.
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Michael Hunt
The idea that it's part of a scheme to reduce the population is nothing but a conspiracy theory and scaremongering. Just because the performative masculinity of the past is falling to the wayside doesn't mean that men need to be saved. As a man myself, I am thriving despite not adhering to the stereotypical masculine image conservatives think men should express. I believe we all have a masculine and feminine side to us that we all need to embrace. Embracing my femininity has been life changing in the positive.
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Russel A. Kester
Michael, the fact that your comment referred to being masculine as a "performative act" is woke written large. Our society needs to return to allowing boys to grow up into being masculine men not sissified ninnies. Today's men need to grow a pair. Funny that people, as reflected in your comment, celebrate women acting masculine but denigrate men who are. Your comment perfectly reflects the reality to which I referred in my comment and in Thomas's.
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Michael Hunt
Not all masculinity is performative just like not all masculinity is toxic. The truth is not all men fit the idea of masculinity that you ascribe to men and some aspects of that type of masculinity hurts men and women alike, such as the belief than men are superior to women.
My comment had nothing to do with celebrating women who act masculine, nor does it denigrate men who are. You're projecting the arguments you wish for me to make onto my comments.
I am not a "sissified ninny", as you'd call me, just because I'm not a testosterone-filled, monster of a man. I'm still a man who expresses his masculinity, I just don't use my masculinity to denigrate other people or to project myself as superior to others. I don't feel the need to drive a lifted, diesel truck to make myself feel more masculine; that's performative masculinity. I don't need to tell women to stay in the kitchen or to make me a sandwich to feel like a man; that's toxic masculinity. I can be effeminate while still being a man. I have a pair, I don't need to grow any.
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Russel A. Kester
Michael, I fear that your comment mischaracterized my own with examples like driving a fork lift or truck or that denigrating women makes anyone feel more masculine. And it was your comment that made the statement that masculinity was a performative act, and it is that term with which I take issue. It is the wording of gender activists. It is poor thinking. However, in your last comment you wrote as if you believe I hold to one stereotype or model of manhood. I don't. Yes, there are NATURALLY effeminate men. That's true. But men who are CONDITIONED to act effeminately by woke mothers and a disastrous education system are an entirely different story. It is to the latter I refer when I speak of sissified ninnies who need to grow a pair and be the men they were born to be.
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Michael Hunt
As I said, not all masculinity is performative but some aspects are, hence the examples I provided of performative masculinity.
I would not describe my mother as woke by any means yet I would be considered by you as one of the men conditioned to act effeminately. It's not "woke mothers" that is causing men to act effeminately, it's because we no longer live in a society where macho-man masculinity is needed. Manual labor is no longer the primary means of work as much of it has now moved to offices and computers.
Ultimately, you just want men to conform to your vision of masculinity and you can't accept that other versions of masculinity are just as valid.
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Russel A. Kester
Michael, again you mischaracterized my position. To be clear, my position is that it is as wrong to feminize boys who would otherwise be masculine as it is to force an effeminate boy to be masculine because both thwart his natural development. It's amazing how progressive wokies will decry forcing boys to be masculine but cheer forcing forcing them to be feminine; hence my opposition to feminism.
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Patricia Ann Gross
Russel, do you realize that you just twisted your argument around to exactly where we are: It is not the societal definition of masculinity (or femininity for that matter) that should describe what men and women should act like. Everyone should be free to express it as part of their natural development. Am I reading your statement right? Even if you are wired as an effeminiate man or a butch woman you should be free to express it that way. This is all the "woke" crowd is asking for. Thank you for finally "waking up."
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Russel A. Kester
Patricia, you almost got it right. The only part you missed is that we, as a society especially in education, are feminizing otherwise masculine boys. If that were not happening, them we would be in agreement.
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Michael Hunt
Please provide examples of men being forced to be feminized. You claim our education system is doing this but I have seen zero evidence that is the case.
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Russel A. Kester
Thomas, thank you for sharing your knowledge and experiences.
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Rev. BH
RAK: " it was a stated goal to feminize men. Well, now they have it" They do? Did you manage to escape this evil plan?
Could you name the feminist publication from the 1880s so we could all read it?
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Russel A. Kester
BH, in the past I've provided my sources and no one read them. So, there is no reason for me to go back to find this particular article. However, the general topic is afoot in the population today. Finally, to state that such was a goal which they have achieved to a great extent is a simple observation. I was also influenced by this odious ideology, but became an independent thinker and have since repudiated its brainwashing attempts.
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Rev. BH
How could you verify "know no one read them"? Post it for me, I personally promise to read it. Just the name of the publication/article will suffice. I'll track it down.
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Russel A. Kester
You will have to find an archive to find a short lived feminist magazine published in London, England from 1886-1887 called Utica.
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Rev. BH
Short lived, long ago, far away- hmm. OK, gang. Having trouble finding this. Anyone with serious research abilities, can you help?
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Rev. Mike Eggleston
I know trans-men, women who transition to a male persona. It's not as rare as you like to make out. A lot of female transvestites (women who dress in male attire) tend to go unnoticed or are considered "chic" rather than being transvestites.
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There ARE MANY Statues in BOTH Rome & Greece, Which COMPLETELY Discredits The Thieving "Author" (See Tolkien's Literary Works) She ALSO LITERALLY Used A MALES Name (RobertGalbranth) To Continue To Publish Newer Material. So Why DO People Seem To Think That She Has ANY Intelligence?