Biden May Add a Third Gender to Your ID
Conservative Christians have their undies in a wad because of people changing genders. To them is is a national crisis if a baby is called a boy by his doctor at the time of birth and later determines by herself she is a girl. Once this has been made clear to her family and everyone who knows Republican Christians can't stand it. They want to force her to use a men's rest room in school. The fact is there are thousands of people who change their gender each year. There are others who never arrive at either gender. They are simply both genders. Just because that is not discussed in the Bible does not mean it will not happen.
The Biden Administration is working on a solution. One of his senior staff has said he, himself, is open to adding a third gender to official federal Identification Cards. It has not been decided what the third gender would be called. Two states are already in the process of adding a third category on Drivers Licenses.
It is too late to declare "there shall be no third gender." It is already here. Young people today routinely use the term "they" and "them" when referring to individual friends. They mean, of course, the person is neither completely male nor female. There is a news item circulating which says Baron Trump uses this way of referring to his friends. This has never been confirmed and may not be true.
Unfortunately, conservative Christians do not have the knowledge or background in this issue to deal with it successfully. Native Americans are known to have been far less concerned about gender than were their white conquerors. Bi gendered natives were regarded as spiritual people, higher in ranking than single gendered people. The bi gender was thought to he a gift from the spirits reserved for the spirits human representative.
We can expect a huge fight over this third gender on official ID's. I envision marchers with signs reading, "No second grade rapists in the elemental school rest room." The world was going to end if same sex couples could share pensions just as hetero couples do. Then if same sex couples could marry the "institution of marriage" would be harmed. Churches would cease to exist if a pastor had a same sex partner. It's been going on forever it seems.
No doubt a third gender on a federal ID will be another end-of-world event.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletetsm "it isn't making much sense to me."
DeleteI met the first person who had male parts and was certain she was (is) a female in Fargo 40 years ago. She lived in rural Cass County. I've known many such people since and have read volumes of literature about this topic. That said, I can't say I understand it like someone who has lived it. You will not understand it until you read about it on the net or find books about it. I'll just say three things I am certain about. 1.) people born with the anatomy of one gender may be certain they are of the other gender. 2.) Such folks are not mentally ill nor need the services of a psychiatrist or clergy. 3.) Other cultures do not see male and female as the only genders. There are hundreds of sources of this. For the sake of brevity I'll just list one, that native American languages had several references to gender, not just two. Of course, there were (are) a hundred or more different tribes and languages so there is not universal agreement on several issues:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/mind-and-soul/native-americans-acknowledged-5-different-genders-before-europeans-forced-gender-roles/ar-BB14CTSv
One term used in this discussion is "gender binary." In gender binary society decides there are only two genders and comes up with a rule on how to assign gender to individual people. Parts of society have decided if one's physical parts are male of female then society, and the legal system, must assign people to those genders.
DeleteThen there is non-gender binary where there are more than two genders and individual people decide if they are one or the other or some category that includes some of both. For example, I used the old system when I talked above about the woman who had male parts and knew she was (is) a female. Some third or forth term would better describe her. We could, as many young people today do, refer to "her" as they.
I think the first issues at stake here is that Americans tend to confuse the terms "gender" and "sex".
DeleteBryan K "confuse gender and sex"
DeleteI think readers would appreciate it if you would expand on what the you mean by the difference in the two terms.
I would refer to "sex" as a biological term. I would refer to gender as roles one plays in society.
DeleteLike it or not, there are more than two "sexes".
As far as gender roles go, there are really only two in America. But I think society is a better place when none exist at all.
The line between the two tends to be extremely blurry for most Americans, and for many, that line doesn't exist at all. The concept of "gender role" is so completely entrenched in American culture, it's going to take some time to unravel it all.
I find it interesting that when I talk to folks who have Spanish as a first language, this tends to be far less of an issue. That's an interesting concept when their entire language is based on "masculine" and "feminine" words. It seems as if people who are able to separate gender roles from sexuality have a much easier time being tolerant of this issue.
Just an observation. I do not speak as an authority. Just as someone trying to understand why folks would be opposed to this.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletetsm "neurological disorder..."
ReplyDeleteThat's the kind of insult that started me to advocate for gay, trans, bi etc some 45 years ago. It follows that you, someone who is steeped in Biblical mythology, would still make such an insult almost five decades later. In the Bible people who are different than those who wrote the Bible are insulted by those who wrote it. Today those who believe the Bible, like yourself, simple follow along like sheep. If being gay, deciding one is male though having female body, is a "neurological disorder" I'll accept that from some expert in the field, not from a Bible thumper.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletetsm "decided to censor my last comment.."
ReplyDeleteBigoted comments about my friends should appear over on right wing sites, not here.