Delaware’s Department of Education has proposed letting all children choose their own gender and race.  They would then be able to use the bathroom of their decided gender, play on the sports of their decided gender, and be able to expect everyone around them to use the pronouns of their decided gender.  All without informing their parents.

Nine observations:

Children simply do not have the cognitive ability to be making these decisions.

No one has the ability to make these decisions as they are defined by genetics, anatomy, and, in the case of race, family ancestry.  Physical reality matters.  Your body matters – it is an essential part of who you are.

The policy itself encourages identity confusion.  I grew up knowing I was a boy in part because my anatomy is male and my culture supported this physical reality. This policy tells children to distrust their physical reality.  Our culture’s ideology no longer agrees with anatomy.  How many otherwise unconfused children are we confusing?

The policy is quite frankly insulting.  It would be highly insulting to women everywhere for me to claim to be a woman, as I have no idea what it means to experience life as a woman (as many a wife has told her husband whenever the subject of giving birth comes up).  It would be highly insulting to African-Americans for me to claim that I am black, as I have no idea what it is like to experience life as a black person.

We should beware of forcing new untested ideas (that past generations would have immediately rejected) on the next generation.  These are unchartered waters, and we have no idea what we are doing.

Safety must come first.  There is a reason we have separate bathrooms and locker rooms for girls and boys.  This policy can so easily be abused by predators, as any boy could claim he is a girl to gain access to the girls’ locker room.

Once again parental rights are being trampled, as if the cultural elites know better how to raise our children.

I understand that some people struggle with their identity.  But the loving answer is not to encourage them to live in a self-made fantasy world.  Rather, the loving answer is encourage them to embrace their physical reality.

These are important issues that require rational consideration and discussion.  And these issues relate to real people who on all sides deserve love and respect.

For another helpful look at some of the issues see here.