More Digusting "Bathroom" News

Just when I convince myself that I will never, never read another article about "bathrooms", I find a article that hauntingly needs to be read.  I remember with great fondness - and it wasn't that long ago, come to think of it - when a person who needed to go to the bathroom followed this very simple formula: if you were a male, you went into that bathroom marked "MEN," and if you were a female, you went into that bathroom marked "WOMEN."  Of course, back in those days - and, remember, they were not that long ago - there was hardly any confusion as to which bathroom you entered.  That was then...this is now.

I read an article that was written by Cheryl Chumley and was published by at www.wnd.com/2016/06/transgenderism-added-to-kindergarten-curriculum.  I guess it was the title that grabbed my attention.  Let me share from that article.  "President Obama's transgender bathroom guidance has schools in an uproar.  Students as young as five years old - kindergartners - are going to be taught about the ins and outs of 'transgenderism' in all public schools in Washington, beginning in the fall 2017 semester.  That's according to the Daily Caller, which reported on the state's new health-education learning standards, which have been broadened to include 'gender expression' as a mandatory teaching.  The curriculum states that children as young as age five will be taught to 'understand there are many ways to express gender,' all as part of the 'self-identity' sex education classes that are mandatory for public schools, GOP USA reported.  Among the course training: 'Gender is no longer determined by a person's biological characteristics at birth,' as GOP USA put it.  And further, 'teachers will inform children through the curriculum that gender expression is now subjective to individual preference, and not limited to one's actual sex,' the news site continued.  By the time a child in Washington's public schools enters third grade, he or she will have to be able to 'explain that gender roles can vary considerably,' according to the course outline."

As I read this article a couple of things disturbed me.  First, that this curriculum is mandatory in all public schools.  I remember serving four years on a local school board back in the late 1980's and early 1990's.  It was a small school located in a small northwest Iowa community.  But the members of that community were proud of their school.  I remember at our school board meetings that the superintendent would bring to our attention "new mandates" that he had received from either the Federal Government Department of Education or the Iowa Department of Education.  To be quite honest, most of those "new mandates" had very little to do with improving the quality of education of the students attending that school.  The purpose, at least historically, of a local school board was to govern the education of the students within that community.  Today, most school boards are merely "rubber stamps" for those "new mandates" which come down from bureaucratic authorities - such as those mandates concerning "transgenderism."  Friends, these are not mere "suggestions" being given to local schools, but "mandatory" orders.  It is declaring to those local school officials, "Either do this, or else!"  And, the "or else" most often comes with serious financial repercussions.

The second things that disturbed me was that the goal of these "new mandates" is to create within the minds of our young children an uncertainty as to who they really are.  Let me share that statement from the article once again, "By the time a child in Washington's public schools enters third grade, he or she will have to be able to 'explain that gender roles can vary considerably,' according to the course outline."  It seems to me that many third grade students struggle with knowing their math facts - that is a normal fact.  Many struggle with knowing how to define and create sentences - and, sadly, that struggle continues even into adulthood.  Many struggle with how to read a book with meaning.  They should not have to struggle knowing what gender they are?  How tragic!

I think Joel Belz summarized the real issue with these words found in his editorial in the May 28 issue of WORLD Magazine - which, by the way, I highly endorse and read almost religiously.  "Make no mistake. The debate in North Carolina and across the nation is not first and foremost about rights for sexually bewildered people.  To a certain extent, the discussion is not even about sexual privacy - although there is an obvious connection between that colorful topic and the ultimate issue.  As I stated in my March 19 column: The real matter at stake is our culture's constant rejection of God's creation order and its blatant denial that God created us male and female - and then called that very good."  Thank you, Mr. Belz, for reminding us that the "bathroom issue" is truly a spiritual issue.  And where will this journey eventually end?  Read Romans 1:18-32 to discover the painful answer.