I aways liked the slogan: “It’s a great day in South Carolina.” But I am beginning to have second thoughts. Not all people in our state can say: “It’s a great day in South Carolina. Why? So many people seem to be left out. Dreamers, poor folk, gays, blacks, immigrants or just non-whites.
Yet a last week a headline on Transgender folk in the local newspaper has given me pause. The State Legislators are trying to pass bills that would deny Trans people full rights and privileges in SC. The headline read: “Upstate Families Face Anxiety, Exit Plans.” This fear seems to be spreading to almost every state.
Transgender means “a person whose gender identity does not correspond with the sex registered at birth.” Which means that people are confused about their sexual identity. Some males feel more like female than male. The same can be said of females. All over the country young people and their families are struggling with this term transgender.
Couples have told me very early on they knew sons or daughters were different. Their child’s sexual identity gravitated to the opposite sex. They see themselves as not the male or female they find on their birth certificate. Many are involved in transition, meaning they are receiving treatments to change their sex.
Like so many others I do not understand this problem. Yet over 1.6 million identify themselves as transgender. This is a threat to legislators and ordinary citizens. 14 states prohibit transgender people from employment. 13 states protest the protection of transgenders and refuse them housing.
There are 3,500 transgender youths (13-17) in our state. 18 bills in SC have been introduced attacking transgenders. Their stated purpose is to stamp out health care for those in transition, changes in birth certification, adoption rights, use of bathrooms and sports teams.
These bills would ban any instruction of expressions of gender diversity in the classroom. This is followed with the banning of books that even mention the term, trans. One Florida provision allows Social Services to scoop children from their homes if their parents give their under-age children access to gender-affirming care. Some parents are seriously considering moving out of the state to protect their children from hatred and harsh and unfair treatment. Others not understanding weep for their children.
The American Academy of Pediatrics revealed alarming rates of attempted suicide among transgender youth. 1.8 million L GBTQ youths (13-24) consider suicide every year.
The climate the parents and their trans children encounter enormous resistance. Just think your child comes home and tells you they are not the sex you thought they were. Imagine the struggle these parents feel in unlearning values they have always held. Shifting these gears is far from easy. And then there is the difficulty in dealing with their relatives and friends.
Many people charge these parents with indoctrinating their children to transgender. Teachers are warned to not mention this subject. Many churches teach these children are an abomination and live in sin. They say that God’s laws have been broken.
What we need:
1) Bills to protect all our children. Every child needs a safe place.
2) Parents need encouragement and support as they struggle with all their issues.
3) We need Legislators that are willing to sit down and listen to parents and their
children as they tell their stories.
4) Every person and family dealing with these issues should seek counseling in this serious matter.
5) Churches and other faith groups should welcome all people. No Qualification.
There are a multitude of references in the New Testament on the defense of children. “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes “ me. If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, if would be better for you if a great millstone were fastened around your neck, and you were drowned in the depths of the sea.” (Matthew 18. 6.)
6) We also need to ponder the words of the 14th Amendment in our Constitution: “All persons or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall the State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
I close these remarks with the eloquent words of Wendell Berry:
“Though you have done nothing shameful,
they will want you to be ashamed.
They will want you to kneel and weep
and say you should have been like them.
And once you say you are ashamed,
reading the page they hold out to you,
then such light as you have made
in your history will leave you.”
--Roger Lovette / rogerlovette.blogspot.com
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