…Rhode Island Gov. Don Carcieri vetoed a bill on Wednesday, which was designed to expand the state’s definition of a hate crime to include “gender identity” and “gender expression.”

The governor – a strong advocate for the family – said the state’s existing law already addresses actions “motivated by racial, religious, sexual orientation, gender and disability prejudice;” therefore, the measure was not required.

So begins the Focus On The Family /CitizenLink article Rhode Island Governor Vetoes Expansion of Hate Crimes. Focus On The Family/CitizenLink‘s Catherine Snow wrote a piece praising Governor Don Carcieri for not expanding a hate crime statute to include trans people — praising how known victims of violence because of antitransgender hatred and prejudice won’t be added to the protected classes of RI’s preexistant hate crime statute. (The piece ends with a convoluted connection to marriage equality — which we’ll get to in a bit.)

Focus On The Family Research Analyst Caleb H. Price was quoted as saying this in the piece:

Those who struggle with gender confusion deserve our compassion and understanding – not laws that cement them into an identity which denies biological and objective reality.

Price appears quite willing to substitute his organizations’ interpretation of the Bible for good science, good healthcare, and good public policy yet again. In the past, Price has been quoted as stating:

Homosexual activists have long been strategically targeting corporate America to help bring about their radical agenda to re-engineer society and redefine the traditional and biblical understanding of family, sexuality and now gender.

Sadly, as American corporate titans adopt ‘transgender’-affirming policies, the patently ridiculous notion that gender is somehow ‘fluid’ and that people can ignore biological reality and self-define their gender will become normalized in society.

Focus On The Family states about “gender confusion” and transsexuals this way, in their piece Hope in a World of Gender Confusion:

Most of us grew up with the traditional — biblical, biological and binary — view that there are two sexes: male and female. But many in the “transgendered” community, and their allies in areas such as academia, believe that there are multiple genders — even an infinite number of genders…

…”Transsexuals” are those who have “successfully” completed the “transition” from one gender to another through hormone treatment and sexual reassignment surgeries19 – ignoring the medical fact that surgery can not change underlying genetic biology. Indeed, every cell in a so-called transsexual’s body still retains the biological sex he or she was born with. While surgery and hormones may change the outward appearance, they cannot change underlying biological reality.

I don’t argue that gender is fluid for everyone. Such as, my gender is female. I’m not “gender confused” at all about my gender; I understand with clarity that my natal sex and my gender don’t match. I’m not unhappy — I’m at the most centered place in my life that I’ve ever been. Despite Focus On The Family/CitizenLink claims that I am experiencing Societal Confusion and/or Self Hatred and Envy, or that have I experienced a Disconnection from Same-Sex Parent and Same-Sex Models and/or Sexual Abuse and Trauma, or that I’m motivated by Eroticism — motivated more by the erotic feelings they obtain by dressing and acting as the opposite sex — well, I’m not.

What Price and Focus On The Family claim is true about trans people like me doesn’t fit me or my personal history, nor does it fit many transgender or transsexual people — as well as not fitting people who identify as both transgender and transsexual people — that I know. I know I don’t fit into the boxes Focus On The Family is attempting to fit me into. Just because Caleb H. Price, Focus On The Family, and other religious right Christians are trying to label trans people like me as “gender confused,” that doesn’t make the label a valid label that’s grounded in reality.  As for Price himself, he’s given us What About Intersexuality? (as well as What About “Transgenderism”?). He no doubt has read Matthew 19:12, Galatians 3:28, Isaiah 56:3-5, Acts 8:25-40, and Judges 4, so he knows the Bible doesn’t completely support a binary of sex of gender. And hey, I don’t believe it’s very hard to figure out that What About Intersexuality? and What About “Transgenderism”? were apparently written in response to what I wrote in the piece The Scientific Problem With Sex And Gender Dichotomies. Price knows, or should know, that the science doesn’t support his conclusion that there is a “underlying biological reality” — a sex and gender dichotomy — based on genitalia, genetics, and brain science.

Well, Genesis 1:27 states this:

God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

Caleb H. Price, and others at Focus On The Family (FOTF), significantly quote and/or reference Genesis 1:27 regarding God creating people as male and female. (Examples: here, here, here, here, and here). But, Price and his FOTF peers keeps acting as if this is the only biblical and scientific “reality” regarding sex and gender — their fundamentalist Christian interpretations of that verse.

But Christ himself, in Mathew 19:12, states:

For there are eunuchs who were born that way from their mother’s womb; and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men; and there are also eunuchs who made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to accept this, let him accept it.

The Bible recognizes intersex and gender variant people exist. If for the sake of argument we make that mind-dizzying assumption that the story of Adam and Eve in Genesis is literal and factual, then God may have originally only created males and females, but there are obviously people now who don’t fit in the sex and gender binary. Caleb Price acknowledges this in his piece What About Intersexuality?, but then he discounts that “male and female He created them” doesn’t apply to everyone across the board. He even states this about intersex people:

From these passages we see that Christians are called to understand that God readily seeks to strengthen and encourage those who find themselves unable to marry and participate in genderedness and sexual expression as ordained in the created order. Practically speaking, this means that we – as the Hands and Feet of Christ – are called to help intersexuals carry this “heavy yoke” and steward their assigned gender in a manner that glorifies God and, to the degree possible, reflects His created intent for human sexuality and gender.

…So how should we, as Christians, minister to those among us who deal with the unique and often traumatic circumstances associated with intersexuality? Perhaps Jesus’ own words, as recorded in Matthew 19, should serve as our guide…

What we have then would be a “traumatic circumstance” not created by intersex people themselves, but a “traumatic circumstance” placed on intersex people for not conforming to sex and gender norms of others in society. The do this by demanding to know if someone is male or female. And, they do this demanding that since Genesis 1:27 states that “male and female He created them” that all be confined in their rigid, religious right sex and gender boxes. Sanctimonious Christians like Price claim there is a “heavy yoke” on intersex people — yet it’s people like Price and his fundamentalist Christian allies are among those who help to create that “heavy yoke.” They create that “heavy yoke” through their dogmatic, dictative thinking on sex and gender — and then by their actions based on that rigid thinking on sex and gender.

So why do Focus On The Family and company care that Rhode Island not add gender identity and expression to their hate crime statute? Their argument has to do with marriage equality. Focus On The Family/CitizenLink‘s Catherine Snow quotes the executive director of the National Organization for Marriage – Rhode Island (NOM-R.I.) for how these two issues are connected:

Chris Plante, executive director for NOM-R.I., agrees with the governor about the definitions of “gender identity” and “gender expression” being ambiguous; thus, bad law.

“All Rhode Islanders deserve to be protected to the fullest extent of the law,” said Plante. “There is no reason to carve out a special group, irrespective of motivation.”

Despite today’s victory, Plante expressed deep concerns that Rhode Islanders are slowly becoming desensitized to an incremental – and insidious – erosion of marriage.

“From NOM’s perspective, we were deeply concerned about this bill, because we have seen similar (hate crime) legislation- in places like Connecticut and Vermont – lead directly to the imposition of same-sex marriage.  

“Laws like this are stepping stones to homosexual marriage,” said Plante. “They are an erosion of traditional family values.”

So let us, as a society, not enhance the punishments the people who kill transgender people due to antitransgender hate and prejudice. Let these hateful killers who terrorize transgender community do it with impunity; let us not hold these killers accountable for the terror that their hate crimes perpetuate. And, let us do this because we want to defend marriage against “gay marriage”.

And too, let us applaud Caleb H. Price, Focus On The Family, and NOM-R.I. when they express their sanctimonious hatred, just a half a step away from the spewing hatred recently expressed by the gang of four.

And in the meantime, let me react with disgust at what Price, FOTF, NOM-R.I. and the gang of four are stating and advocating.

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