Category Archives: Gender Identity

Bill Lockwood: Is Freedom Disappearing in America? 0 (0)

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Is Freedom Disappearing in America?- “The government will create ‘zones of exemption’ for a time which presumably will include churches.”

by Bill Lockwood

The issue is freedom. It always has been. The two-world views, a God-centered Christian worldview and the socialist/communist worldview, have always clashed in America, but now that the latter has the upper hand, freedom is on the chopping block. An absolutely perfect example of this is now occurring in the state of Iowa. The Iowa Civil Rights Act has banned places of “public accommodation” from expressing their views regarding “human sexuality” if those places either “directly or indirectly” make persons of any gender “feel unwelcome.”

Under the 1964 Civil Rights Act places of “public accommodation” are forbidden by the federal government to “discriminate” against persons of any class—be it race, color, national origin or religion. Along with this the federal government empowered itself to investigate alleged violations and prosecute.

The misstep here was to reverse what the founders had intended for a limited government. As right as it may be to eliminate discrimination based upon race, the very reason that the framers of America left the oversight for this in the hands of the states and local municipalities and forbade it to the federal government was a matter of principle. Freedom has historically been enjoyed only under limited federal government.

Our second misstep has been and continues to be the refusal of the American people—even Christians—to oppose homosexuality. This in spite of the fact that the Bible demonstrably shows that sodomy is a sin, and therefore a choice that people make. Our culture has by default placed homosexuality in the same category as race. Therefore, the same laws will apply. Now comes Obama to cram “transgenderism” into the same folder. Compliant weak-spined states meekly comply.

For example, the Iowa Civil Rights commission recently explained in a brochure that refusing to use the correct pronoun in addressing transgender individuals is a form of harassment. God’s grant of freedom of speech be hanged. Discrimination is defined by that Commission as “publicizing that the patronage of persons of any particular sexual orientation or gender identity is unwelcome, objectionable, not acceptable or not solicited.” The standard is: do not to make others feel unwelcome.

Now comes the third misstep, which naturally follows from the first two. The government decides what is a legitimate or illegitimate usage of speech; in what places or zones it may occur; who might be exempt and under what conditions. The Des Moines Register reports that Kristin Johnson, director of the Iowa Civil Rights Commission, assured churches that the “state code provides some exemptions for bona fide religious institutions engaged in activities with a bona fide religious purpose.”

The problem with this, as everyone who has not had their thinking by-passed by liberalism can see: this places the state in charge of deciding what is and what is not a legitimate religious institution. And remember, we are not talking about human or animal sacrifice or killing, which violates basic natural law codes.

The government will create “zones of exemption” for a time which presumably will include churches. I write, “for a time,” since it is already being discussed in some circles what constitutes a “legitimate” sermon or Bible lesson and what does not. Maura Strassberg, Drake University law professor said that “sermons that stick to human sexuality matters pertaining to theology would be constitutionally protected.” But according to the Des Moines Register she suggested that sometimes a situation may occur where a preacher’s sermonic material “crossed the line” into harassment. “There is a line: You go from ‘this is what God believes’ … to ‘You are bad, so we don’t want you here.’”

This would amount to the the state deciding what is and what is not proper sermon etiquette and content. Freedom is fast disappearing in America. Time to retrace our steps.

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Gender Assignment? 0 (0)

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Gender Assignment?

by Bill Lockwood

We have entered the fantasy world of Obama’s Alice in Wonderland in which nothing is as it seems. Not even basic scientific facts are “tolerated” in our diverse world of “political correctness”—let alone God’s Word. The only response left for thinking Americans is “Unbelievable!”

Take, for example, the new transgender policies enacted by Barack Obama via the Supreme Court. A recent eight-page letter from the U.S. Departments of Justice and Education tells school districts to be compliant with Title IX protections against sex discrimination by allowing students to use the bathrooms and locker rooms of the gender “they identify with.”

It matters not what God created in the womb (Psalm 139:13-16), or what medical science and common sense knows about an individual, be “it” male or female—Obama’s Government says: “A school may provide separate facilities on the basis of sex, but must allow transgender students access to such facilities consistent with their gender identity.” The government letter further states: “A school may not require transgender students to use facilities inconsistent with their gender identity or to use individual-user facilities when other students are not required to do so …”

But what exactly is “transgender?” How does the Obama Administration define it? “Transgender describes those individuals whose gender identity is different from the sex they were assigned at birth.” Further, the letter goes on to point out that “A transgender male is someone who identifies as male but was assigned the sex of female at birth; a transgender female is someone who identifies as female was but assigned the sex of male at birth.” Gender identity is “an individual’s internal sense of gender.” Science be hanged: How do you feel about yourself? What “assignment” made the doctor who delivered you?

What Have We Come To?

Imagine this. You and your wife are excited about the baby she is carrying in her womb. At five months of pregnancy the doctor, through modern technology, is able to determine the baby’s gender. Either the apple has a stem or it does not. Only two alternatives. But wait! That which you plainly SEE via the sonogram is not determinative of anything! The doctor only “assigns” a gender. Nothing scientific. Nothing natural. It is only an arbitrary “assignment” that is encoded on the birth certificate – “M” or “F”—which can be “changed.”

The same when the healthy child arrives. Baby boy or girl is the question. Blue or pink ribbons? You are excited to hold your baby girl. “Not so fast,” says Doctor Obama. The “boy” or “girl” question is unsettled! “We will,” promises Doctor Obama, “place female on the birth certificate. But it is only temporary.”

This is similar to having “an assignment” handed you as a graduate from Officer Training School in the Air Force. You might be “assigned” Luke AFB or Travis AFB or some other. But if you don’t like that “assignment” go get it changed. That will be difficult, if not impossible. But the Commander-in-chief will allow you to alter the “sex you identify with.” Unbelievable.

I wish to identify as a WWII decorated hero who landed on the beaches of Normandy. Shall I write my government and demand my Silver Star and Purple Heart medals? What about my Medal of Honor that is due me for heroism on the battlefield? Will President Obama hang it on my neck? After all, my “identity” is what my “internal sense” dictates—not what is reality.

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