In June 2015, I posted my first blog article on trans people, and my 5/20/16 blog post was titled Tempest in a Pee Pot. This issue has been in the news again this month, so I am writing about it once more—and in addition, I am referring again (first here) to this month’s Transgender Day of Remembrance.
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| Sarah McBride (2024) |
Sarah McBride (D-Del.) was elected this
month to the U.S. House of Representatives. She will be one
of 125 women in that position. But Sarah (b. 1990) will be the first trans
woman ever to serve in the U.S. Congress—causing what, again, I am calling a “tempest
in a pee pot.”
As has been widely reported in the
public media this month, another female House member, Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), introduced
a resolution on Nov. 18 to ban transgender people from using U.S.
Capitol restrooms other than those designated only for their gender as identified
at birth.
Mace (b. 1977) described McBride as a
“biological man trying to force himself into women’s spaces” and as a “guy in a
skirt.”
It is reported (here)
that “Nancy Mace’s Christian faith serves as a guiding force in her life. … This
unwavering commitment to her beliefs empowers her to speak out against anything
that she perceives as conflicting with her faith.” And her faith means saying
trans women must use men’s restrooms?!
Not surprisingly, Mace’s position in
opposition to Rep. McBride using women’s bathrooms at the Capitol was supported
by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga).*1 Greene has publicly said,
"Men [such as Sarah McB.] should be banned from women’s restrooms in every
federal building paid for by taxpayers."
Tim McBride was elected student government
president in 2011 when he was a sophomore at American University (AU)
in Washington, D.C.*2 Fifteen months later, the day after he
finished that term in office, Tim made a startling announcement in the school
newspaper: he was becoming Sarah.*3
I don’t understand how people
transition from one gender to another as adults or even why they think it
necessary to make such a life-changing decision. But I accept the fact that a
small percentage of the population do make that transition and often face
hateful discrimination for doing so.
When Tim became Sarah in 2012, she was
largely supported by the faculty, staff, and students at a university that broadly
affirmed the self-chosen identity of LBGT people. But things nationwide have
gotten a lot worse since then, especially for trans people.
But currently, as opinion columnist
Michelle Goldberg posted (here)
in The New York Times on Nov. 26, “It’s hard to imagine how terrifying it must
be to be a trans person, or the parent of one, in America right now.”
Goldberg goes on to say, “Donald Trump
and his party, having triumphed in an election in which they demonized trans
people, seem hellbent on driving them out of public life.” The title of her
article is “There Is No Excuse for the Bullying of Sarah McBride.”
Sarah McBride is only one of some
500,000 trans women in the U.S. That is a large
number, but still a very small percentage (about 0.15%) of the nation’s
population. Nevertheless, most of those 500k trans women are bullied as Sarah
is—and many in ways much worse than by bathroom limitation.
Each year, November 13~19 is designated
as Transgender Awareness Week. It leads to Transgender Day of Remembrance on
Nov. 20, a day to remember all the trans people who have been murdered in the
previous year. In the last five years, around 175 have been killed, 60% of them
women.
The anti-trans rhetoric of current
national politicians such as the two women mentioned above and the bulk of the leadership
of the Republican Party and their MAGA supporters seem to lack recognition of and
compassion for hurting people. This is contrary to the love of neighbor
proclaimed by Jesus.
As I wrote at the end of my previous
blog post, the driving force of my life for the past seventy years (and more)
has been, and still is, doing my utmost to be a faithful disciple of Jesus
Christ. My support for Sarah McBride and for all trans people facing hateful
opposition is based on that commitment.
_____
*1 Greene (b. 1974) is another
problematic Christian. She was reared as a Roman Catholic, but in 2011 she was
rebaptized and became a member of an evangelical megachurch in her home state of
Georgia.
*2 Here is a link from “The Eagle,” AU’s student newspaper,
telling about Tim’s election with some of his background and plans for the coming
year and beyond graduation. There is also a large picture of him.
*3 This link is to a June 2012 transcript of
AU’s radio broadcast telling of Tim’s transition to Sarah. A picture of Sarah
at that time is included with that article.
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Some of you may be interested in reading "Bishop Gene Robinson, First Openly Gay Episcopal Bishop, Preaches Defense of McBride," posted a few days ago and again this morning by RNS:
ReplyDeletehttps://religionnews.com/2024/11/25/bishop-gene-robinson-first-openly-gay-episcopal-bishop-preaches-defense-of-mcbride/
The first response this morning comes from Thinking Friend Bob Hanson, a love and justice activist in Wisconsin. He comments,
ReplyDelete"Blessings, Brother Leroy! This one is a powerful witness for love and justice! Thanks! We have some difficult days ahead. We need to care for all! Work locally and never back away!"
Thanks, Bob, for reading and responding. I appreciate your comments and even more, I am grateful for the many, many years you have advocated and worked for love and justice for all.
DeleteThe following comments are by local Thinking Friend David Nelson (who may have sent them from Colorado where he was earlier this week):
ReplyDelete"Thanksgiving can become a part of everyday for me. Your courage and intelligent writing continues to inspire me to ponder the world in which we live in together with a wonderful variety of people. Your reflections on those who are marginalized invite me to stand with those who others attack. Thanks to you for suggesting we need not understand in order to appreciate. We can become friends with others who do not share our opinion. I look forward to blogs and know that you will think, write and share. Like many others, I do not always respond, but I ALWAYS appreciate the time and effort your give so freely.
David, I much appreciate your kind, positive, encouraging words. Thank you especially for saying that "we need not understand in order to appreciate." That was the point of my article: even though we may not understand, we can and should accept, appreciate, and support people such as Representative-elect McBride.
DeleteBro. Leroy, as you well know I am not overly sympathetic to the LBGT lifestyle. My personal feelings, however, must stop there. We live in a free country established by the bravery and sacrifices of hundreds of thousands of people over the centuries - men, women, and individuals in total confusion over the feelings they kept hidden deep inside. Now in this free country they are being allowed to express those feelings. When we say they cannot, then the freedom all of us enjoy will in some measure become more limited.
ReplyDeleteAmong the churches I served before retiring, there was an unspoken policy related to women in church leadership roles. That understanding was simple. "If you don't make me follow your policies, then I won't make you follow my policies. Now let's go have some sweet tea and fried chicken together." I wish the transgender question was that simple. A biological female can honestly say, "As long as I know you are a biological male, I don't feel comfortable, or perhaps even safe, sharing a restroom or a locker room with you. The law says my feelings are irrelevant, and therefore I have to put up with my uncomfortable feelings so you can be comfortable with yours." A free country is the best, but it is also messy.
Thanks for again posting thoughtful, fair, and open-minded comments even though they somewhat conflict with what I wrote in this blog post.
DeleteI have often objected to the term "LGBT lifestyle," for I think that for most LGBT people it is more than and different from a lifestyle. An online dictionary says that a lifestyle is "a manner of living that reflects the person's values and attitudes." But as I understand it, a trans person such as Sarah McBride was expressing something more than values and/or attitudes when he/she transitioned from being Tim to being Sarah. It was a permanent change of identity as he/she changed from what they saw as an identity that was not compatible with who they really were.
Here are thoughtful/helpful comments from Thinking Friend Eric Dollard in Chicago:
ReplyDelete"Thanks, Leroy, for addressing this contentious issue.
"Trans people suffer from dysphoria, a condition that no one would ordinarily adopt voluntarily. Many of these individuals grow out of it by their 20s, but obviously some do not. They deserve our sympathy, understanding, and our compassionate support, not hate, violence, and opprobrium.
"I see three principal controversies in all of this. 1) Whether doctors should provide hormone treatments to children who suffer from dysphoria; 2) whether trans girls should be allowed to participate in women's sports; and 3) whether trans individuals should be allowed to use restrooms designated for their adopted gender rather than their birth gender.
Regarding 1), many experts argue that hormone treatments are reversible, although a friend of mine, a retired doctor, argues that they are not fully reversible, so no doctor, in his opinion, should offer hormone treatments to any minor since some of them will outgrow their dysphoria. My friend is less opposed to such treatments for adults (i.e., those over age 18). I do not know the answer, but I believe decisions regarding hormone treatments should be left to families and their doctors.
"Regarding 2), I am uncomfortable with trans-girls participating in women's sports because, despite hormone treatments, they still have somewhat of a physical advantage over birth-girls. I would leave the decision up to the individual women's teams. I do not have a problem with trans-boys participating in men's sports since they do not generally have a physical advantage over birth--boys.
"Regarding 3), almost all women's bathrooms have privacy stalls, so I do not see any particular problem with anyone using a women's restroom. At Wicker Park Lutheran Church, the bathrooms are gender neutral, except that one has a urinal. As far as I know, there have been no problems with this arrangement.
"When we visited Czestochowa in Poland in 2011 to see the famous Black Madonna, the women's restroom had a long waiting line even though the restroom was quite large. The men's side had about 20 urinals and the same number of stalls. Since there was no line for the men's side, women came over to use the men's restroom. No one freaked out, so this idea that restrooms must be strictly segregated according to birth gender seems overly prudish. Girls' locker rooms may be another matter, however.
"Hopefully, the coming nightmare will not be as bad as we fear."
Eric, I appreciate you taking the time to post these thought-provoking comments, and I am sorry to be so slow to respond. All three of your points are worth responding to, but at this time I will make just a brief comment about your second point. I understand the problem of some trans women having what might be considered an unfair advantage when engaging in female sports activities. But from the pictures I saw of Tim McBride when he was elected student body president at the end of his sophomore year at AU, he looked like a smallish man, and my impression was that if he had engaged in college sports during his senior year after becoming Sarah, she wouldn't necessarily have had a physical advantage.
DeleteI have just asked "Dr. Google" about the average height of WNBA players. For those who play the center position, the average is over 6 feet 4 inches. I assume there are very few trans women that tall. From what I have also found, there has been only one trans woman in the WNBA—and she was 5 ft. 9 in. tall.
Earlier this morning I also received an email from local Thinking Friend Vern Barnet with these thought-provoking comments:
ReplyDelete"The mean-spirited response to those who have agonized about their sexual identity is not Christian. Instead of welcoming an opportunity to learn about such self-examinations and the social costs, some folks deny the ambiguity within most folk's development of sexual interest and identity, and the lessons we can learn from antiquity and other cultures. For example, it was transgendered/transsexual oracle Teiresias who revealed to Oedipus that it was Oedipus himself who killed Laius. Such stories often suggest that it is the transgendered or sexual non-normative person who can reveal to the rest of us the profound truths that can redeem society from its plagues."
I just now saw that Breitbart News is reporting that "Most Americans believe transgender lawmakers should use the bathroom that corresponds with their biological sex, according to the latest survey from the Economist/YouGov." Here is the link to the complete article:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.breitbart.com/politics/2024/11/29/majority-say-transgender-lawmakers-should-use-bathroom-corresponding-biological-sex/
Thinking Friend Jerry Jumper, a retired medical doctor in southwest Missouri, shares these comments:
ReplyDelete"I had a rather tense discussion 2 days ago with a relative about this very issue. I don't understand it, it's certainly furthest from my life choices, but hate--IMO--has no place in a Christian's life.
"The ironic thing is that women's bathrooms have stools and stalls, no urinals, probably the most private spaces in existence!"
Charles Kiker commenting as anonymous for cyber-technical reasons. The female US HRs are obviously seeking political capital. No more power to them! The whole LGBTQ+ issue is a difficult one. As I understand trans, it is the physical/medical alteration of one gender to another. So, if Rep. McBride has been physical changed from male to female, is she not now biologically a female, and should be free to use the pee pot for which she is now suited? Should be no tempest there.
ReplyDeleteI came to terms intellectually with same sex marriage decades ago. In discussions with a clergy group, it was generally agreed that gay people, as they were then designated as opposed to straight, probably were born that way, and were not responsible for who they were in that regard. But, some objected, they should just live celibately. I objected that I, as a straight male, would find it difficult/impossible to live as a celibate, so why should I expect my gay counterparts to do so. That was my intellectual response. I am still working on emotional acceptance. A couple of years ago two males, obviously a couple, came forward for membership in the church I attend. I felt a visceral repulsion coming up deep down inside. At the conclusion of the service the congregation was invited to come forward and welcome them. I had a little heart to heart with myself: "Charles," I said to myself, "you've got to go down and welcome this couple, not for their sake, but for your own sake." I did, and at the door I said to the pastor, "Old prejudices die hard, but, thank God, they can die." A couple of weeks ago another male couple came for membership. I found it much easier to welcome them. Maybe that conversation I had with myself is bearing fruit!
Charles, as I understand it, those who transition from one gender to the other do so because of their self-identity does not match their physical gender identity. By use of various hormone treatment and surgery, there is also often changes in they look/function physically. I think Sarah McBride doubtlessly had hormone treatments, but I don't know what kind of physical surgery she may have had. But as Dr. Jumper said in his comments above, women's rest rooms all have "stools and stalls" with doors that lock, so privacy there should be no problem whatsoever. Sharing dressing rooms and showers, though, presents a more serious problem. I can see why many women would feel uncomfortable sharing such rooms/showers with trans women who still have male genitalia.
DeleteThanks for sharing your struggle/growth regarding acceptance of gay/lesbian people.
Restrooms for trans people have been in the news this week. On the one hand, "Ohio gov. signs bill requiring students to use school bathrooms based on their sex, not preference." Here is a link to that:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.christianpost.com/news/ohio-bans-trans-identified-male-students-from-girls-restrooms.html
On the other hand, "Montana lawmakers cross the aisle to block a trans bathroom ban in the state capitol."
https://www.npr.org/2024/12/04/nx-s1-5215668/montana-transgender-bathroom-ban-zooey-zephyr
Another version of trans is "non-binary." These people may vary by situation between male and female, be something of a hybrid, or even have no sense of sexual identity at all. I have the privilege of being the father-in-law of an extraordinary person in the first group. Despite being born female, they are the tallest person in the family. I think we should just follow the advice of Paul: In Christ there is neither male nor female!
ReplyDeleteAs for Sarah McBride, Mike Johnson should keep in mind that she is capable politician. He has effectively invited her follow him into the men's room, with TV cameras rolling in the hall. Is he ready for the conversation by the sink?