Written on May 22, 2016

Bob Russell1  Last week Fox News commentator Megyn Kelly asked Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick why his state was so adamantly opposed to President Obama’s bathroom directive.  After all what was wrong with allowing people to choose a restroom that coincided with their “gender identity”?

When Governor Patrick suggested that granting transgender people equal access would lead to predatory men in women’s bathrooms, Kelly interjected, “Do you have a big problem with that?  Is this a problem?  With men intentionally donning women’s clothing so they can sneak into women’s restrooms?”

It’s hard for me to believe that question is even being asked, but for the sake of discussion how would you answer it?  Why would anyone be opposed to transgender persons having the freedom to use facilities that coincide with their gender of choice?

I would have answered the question with two recent anecdotes. Ian Halperin, author of the book, “Kardashian Dynasty: The Controversial Rise of America’s Royal Family,” reports that Bruce (Caitlyn) Jenner is now experiencing sex change regret and is considering de-transgendering and going back to being a man.  Sources close to Jenner deny that report but no one denies that Jenner admits that he still is attracted to women.

Anti LGTB activist Walt Heyer, who lived as a woman for nearly a decade before transitioning back to living as a man, appeared on CNN to discuss Jenner’s transition.  He said, “This doesn’t always last. It’s sort of like going down to the bar and you’re having a good time and you drink it up good, and then you wake up with a hangover.”

Furthermore, a legitimate concern should be that opportunistic sexual predators will now seize the “bathroom choice” freedoms to further their voyeurism or attempts at molestation.  Are we so naive to think sexual predators wouldn’t lie about their gender identity in order to easily gain access to private acts or intimate areas of members of the opposite sex?

These are just a few reasons why the President’s directive that public institutions allow students to use restrooms and locker rooms “consistent with their gender identity,” is so absurd.  Of course it’s going to lead to problems!  Anyone who can’t see that is either incredibly naive, morally obtuse or flagrantly rebellious to God.

Every father has a God-given responsibility to protect his daughter.  Every husband has a God-given responsibility to protect his wife.  The Bible says any man who doesn’t care for his immediate family has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.  (See 1 Timothy 5:8.)  That’s not just an admonition to provide physical needs but to provide an umbrella of protection as well.

No caring man would stand idly by and allow the Bruce Jenner’s of the world – or predators pretending to be transgender – to join their daughters and wives in the restroom.  Every woman has a right to privacy and security.  The North Carolina law that requires people to use the facilities of the gender stated on their birth certificates makes sense.  It seems to me those who don’t understand that have a seared conscience and have lost all God-given common sense.

Most of us have seen the sign at the beginning of moving walkways that read, “No Wheelchairs.”  I’ve often wondered why wheelchairs are not permitted on the moving walkway.  Why are the disabled discriminated against like that?

Last week in a busy Chicago airport I saw a perfect demonstration of why.  Someone ignored that restriction and brought a wheelchair down the moving walkway with no problem.  But when they got to the end, the metal teeth in the conveyor caught a snag in the rubber covering on one of the wheels and just started stripping it off, grinding the rubber into the machinery under the walkway.

The wheelchair came to an abrupt halt and tipped forward, dumping the disabled person on the floor.  The following pedestrians began stacking up and tumbling over each other.  A few elderly persons screamed in terror because they were in danger of a serious injury.  After the chaos was over a bystander looked at me and quipped, “And that, folks, is why the sign says, “No wheelchairs”!

Since we live in a crowded world, no one has total freedom.  It’s illegal to yell “fire” in a theater.  A pilot with heart problems can’t fly a commercial jet.  A thirteen year old can’t get a driver’s license.  In an orderly society, it’s essential to limit some liberties for the common good.

And that folks, is why people should not be permitted to use the restroom of their chosen gender-identity of the day!

Joel Belz wrote the following in the May 28 issue of World Magazine.  “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 issues.  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.”

Bob Russell is retired Senior Minister of Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, KY.

www.bobrussell.org