Pope Francis hit a raw nerve among transgender advocates this week by suggesting that children should not be taught that they can select their gender.
I expect some readers will read that opening sentence a couple times; I don’t know how to more clearly explain the conflict. But that won’t stop me from trying…
There are folks in the lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender community who believe children need to be educated in gender theory so they can knowledgably decide what gender they are. The Pope suggests this is a terrible idea and he supports the Catholic idea that God created man and woman and it is God’s decision which gender each of us will be.
To the LGBT crowd, this is insensitive and hurtful. They – like many in today’s permissive culture – can’t grasp the idea that the Pope can express love and mercy to ANYONE while not approving of their behavior. He is famous for going to jails on Easter Thursday and washing the feet of people convicted of horrible crimes. It is an expression of love for those persons, not approval of their bad deeds.
On a more practical level, teaching young children about sexual options that are contrary to God’s plan isn’t just morally questionable, but a violation of common sense. Having actually raised a couple children, I believe I have some insight.
There are many decisions parents must make for their children to prevent them from hurting themselves:
- If allowed to choose their own diet, most kids likely would choose chocolate over fresh vegetables.
- If allowed to determine which television shows to watch, most kids likely would stray from the Disney Channel.
- If allowed to set their own bedtimes, most kids wouldn’t get enough sleep to get to school in the morning.
- Come to think of it, lots of children would reject school and never learn to read or write.
These being practical realities, do anything think it is a sane idea to have little kids being lectured on various gender options and deciding for themselves whether to be a boy, girl or combination or both?
