Blog note. Apparently, the writer of the article below has not read his bible (if he has one), or if he has read it, does not believe what God says about the LGBTQ agenda. I am not attacking this writer. His position is well defended from a secular viewpoint, as the ‘world thinks’. However, this is not God’s way. Fortunately, it is for God to judge us, and not by man’s laws. God has provided his word to us in his book known as the Bible. It predates ‘modern man’s’ notions of gender, sex between consenting adults and all of the various permutations and confusions that are symptoms of today’s thinking. The Bible also indicates that Satan is the Father of all Lies and Deception. It is unfortunate that a growing number of people in the LGBTQ community are either confused, deceived or expressing a rebellion against how they were created. We are each accountable for the decisions we make in life. Only Jesus Christ can forgive us of our sins, through the shedding of his blood and his resurrection. Jesus loves all of us and came to save all of us from our sins, compulsions, addictions, evil behaviors and self-destructive actions. This is totally contrary to the laws of men and governments. They trade truth for lies, and lies for truth. Call ‘good’ evil and ‘evil’ good.

1 Corinthians 6:9… Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind. (Emphasis added).

Deuteronomy 22:5… The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the Lord thy God. (Emphasis added).

Genesis 1:27… So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. (Emphasis added).

Genesis 5:2… Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created. (Emphasis added).

Genesis 6:19… And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female. (Emphasis added).

Genesis 7:9… There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah. (Emphasis added).

Genesis 7:16… And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the Lord shut him in. (Emphasis added).

Matthew 19:4… And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female. (Emphasis added).

Mark 10:6… But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female.

The above Bible verses (KJV) clearly indicate that God created humans to be either male or female. The Bible doesn’t say anything about a “Gender X” or “Fluid Gender” or “Call Yourself A Different Gender as the Mood Fits”, etc. There are males and females. The Bible does NOT give any prophecy or indication that human beings (in flesh form) will ever “transition” from one gender into another, or experience “back and forth gender fluidity.” PERIOD! I pray for these poor souls who have somehow been deceived into thinking that they are something they are not. By rejecting who you are, you are rejecting any notion of how God intended you to be. This is a form of rebellion against how God created a person to be. It’s true, none of us chose to be either male or female, however, it is not for us to decide. God made each of us, male and female, according to his plan and purpose. I am not condemning these people, but know that they are missing out on God’s plan for them while they are in this state of confusion, denial or rebellion.

Jude 1:7 …Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. (Emphasis added).

Romans 1:18-32 (Emphasis added.)

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;

19 Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.

20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

23 And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.

24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:

25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:

27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.

28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;

29 Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,

30 Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,

31 Without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:

32 Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

End of note.

Trump’s potential rules won’t erase LGBTQ Americans

By Tim Holbrook. Updated 5:19 PM ET, Mon October 22, 2018

Editor’s Note. Tim Holbrook is vice provost for faculty affairs and Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Law at Emory University. He is on the board of directors of the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund. The views expressed here are solely his. View more opinion articles on CNN.

The Trump administration is reportedly in the process of announcing rules that will attempt to define gender strictly and unchangeably based on one’s genitals at birth — effectively trying to redefine gender’s legal meaning to erase transgender people who identified as such under expanded gender identity provisions put in place by the Obama administration.

According to The New York Times, the Department of Health and Human Services is leading “an effort to establish a legal definition of sex under Title IX, the federal civil rights law that bans gender discrimination in education programs that receive government financial assistance.” Such an approach would, quoting the memo, make the determination “on a biological basis that is clear, grounded in science, objective and administrable.”

Nothing could be further from the truth. Try as they might, the Trump administration cannot eliminate lesbians, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people with a stroke of the pen. Moreover, this proposal is contrary to science and to the law. Turning Title IX, a law designed to help fight discrimination, into a weapon against them will not stop LGBTQ people from living their authentic lives.

As to “science,” it is abundantly clear there has never been a true gender binary — just male and female — in nature. In fact, such an approach denies the existence of intersex people, those whose sex characteristics do not correspond with our classic notions of male or female. Up to 1.7% of people are born intersex, a percentage comparable to the number of redheaded people — not a minimal number. To suggest this rule approach is rooted in science is simply wrong.

Culturally, humans have never fallen neatly into the gender binary, either. Other cultures have various forms of nonbinary genders. For example, Tahitian culture embraces the mahu, people of uncertain gender. Some Native American cultures embraced two-spirit people. Both Thai and Indian cultures have recognized nonbinary genders. This is not to say that such nonbinary genders have been fully embraced, but they are recognized, in parts of the United States as well as elsewhere.

The suggestion that such a rule is rooted in science is also belied by another scientific community: medicine. The medical community in the United States accepts that gender identity is not determined by one’s genitalia at birth. Gender is a social construct and is not biologically determined. The American Psychiatric Association notes that gender dysphoria “involves a conflict between a person’s physical or assigned gender and the gender with which he/she/they identify.” The treatment, though, is not to force someone to accept the gender assigned at birth. To the contrary, it is to work through aligning their gender identity and expression in ways that remove the conflict. In other words, the problem is not the person’s gender identity; instead it is the stress created by the discordance between that identity and the assigned gender, much of which is caused by societal condemnation.

The courts have been surprisingly progressive pioneers on this issue, having long recognized that gender is actually a social construction, not a biological phenomenon. As early as 1989, in Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins, the Supreme Court concluded that discrimination on the basis of sex includes discrimination based on sex stereotyping, such as a woman who acts in an overly masculine manner. Other courts, such as the federal appellate courts sitting in Boston and Atlanta, have already extended this reasoning to protect transgender people from discrimination.

It is not clear whether the Trump rule could overturn such judicial precedent. It is true that, generally, courts are supposed to defer to interpretations of the law made by administrative agencies. So, in theory, courts might be willing to revisit these earlier interpretations of the law in the face of a contrary administrative rule. Yet, perhaps ironically, the conservative justices on the US Supreme Court seemed poised to reject such deference. So, the Trump administration’s move may ultimately be rejected by the courts.

Bizarrely, such a rule would intrude on the province of the states. Protecting states’ sovereignty — a concern known as federalism — has traditionally been a conservative issue as well. Yet under the proposed rule, the sex on one’s original birth certificate would control the issue of gender, even though most states do allow people to change their gender marker. The rule would usurp the power of the states.

The impact of such a rule can cause harm beyond the removal of anti-discrimination protections. In my work, I have explored how the government’s expressions of disfavor toward certain groups — particularly LGBTQ people — does inflict a general harm, suggesting that such people are lesser and other. This rule is a concrete example of such a harm.

And such marginalization can have concrete consequences. Suicide rates are higher in the LGBTQ community, given the lingering social and legal discrimination the community faces. And such rhetoric may encourage more violence against LGBTQ people.

The Trump administration may indeed harm LGBTQ people with this impending strike of a proverbial pen, but they cannot erase us. We exist, period. We always have and always will. The only question is whether we will receive respect and protection from discrimination. Many large corporations are affording us such protections. And a majority of Americans believe we should not be discriminated against. It’s too bad the Trump administration is so behind the times.