|
Published: October 4, 2007
No cross-dresser left behind
Pelosi backtracks after homosexual groups cry foul over exclusion of transsexuals from bill barring employment discrimination
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has drawn the anger of some homosexual activists by removing "transgenders" from the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, a bill that would force employers to hire, retain, and promote homosexual employees even if they find "gay" behavior unsuitable or morally objectionable.
While Pelosi, D-San Francisco, favors the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, she has said she fears that the inclusion of "gender identity" (distinct from sexual orientation) would heighten controversy and threaten passage of the legislation.
 The definition of transgender includes cross-dressers, people who have surgically destroyed all or part of their sexual anatomy, and others who are emotionally distressed about their bodily identity.
On Oct. 1, nearly 100 sex and gender activist organizations sent a letter to every member of the House saying, "We refuse to accept and in fact we oppose any legislation that leaves any part of our community behind, particularly the transgender community," Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, told the San Francisco Chronicle.
Apparently surprised by the hostile reaction, Pelosi hours later issued a new statement: "After discussions with congressional leaders and organizations supporting passage" of the bill, committee and floor votes on the bill were to be postponed to "allow proponents of the legislation to continue their discussions with members in the interest of passing the broadest possible bill," reported the web site sfgate.com on Oct. 2.
Fellow California Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez, who heads the committee that will oversee the bill, also signed the statement. The committee's vote had been scheduled for Oct. 2, but was postponed until the week of Oct. 15.
Christian lawyer Chuck Colson has noted that, even without the "transgender perspective," the Employment Non-Discrimination Act would "place all the power of the federal government in direct opposition to the beliefs of all major faith groups in America regarding their teachings about sexuality."
Because the Employment Non-Discrimination Act prohibits allowing employment decisions to be influenced by “real or perceived” sexuality, Colson notes that traditionally religious (Christian, Jewish, Muslim) business owners could be systematically challenged and targeted for lawsuits by any dissatisfied employee or would-be employee who alleges that he was discriminated against "because he is gay, or even perceived to be gay."
Although the proposed legislation makes accommodations for churches, the courts would have to decide which church-related institutions, if any, might be exempt. This means church-related schools, hospitals, counseling centers, and even day-care centers could be forced to either hire and promote openly homosexual staff, or be closed down.
Posted Thursday, October 04, 2007 7:02 AM By Zoe Brain
The really scary "Transgendered" aren't the men who dress up in long gowns and silks. After all, both Judges and Bishops do that. Those tend not to wear cosmetics though.
No the scary ones, the ones that make everyone uncomfortable, are the Intersexed. Those born neither wholly male nor wholly female.
And the scariest ones of those, are the ones with Neurological Intersex - male brains in female bodies, or the reverse, who try to do something about their affliction; and the "serial hermaphrodites" whose bodies naturally change from looking like one sex to looking like the other without treatment.
Nearly all are sterile: the remainder infertile. "For there are eunuchs, who were born so from their mother's womb" - Matthew 19:12.
Now please read Isaiah 56:3-4. And tell me why they should be persecuted.
|
Posted Thursday, October 04, 2007 10:13 AM By Grisha
Zoe: As long as your desire to "persecute" intersexed people doesn't result in your committing a crime, the First Amendment allows you to do so. HOWEVER - What you propose is totally at odds with the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church!
|
Posted Thursday, October 04, 2007 12:20 PM By Tim K.
"Christian lawyer Chuck Colson"
While it is certainly relevant that Colson is Christian and a lawyer, it's also important to note his other qualifications. I suggest the following description: "Christian lawyer and convicted felon Chuck Colson...." That's a little less disingenuous.
|
Posted Thursday, October 04, 2007 12:24 PM By Grandma Hat
Zoe, the human race, like all mammalian species, is composed of two sexes...........neither more nor less........... In 99% of us this can be unambiguously empirically detected ............through the examination of genetic, physiological, and anatomical evidence........... (The other 1%, sadly, are objectively disordered.)..........There are XY individuals who suffer from AIS......... and have feminine external anatomical structures............ and their difficulty can't be fixed by taking testosterone........
There are also unfortunate individuals ...........who have the very rare problem of having SRY (sexual region Y)......... located on an abnormal X xhromosome. .........Therefore they are XX individuals who develop in a masculine manner.............
However, these should be recognized as disorders and anomalies..........
I doubt you'd find anybody on this forum............ who would disagree that these people need to be treated compassionately........probably by encouraging them to correct any deformity .......of their anatomical structures.........and pass as infertile members of the sex they most resemble.
What they don't need is a society-wide, politicaly-driven deconstruction of binary gender identification.
|
Posted Thursday, October 04, 2007 1:30 PM By Frank
Grisha: While the tone of this article seems to speak against laws to protect the transgender from discrimination, I'm pretty sure Zoe wrote her comment in support of such legislation.
|
Posted Thursday, October 04, 2007 2:03 PM By Daniel
A few hundred votes, Pelosi puts very little if any value on her Soul. Catholics and those of all Christian denominations unite, register as independent, then we become a "SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP" Want to see how quickly sleazy politicans will jump to promise us change and do OUR BIDDING. They take us for granted and shove crud legislation down our throats to please the perverts of America. We have the weapon to get rid of them in the voter booth. GOD BLESS
|
Posted Thursday, October 04, 2007 3:35 PM By Just Jennifer
I agree with Grandma Hat. I too oppose a society-wide, politically-driven deconstruction of binary gender identification. That said, let me add that I am what would commonly be called a post-operative male to female transsexual, though I prefer the term Harry Benjamin Syndrome. It might surprise some to know that I strongly favor the binary gender system. I am, and alway have been, a female person emotionally and spiritually. Because of a mistake of biology, I was born with male genitalia. Now, IF I could have learned to identify as a male, I would have, and believe me, I tried. But there is simply not way for this to happen. So, I took the only option availabe to me, and had corrective surgery. I am now a happy, though infertile, Christian woman. I attend Mass regularly. And again, I oppose any efforts to deconstruct gender. The people who wish to do so would gladly tell me I should have learned to live as a woman with a male body. That was something I was not willing to do.
|
Posted Thursday, October 04, 2007 5:13 PM By Desiree Sylvester
This is a hateful article. As a Catholic I am truly offended.
Jesus loves all of his children, transgender, cross-dresser, gay and straight.
|
Posted Thursday, October 04, 2007 10:24 PM By Zoe Brain
Frank, you are correct.
Grandma Hat's post was also an excellent exposition of just some of the Intersex conditions that exist.
The only cavil I have is the interpretation of her phrase "sex they most resemble".
Male and Female brains differ, both on the coarse scale (BSTc layer of the hypothalamus) and fine scale (number of neurons - brain cells - in each structure). Autopsies on transsexual women, that is, women with mostly male bodies, have shown they have female pattern brains.
Note that gay men have male pattern brains though.
Zhou J.-N, Hofman M.A, Gooren L.J, Swaab D.F (1997)
A Sex Difference in the Human Brain and its Relation to Transsexuality.
Kruijver F.P.M, Zhou J.-N, Pool C.W., Swaab D.F. (2000)
Male-to-Female Transsexuals Have Female Neuron Numbers in a Limbic Nucleus
If the "sex they most resemble" is that dictated by those parts of the brain that determine gender, then I agree.
Externals can be altered, minds and souls cannot.
|
Posted Friday, October 05, 2007 8:50 AM By Litl Bits
Obviously, few of you are aware of Biblical caveats - as Christians and/or Catholics, I strongly suggest you familiarize yourselves with the Bible...wherein homosexuality is considered a serious sin. Now - if a person is 'born' with these characteristics, then one CAN learn to live as a member of the sex which he/she most closely resembles (??) Many of the gays in this country (and elsewhere) are just too lazy to deal with male/female relationships - which most of you will agree takes a certain amount of work and/or sacrifice. BUT! The whole nation should NOT be punished to satisfy these people....homosexuality is NOT NORMAL!!! Male-Female are made by God for a reason - and when we frustrate the Lord's Plan, we WILL pay for it! And encouraging this perversion of humanity is certainly in opposition to the Lord's Plan! Go Read you Bible, folks!
|
Posted Friday, October 05, 2007 9:41 AM By Grandma Hat
Question to Desiree Sylvester: You say this is a hateful article. That is a serious charge. Could you specify any statement in it which is factually untrue, or stated in a contemptuous manner?
|
Posted Friday, October 05, 2007 10:42 AM By Peter
Perhaps God created homosexuality as a means of population control that doesn't involve abortion? Just a thought.
|
Posted Friday, October 05, 2007 12:16 PM By Irene Bujman
I'm a transgendered woman with a Mensa-level IQ. It's people like me who invent religions like yours to keep numbskulls like Litl Bits in line lest they start thinking for themselves. I'm not the slightest bit worried about such attitudes, be they transphobic or flat-earthist.
When we get bored we start wars and use such people as cannon fodder. Praise the lord and pass the ammunition.
Reenie, far away in Scotland.
|
Posted Friday, October 05, 2007 1:07 PM By micheal
Sure the bible says we have to love our neighbors, but that doesn't mean we have to approve of their behaviors.
|
Posted Friday, October 05, 2007 1:16 PM By Eric
Michael, nor does it say force your will upon them.
|
Posted Friday, October 05, 2007 1:23 PM By A homosexual devoted
Please stop your persecution of homosexulas! Stop it! Stop it! Stop! Stop with your false statements, lies and bigotry about transgendered people. We are all god's children, and we should be protected in a CIVIL Society here in the USA, free from the influence of any and all religious beliefs. This is what makes America strong and a beacon of hope for all the world! No one is trying to emigrate to Afghanistan, Iran or Iraq. These are societies dictated by relious bigotry, hatred in intolerence! The catholic church should be standing behind the passage of this bill! Jesus Christ supported and loved the downtrodden, despised and the persecuted! read your bible and the Beatitudes, especially! Stop this insane hatred and bigotry!
I
|
Posted Friday, October 05, 2007 2:52 PM By WB
The bill will force Catholics to accept behavior that has been condemned by the Church at all times and in all places. There's no real argument here, except that Catholicism must destroy its moral foundation. America will remain a beacon of hope if she can retain a moral standard. Enshrining homosexual lust as a virtue will be the most certain sign of despair and death to the nation and culture.
|
Posted Friday, October 05, 2007 3:13 PM By igiveyoumylife
I am shocked, shocked at how my fellow Catholics continue their unabashed hatred of their neighbors/fellow man in the name of my faith. Separate your own social dogma from a religion of love and support of the most marginalized persons of society.
|
Posted Friday, October 05, 2007 8:24 PM By WB
Normally I should be shocked by the apostacy and ignorance of my fellow Catholics but I've seen it for so many years I'm only just sad and tired, but always hopeful that the grace of God will transform them some day. Pope Benedict is a man of compassion -- and he has made it crystal clear that we are not to approve of homosexual behavior. This is nothing new, but is merely the timeless doctrine of Christ.
|
Posted Friday, October 05, 2007 8:41 PM By Zoe Brain
WB - but surely Catholics must already "accept behavior that has been condemned by the Church at all times and in all places". You know, Lutherans. Baptists. Jews. Moslems....The bill uses the same language as is already applicable to others whose behaviour and beliefs directly contradict Church Doctrine, and in some cases, is actually Sinful.
|
Posted Saturday, October 06, 2007 9:08 AM By KaraLynn
I am a woman who experiences same-sex attraction. However, I do not act on my inclinations. I CHOOSE to live by the teachings of my Catholic faith and remain chaste in that area. I am in a relationship with a man who knows of these inclinations. My family and friends know of them, so I am not "living a lie". I simply CHOOSE not to live my life as a lesbian or bisexual. While homosexuality may not be a choice, living the lifestyle is. Just Jennifer, I will not ever accept that the gender you were born with was a mistake. You are a male. You have XY chromosomes and that makes you a male biologically. It doesn't matter what your genitals look like. You should have received therapy to accept your true gender, not an operation to change the look of it.
|
Posted Saturday, October 06, 2007 12:37 PM By Mekah Gordon, Phd LE
In order to achieve the same rights, without compromise, there are NO other options, than Unequivocal Equality!
~Mekah Gordon, Ph.D., L. E.
I've found it exceedingly easy to offend hypocrites, and thus shake them from their stoic perches.
It just takes a little bit of truth to power, and the courage to be unpopular.
~Mekah Gordon, Ph.D., L. E.
It's simply wrong, & cruel, subjecting individuals, to any bigoted & discriminatory ideological agenda.
"Traditional Family" proponents, who stand in judgment of their fellow Human Being's, trying to destroy anyone's right to acquire the same benefits, as well as securing, Equal, & Basic Human Civil Rights, is nothing more than pious bullying.
Encouraging incessant daily provocative persecution of any Human Being who is deemed, "Different," is nothing short of appalling, shameful, uncivilized, and disgraceful.
Abandon the judgment of others, for it takes a lifetime to love yourself, Live, & Let Live.
~Mekah Gordon, Ph.D., L. E.
Founder/CEO
S. U. R. E. Foundation
|
Posted Saturday, October 06, 2007 2:51 PM By jim
I am gay and a Christian, I do not get involved in overt homosexual activity but I deeply love another man and I am proud to be gay and Catholic.
|
Posted Saturday, October 06, 2007 9:52 PM By WB
Zoe -- The fact that Catholics are forced to accept that abortion is legal for example is not a very good argument for why Catholics should support the content of this bill. It's precisely because we oppose the endorsement of homosexual behavior that would be the basis for opposition of laws of this sort.
|
Posted Sunday, October 07, 2007 4:45 AM By Zoe Brain
KaraLynn, there are a number of Biological Mothers who have 46xy chromosomes. There are even more Biological Fathers with 46xx ones. There are both Mothers and Fathers with 47xxy chromosomes. Your view is oversimplified, and no longer shared by, say, the International Olympic Committee, as too many people obviously of one sex were genetically supposed to be the other. Or one or the other, depending upon which part of the body the sample tissue was taken from.
|
Posted Sunday, October 07, 2007 5:23 AM By Zoe Brain
WB - but we're talking about an Employment Discrimination bill here. Are you saying that it is moral, and in keeping with Catholic principles, to deny gainful employment to those born with some types of congenital abnormality? I realise I'm conflating Gay and Lesbian issues with ones of Transsexuality and Intersex, but the fact is, that the opposition to the former is nowhere near as great as it is to the latter. Opposition by Catholics, as well as other denominations. Look at this article: it wasn't titled "No Sodomite Left Behind", was it? According to a California survey, 31% of TS people suicide. Over 50% attempt it. The persecution such people face every day, and the lack of employment protection to pay their necessary medical bills, bills specifically not covered by insurance policies, is a major reason. I claim no direct line to the Almighty (unlike some who persecute us most), but I cannot see this persecution in the area of employment, simply because our existence embarrasses and discomforts others, as being Christian or Catholic.
|
Posted Monday, October 08, 2007 5:08 PM By WB
Given that changing one's sexuality through hormones or surgery is forbidden by Catholic moral principles, and a person who has undergone such changes is a walking statement against the teaching of the Church ... and that employers should be free to establish a moral standard by which their employees should live, then yes employers should have that freedom in screening candidates. Why should they be forced to act against the principles of the Catholic Faith? The fact that people afflicted in this way attempt suicide may indicate that there are spiritual and emotional disorders that need remedy and guidance. People suffer with many afflictions in this life. I am not trying to dismiss the deeply painful nature of this question of transsexual feelings. Certainly, a lot of care and spiritual direction is needed for anyone who is so afflicted. But the answer is not suicide, obviously. Homosexuality does play a part as well if there are sexual relations subsequent to a sex-change operation since the Church will not authorize that those surgical changes create a woman from a person who was born as a man.
|
Posted Monday, October 08, 2007 7:19 PM By Zoe Brain
WB - please come up with a definition of Man or Woman that accords with reality. For the vast majority of people, it's easy, no question, and to say that humanity is either Male or Female is an approximation true in all but a handful of cases.....The problem arises that drawing the dividing line is hard. Consider those born with 5ARD or 17BHD deficiency. They look like little girls at birth, but when they reach puberty, they masculinise and internal organs descend. Some can even be fathers. Most are neurologically male, so this is a great relief. Some are neurologically female, and this is a nightmare. Then there are those with IPSR, who naturally change from looking male to looking female in their 40's (though one case was recently found at age 15). Tell me, do you think it is right that such people be prevented from gaining employment? What exactly should they do?
|
Posted Tuesday, October 09, 2007 9:46 AM By Zoe Brain
"Given that changing one's sexuality through hormones or surgery is forbidden by Catholic moral principles"...Actually, it's not so much forbidden, as deemed impossible, as I understand it. All that can be changed is the body, the shape, not the gender of that body, according to the 2000 encyclical. This is in accordance with Scientific observation too. Where the two concepts differ, is that one view holds that the external appearance of the body at birth determines gender, the other that the structures in the brain determine it. What in one view is mutilation of a healthy body becomes in the other view making body and mind consistent and whole...Even the encyclical allows that in some cases, such body-changing surgery is acceptable and is *not* "forbidden by Catholic Principles" when needed to relieve extreme misery. The former view puts questions of physical Intersex in the "too hard" basket, in the other they are dealt with naturally: wait till the child can tell us what gender they are before intervening.... Now would be a good time to express my thanks at your courtesy and thoroughly Christian attitude, by the way. My questions may have seemed mere rhetoric, even aggressive in tone. Neither was my intent.
|
Posted Wednesday, October 10, 2007 9:37 PM By John L. Sillasen
Desiree Sylvester : Then why does God condemn some people to Hell?
|
Posted Wednesday, October 10, 2007 9:45 PM By John L. Sillasen
igiveyoumylife : Because we are trying to understand why God, who is all love, condemns some and not others. Yeah right, jim: What have you done to explore whether you're in a sinful condition or not? Or, if you know that you are, then what are you doing to justify membership in the Catholic Church? If you cannot give up being in love with a man, then why not transfer the object of your love to Jesus, a man? Of course, I'm referring to the real Jesus; so, you'd have to do whatever He says, right? And not do whatever He says not to do? Tell us you'll give it some thought, jim. Uh, you'll have to consider that Jesus is concerned also with what is in your soul ... you'll have to 'fess it up to Him, jim.
|
Posted Monday, November 05, 2007 8:05 PM By Hazel
Hurray for anti-discriminatory legislation. The principle of the law is very simple: If you're not hurting anyone else, you're not breaking the law. If you're not hurting anyone else, it's no one else's business. I feel depressed and sad to see so much hate, so much stupidity, pomposity, arrogance, all in the name of Christianity. To anyone that would tell intersex people what to do with their bodies, HOW DARE YOU! Shame on you to have the gall, the audacity, and the rudeness to tell other people what to do with their bodies. I wish every intersex person the very best in dealing with his/her (that is also up to him/her to decide) condition! Good luck, and God speed! (Yes, I support this legislation!!!)
|
Posted Sunday, December 09, 2007 4:14 PM By Willenlos
It's sad that transgenders are clumped with homosexuals.
Transsexuality/Transgenderism IS NOT a sexual preference. It is NOT a sexuality. It is COMPLETELY different from homosexuality and the like.
It is a neurological or physiological inter-sex. Male-to-female transgenders have been shown to have brain structures (I.E. hypothalmus) resembling females, so naturally, they see themselves as female. Many times, this has to do with a natural hormonal imbalance, which causes neural structures to take on the form of the opposite sex. This is NOT correctable. This CANNOT be changed. NO therapy can fix this. They require Sexual Re-assignment surgery. It's that simple. They aren't necessarily gay or straight, some have no sexual preference at all; it is about self-image, comfort in one's skin, etc.
It's amazing how those who are comfortable in their skin cast judgement on those who aren't and expect them to "carry their cross." I think growing up transgender is a cross enough, especially considering the prejudice.
Catholicism doesn't take an official stance on transsexuals, simply because it is a very delicate issue, unrelated to sexual orientation, rather it is related to gender/sex.
If I were born chromosomally female, and I had the external genitalia of a male, I'd gladly get corrective surgery to make me female. Same is true with the reverse.
I don't understand why one should be forced to live in the gender they "represent." Hell no. An inter-sexed person should pick the gender based on which they identify with most.
It's sad Catholics are so ignorant. Catholicism, I've always viewed as deeper than the physical, which is why I'm Catholic over protestant, because Catholics are more spiritual, able to see beyond the temporal, but you people are proletariat Catholics. You might as well be protestant.
|
Posted Sunday, December 09, 2007 4:23 PM By Willenlos
Poor mr. Sillasen, the epitome of transphobia and ignorance. Anyone who clumps homosexuality and transgenderism or transsexuality in the same category is a moron and is completely devoid of logical thought. God will judge you, John, don't forget that, and when he asks you why you treated your ailing brothers and sisters with disdain, for something you have no understanding for, what will you say? "I'm an idiot"? That'd probably be the best choice for you.
|
Posted Wednesday, March 11, 2009 11:25 PM By jbc
These laws are primarily intended to protect people from discrimination in employment, housing, access to credit, etc. The laws have exceptions for religious organizations, and for places where nudity is unavoidable.
These laws protect anyone from discrimination, meaning a boss can't fire a woman for choosing not to use make-up, or a man for wearing a pink shirt.
|
© California Catholic Daily 2007. All Rights Reserved.
|