Illusion vs. reality

“Sex” is getting a makeover. President Joe Biden’s administration has approved a new federal rule that redefines sex to mean “sexual orientation and gender identity,” divorcing biology from American law. The rule endangers women and girls, and shatters civil rights—but it also gives Christians a chance to apply crucial ethical principles to public policy.

The new rule changes Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972—which has guaranteed sex equality in education for more than 50 years—to now allow a man who says he “feels” like a woman to use females’ private spaces, including bathrooms and locker rooms. If he is prevented from doing so, he could file a federal complaint.

This poses an obvious danger to women. Whistleblowers have already turned up examples of assaults in public school bathrooms and injuries to young women on athletic fields when they competed against boys.

As matters of civil rights and personal safety, believers should oppose the rule.

Christians have ethical concerns, too, because redefining a word that is central to creation order has far-reaching consequences. God created humanity as man and woman with unique differences, namely the ability to produce sperm or eggs. Anomalies happen, but do not change the rule.

“Gender,” as the radical theorists will tell you, is an idea—something that “is in no way a stable identity,” says theorist Judith Butler. Gender theorists say any claim to biological distinctions is a form of oppressive power. In this way, gender challenges God’s Word and argues that Genesis did not declare God’s authority but merely made suggestions.

Ethically, this is a “normative” problem, and believers should ask what God’s Word says about a specific moral question. The gender movement has simplified this equation for Christians by challenging Biblical authority. Following Scripture over a “feeling” resolves the normative issue.

But the scholarship on Christian ethics, particularly the work of John Frame, includes another dimension: Believers should ask, “What is our goal for civil society?” How can we change the world to bring glory to God? For this, Christ followers can look to state officials who are challenging the Biden administration’s rule in court.

Legal officials representing 26 states have filed a bevy of lawsuits to stop the redefinition of sex in federal law. State attorneys general and governors have spoken out against the rule, citing administrative problems, free-speech violations, threats to women’s rights, and more. Education officials in states such as Louisiana and South Carolina have said educators should not apply the new rule in K-12 schools.

Believers should support these efforts. The Biden administration is challenging God’s created design, and God did not award the state normative authority. He allows civil powers to rule, even uses them for His purposes, but He does not grant them the right to overturn His Word—which is why Christians must choose a situational response. Lawsuits to stop the rule are not vengeful actions but are meant to protect vulnerable individuals. A man who chooses to dress as a woman does not have the right to undress in front of a little girl.

Data reveal that many of these individuals are wrestling with issues that underlie their “gender” choices, and, among young people, the confusion often resolves as they enter adulthood. Studies find that we do not know enough about the long-term consequences of puberty-blocking and hormone-altering medicines to say the treatments are safe. A recent bombshell report from England’s chief pediatrician said their use was built on a “shaky foundation.”

Equating sex with gender, then, is not an act of mercy to fellow sinners. This is the response from the third ethical component, the redemptive or existential side. Research finds a startling overlap between individuals who are confused about their sex and those with mental health issues. Not all “trans” individuals suffer from psychosis but helping them with their symptoms of depression and anxiety, for example, are ways to display compassion. That is how we can redemptively show God’s love to sexually confused people.

We do not extend God’s love by encouraging them to embark on risky procedures, nor are we merciful by redefining His Word. The Biden administration’s rule undercuts God’s authority, and ethically, Christians have normative Biblical reasons to resist.