The Boy Scouts organization has adopted a transgender policy change which suddenly ends its 106-year role as a single-sex character-development group for young boys.
The group discarded the unifying entry requirements of boyhood and male biology, and is now accepting females who wish to live as “transgender boys,” after just a few weeks of internal discussion.
This switch away from boys’ character development towards gender politics was welcomed by gay groups, such as the Human Rights Campaign, which declared “Boy Scouts Finally Opens Its Doors to Transgender Boys.”
In 2015, the scouting group succumbed to pressure from gay groups, and began accepting adult leaders who are gay.
Since their Supreme Court victory in 2015 which removed heterosexuality from the definition of marriage, gay groups have pushed the idea that male-and-female heterosexuality — sometimes called the “gender binary” — should not be treated as beneficial or normal in society. Instead, they claim that each person’s “gender identity” must be embraced by government, individuals and civic groups, regardless of voters’ preferences, biology or science, or evolved childrearing practices.
In 2016, for example, former President Barack Obama tried to impose those gender rules nationwide, and even insisted that K-12 youths who use correct pronouns — ‘him’ or ‘her’ — should be penalized when addressing a youth who wishes to live as a member of the other sex.
In contrast, conservatives point to the evidence that female and male biological differences are universal, largely unchangeable, and also shape nearly all youths’ character, preferences, incentives and ambitions. Any government agencies or civic groups which try to ignore or suppress those sexual and biological differences do great harm to children’ chances of becoming mature and productive adults, say conservatives.
The progressive demand that biology be subordinated to gender identity, however, will wipe out single-sex heterosexual institutions in society, such as single-sex sports leagues, single-sex facilities in K-12 schools, and women’s shelters. It would also transform science-based language, law enforcement, and social cooperation; science education, and parental guidance of children’s sexual development and health, such as the Boy Scouts.
For example, the scouting organization eliminated traditional references to normal boys when it announced the new policy. Instead, it talked about children, youths and families.
“Starting today, we will accept and register youth in the Cub and Boy Scout programs based on the gender identity indicated on the application. Our organization’s local councils will help find units that can provide for the best interest of the child,” said the Monday statement, which continued:
The Boy Scouts of America is committed to identifying program options that will help us truly serve the whole family, and this is an area that we will continue to thoughtfully evaluate to bring the benefits of Scouting to the greatest number of youth possible – all while remaining true to our core values, outlined in the Scout Oath and Law.
The revolutionary change was quickly adopted because states are insisting that gender trumps sex, claimed Michael Surbaugh, the Chief Scout Executive who made the transformative announcement.
We and others have recently been challenged by a very complex topic on the issue of ‘gender identity.’ For more than 100 years, the BSA, along with schools, sports and other youth organizations ultimately deferred to the information on an individual’s birth certificate to determine eligibility for, and participation in, many programs, especially single-gender programs.
After weeks of significant conservations at all levels of our organization, we realized that referring to birth certificates as the reference point is no longer sufficient. Communities and state laws are now interpreting ‘gender identity’ differently than society did in the past, and these new laws vary widely from state to state.
Starting today, we will accept registration in our scouting programs based on the gender identity provided on an individual’s application.
The announcement was released on YouTube, but the scouting group disabled the comments.
Surbaugh’s dismissal of pediatricians’ ability to detect the sex of newborns echoes the insistence by gay groups that biology is irrelevant to chosen “gender,” and that heterosexuality should not be seen as normal.
“There is no such thing as a normal gender,” insists Jacob Tobia, a transgender activist on NBC.
In fact, very few people try to live as members of the opposite sex. A study of the 2010 census, for example, showed that only 1-in-2,400 adults had changed their name from one sex to the other.
But the progressives have got a huge wave of favorable publicity as they campaign to demote biology while promoting the idea of chosen identity.
Still, the gender-before-heterosexuality goal is very unpopular. For example, an April 2016 poll by Civitas showed that only 7 percent of 600 North Carolinians supported a judge’s demand “ordering girls and boys in public middle schools to share locker room, bathroom and shower facilities.” The demand was strongly opposed by 72 percent of respondents.
In December, a poll showed that only 22.7 percent of respondent endorsed the claim that people should be allowed change their recorded sex or “gender identity” on government documents whenever they wish. In contrast, 44.6 percent of respondents said people should be allowed to switch their legal sex, but only after first complying with medical or government criteria of male and female characteristics. Twenty-three percent opposed any sex-related change to identity documents, and 17.1 percent declined to answer.
That transgender goal is also opposed some gays, by some former transgender people, and some feminists.
Also, former president Obama has admitted twice that his pro-transgender push helped cost Hillary Clinton the 2016 election. In mid-December, for example, Obama told NPR that voters “may know less about the work that my administration did on trying to promote collective bargaining or overtime rules. But they know a lot about the controversy around transgender bathrooms.”
The vast majority of Americans have long recognized the existence of people who wish to live as members of the other sex. Americans’ polite live-and-let-live culture allows them to ignore most occasions when a transformation is incomplete, and even to support some legal conveniences for men and women trying to accomplish the very difficult goal of living as members of other sex.
For example, North Carolina’s compromise HB-2 law allows people to change their legal sex after undergoing medical procedures. That law was passed in April to block the city of Charlotte’s radical ordinance that allowed people to switch “gender identity” as they prefer.
The HB-2 compromise, however, is fiercely opposed by gay groups who insist that the reality of biological sex should be ignored in favor of individuals’ choices.