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Social Conservatives Declare Victory on Bathrooms, Marriage in GOP Platform

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After fending off attempts to change the Republican Party’s official position on LGBT issues and traditional marriage, a coalition of social conservatives cautiously celebrated an early victory Monday afternoon.

Before the Grand Old Party picks its presidential nominee formally, a select set of delegates on the platform committee will spend the week staking out Republican positions on everything from domestic to international issues definitively.

On the social issue front of the Republican platform, conservatives maintained a strict definition of marriage as being between a man and a woman. They limited the use of single-sex bathrooms in public buildings to those of the same biological sex. And they defeated efforts to steer the party in a direction more in line with LGBT advocacy groups.

“There are those who are committed to undermining the conservative ideals that this party has long stood for,” said Tony Perkins, president of the conservative Family Research Center and a Louisiana delegate to the convention.

“They’re an extreme minority, they’re committed to their view, and I think they will persist,” he told The Daily Signal Monday. “But I don’t believe they will prevail.”

To become a part of the party’s platform, those initial advances still need to be ratified by a majority of the 2,472 Republican delegates that will crowd onto the floor of Quicken Loans Arena next week.

But social conservatives seemed confident Monday afternoon that they had defeated an effort financed by billionaire Republican Paul E. Singer, according to The New York Times. His group, American Unity Fund, along with Log Cabin Republicans, aimed to hammer new gay rights planks into the platform.

The effort ultimately failed in the subcommittee on the family.

“I’m really happy with the way it turned out. I had heard that somebody was spending $6 million to get LGBT stuff into the platform,” Kansas delegate Mary Culp told The Daily Signal. “I would say that the effort fizzled.”

President Barack Obama’s bathroom directive took center stage. In a sweeping May proclamation, the administration instructed local schools to extend Title IX protections, which prohibit sex-based discrimination, to transgender students. The directive suggested that schools that refuse to allow transgender students to use the single-sex bathrooms and locker rooms of the gender they identify with would potentially lose federal funds.

Addressing that policy in the platform is a political miscalculation, according to Anne Dickerson, a New York delegate who argued that the “discussion of bathrooms takes us down a rabbit hole quite a great distance.”

“I think this is a state issue,” she told her colleagues during a subcommittee hearing. “A lot of states, local municipalities, and schools who have transgender students have dealt with this issue rightfully at the local level.”

Though Dickerson declined to comment for this article, the New York delegate argued in committee that Republicans were blindly taking Democrats’ bait by elevating the issue in their platform.

Gregory Angelo, president of Log Cabin Republicans, echoed that sentiment, telling The Daily Signal he’s frustrated by Monday’s development.

“This is a foolish issue to nationalize and talk about within the Republican Party platform,” he said. “It literally drags the platform into the gutter when so many people who are on this committee seem hell-bent with some obsession with bathroom use.”

Social conservatives on the family subcommittee justified their positions by insisting that the White House forced their hand. It was necessary to insert bathroom language in the platform, they argue, to offer a rebuttal and give local school districts guidance on the issue.

“Cowards would say this is not politically expedient, let’s not talk about it, let’s just let the president’s radical agenda go unchallenged,” Perkins told The Daily Signal. “This is not the party of cowards.”

In an interview last week with The Daily Signal, former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli said delegates on the platform committee should take up the issue to keep boys and girls in their respective bathrooms based on biology, not gender identity.

“The president had made a federal issue—and it’s amazing to be saying this—of bathrooms,” Cuccinelli said. “The president has done this, we didn’t. But if he’s going to pick the fight, we’re not going to back down.”

The fight over social issues comes as evangelical voters question where Donald Trump, the party’s presumptive presidential nominee, stands on social issues.

Trump has been friendly toward former Olympian and current transgender advocate Caitlyn Jenner—who announced she will speak as a “transgender ambassador” at an event in Cleveland during the convention.

But recently the New York businessman announced his support of a North Carolina law that requires individuals to use public restrooms that correspond with their biological gender.

Social conservatives see the platform as a way to tether Trump to their brand of a pro-family platform. And so far, the Trump campaign has demonstrated little interest in challenging the party platform.

That’s good news for conservative groups such as the Susan B. Anthony List that were happy with the 2012 platform position on abortion, which looks unlikely to have significant changes.

“We’re going to remain vigilant, we want it [to] remain rock solid, and then we want to see Mr. Trump embrace this platform once it’s passed,” said Billy Valentine, the pro-life group’s director of government affairs, in an interview last week.

Though the party’s presumptive nominee disagrees with some GOP orthodoxies, coalition members say they’re confident that Republican doctrine on social issues will be conserved in the party platform. (For more from the author of “Social Conservatives Declare Victory on Bathrooms, Marriage in GOP Platform” please click HERE)

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I’m a Mom. Here’s What I’m Doing to Fight Obama’s Transgender Agenda.

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Because I’m passionate about our country, I dedicated years of my life to government service. Later, that same passion led me to focus on raising my three young children to become the finest citizens they can be, becoming a stay-at-home mom.

Nevertheless, I have jumped back into the world of politics and policy far earlier than I expected to because President Barack Obama’s school bathroom mandate is endangering the safety, security, and privacy of my children and yours.

I cannot remain silent.

Like many Americans, I was shocked to learn the Obama administration had sent a “Dear Colleague” letter to our nation’s schools threatening them with loss of federal funds unless they adopt radical new gender identity policies. The letter twists Title IX—a law banning sex discrimination in education—and opens the door to a myriad of real dangers to women and girls Title IX was meant to help.

To put it simply, a boy claiming gender confusion must now be allowed in the same shower, bathroom, or locker room with my daughter under the president’s transgender policies. When I learned that predators could abuse these new policies to hurt children in school lockers, shelters, pool showers, or other vulnerable public places like remote bathrooms in national parks, I realized I had to do something.

I instinctively knew that I needed to speak up to protect those who cannot speak for themselves: our children. As I learned more about the issue, I realized that I also needed to speak up for victims of sexual assault who would be re-traumatized by having biological males undress in front of them, women who may now feel themselves powerless to do anything about it, due to legal concerns and fear of being labeled a bigot.

Not wanting to see any policy that would lead to more victims of sexual violence and trauma, I started calling my federal, state, and local representatives to see where they stood on the issue and to urge them to fight against Obama’s edict. I even met with my daughter’s vice principal to express concern.

But what I found dismayed me. People were being bullied into silence by the threats from the federal government and LGBT activists. And I was saddened by how few people in the general public really knew what was really going on today in our nation’s schools.

Through conversations with friends and family, the “United We Stand” campaign was born. Our simple effort to educate parents exploded into a national campaign to tell the White House and Obama “No.”

Our message was that this radical agenda of subjective “gender fluidity” and unrestricted shower and bathroom access actually endangers all.

The “United We Stand” campaign coincides with other efforts to combat Obama’s lawless reinterpretation of Title IX. North Carolina and several other states, led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, have fought back with lawsuits against the administration’s overreach. Groups advocating boycotting Target, which announced in April that “transgender team members and guests … [may] use the restroom or fitting room facility that corresponds with their gender identity,” continue to affect the retailer’s bottom line. Church activists are seeking to help ensure our First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and freedom of religion aren’t being curtailed so churches would be, for example, free to make their own bathroom policies inside their houses of worship and child care centers. Parents, concerned citizens, and other defenders of freedom are banding together to ensure the safety, security, and privacy of our children.

Because the national edict was approved by the White House, it can be stopped by the White House, so I knew that our outcry had to start there. My plan of response is simple. On Tuesday, July 12 at 1:00 p.m. EST, I and legions of others will inundate the White House comment line to respectfully say “NO” to Obama’s bathroom policies. And we will do so in numbers that will certainly get the White House’s attention.

But we will not stop there.

We will actively engage state and local government lawmakers and officials to inform and persuade them that they shouldn’t give in to the Obama administration’s threats to withhold educational funding from our children. The safety of bathrooms and other intimate facilities must be protected from predators seeking any vulnerability to commit heinous criminal acts.

Let me be clear: It is not transgender persons who I am concerned about hurting my children. Instead, I’m concerned about those who will abuse these new policies.

Some might consider me just a mom, but it’s a title I wear with pride: I believe it’s the most important job I will ever have. But that title also gives me a certain credibility when it comes to protecting children, because I know the dreams and fears that only parents can have for their kids.

As parents, we have the privilege and duty to educate and protect our children so that they can lead our nation on to further greatness when it’s their turn to do so. Until that time, I will boldly stand up to ensure the safety, security, and privacy of my children and yours so that together we all can stand united, safe, and free. (For more from the author of “I’m a Mom. Here’s What I’m Doing to Fight Obama’s Transgender Agenda.” please click HERE)

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3 Bills That Can Stop Obama’s Transgender Makeover of the Military

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The President and the Secretary of Defense have a message for our ruthless enemies. No, it’s not that they will lift the egregious and immoral rules of engagement on our special operators that are getting US troops killed and preserving our enemies. It is that those who live a transgender lifestyle will now be serving openly in the military. There is no word yet on those who live a trans-human lifestyle or suffer from other unfortunate hallucinatory illnesses that are otherwise medically unfit to serve.

What is Congress’ responsibility?

Congress must say no immediately. Members of Congress have three legislative vehicles viewed as must-pass that can easily be used to overturn this unilateral action: the defense authorization bill currently in conference committee, the defense appropriations bill, and the intelligence reauthorization bill.

If Congress can’t stop this unilateral move they should shut out the lights in their offices and save taxpayer funds.

At a time when the military leaders dramatically need to be gaming out a plan on how to prevent our 15 years in Afghanistan from becoming utterly worthless, and preserving our military strategy in dozens of countries, as well as war-gaming against Iranian aggression: here is what our enemies will see our military leaders working on [Military Times]:

Senior military leaders will have 90 days to draw up a detailed implementation plans that will address issues that include:

How the military health system will provide health care to transgender troops, to include medical support for gender transitions.

When a transgender service member will begin adhering to a different gender’s grooming standards and uniform-wear rules.

How and when a transgender service member will transition to new physical fitness standards.

When a commander should consider moving transgender soldiers into alternative barracks or birthing quarters.

How unit-level commanders should address a range issues related to deployments, job assignments and training that may arise among troops undergoing gender transitions.

How troops can undergo the bureaucratic process for changing their gender marker in the official Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System, known as DEERS.

In your wildest imagination, could you ever have envisioned a day when something like this would be drafted in any social setting – not designed as a parody – much less in our military during a time of war?

Folks, this has gone too far. Obama has turned our military into the most grotesque social experimentation, promoting the broader homosexual agenda, women in all areas of combat at any and all costs, sensitivity training, promotion of Islam, and sickening rules of engagement. He has replaced the entire military brass and has installed left-wing politicians as generals to obsequiously carry out his orders. As I’ve noted before, the morale in the military was already near an all-time low, and that was two years ago. This must be the final straw. It’s time to put an end to this.

The notion of inviting those with such an illness is not only immoral, illogical, and dangerous during a time of war, it will create a logistical nightmare on our already-stressed military. Soldiers live together in close quarters more than individuals in any other aspect of life. From basic training through the actual service, members from each respective gender shower in one open room in their separate facilities. Are we now going to have males with male genitalia showering with the women?

While the numbers of those who live such a lifestyle in the military are clearly much less than the 2,500 to 7,000 figure advertised by the administration and the sexual identity lobby, this policy will invite endless provocation from this group. Think of all the religious and personal liberty/privacy problems that will arise from this at a time when Obama has already mandated a culture of anti-religious bigotry in the military?

When Congress returns from the holiday break we will find out if there is any degree of decadence to which Obama will stoop that will elicit an appropriate response from Republicans. (For more from the author of “3 Bills That Can Stop Obama’s Transgender Makeover of the Military” please click HERE)

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White House Opens Restrooms Based on Gender Identity, but Not Sure of Other Federal Buildings

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The National Park Service says park visitors can use the restroom that matches their gender identity, but the White House isn’t sure whether the Obama administration is applying that policy to all federal government buildings.

The decision on use of public restrooms under federal control might in fact be left to individual government agencies, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said today, although the policy at the White House itself is to allow use of the restroom of choice.

“I have to admit that I can’t speak to the bathroom policy of the federal government. I think you should check with individual agencies,” Earnest said in response to a question from The Daily Signal at the Thursday press briefing.

But, Earnest added: “I can confirm to you that that is the policy here at the White House.”

Spokespersons from both the Interior Department and the National Park Service last week confirmed to The Daily Signal that on federal lands—including national parks—men and women may use the restroom that “aligns” with their gender identity.

National Park Service spokesman Jeremy Barnum told The Daily Signal in a phone interview that national parks will continue to have men’s and women’s restrooms, but that visitors “will be free to choose” based on their gender identity.

The National Park Service has not adopted a new policy in this regard, Barnum added, because there never has been a written rule about who could use men’s and women’s restrooms. It was simply a common understanding, he said.

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources subcommittee on federal lands, does not support this change, Cassidy spokesman John Cummins told The Daily Signal in an email.

“The senator’s position is that persons’ biological gender should dictate what bathrooms they use,” Cummins said.

Cassidy sent a letter in May to Attorney General Loretta Lynch, Education Secretary John King, and fellow senators after the Obama administration directed schools that receive U.S. taxpayer money to allow students to use the restrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identity—or risk losing federal funding.

Cassidy’s letter said in part:

Deciding which bathroom, locker room, or shower transgender students should use is the kind of issue the states, parents, school boards, communities, students, and teachers should work out in a practical way with a maximum amount of respect for the individual rights of the students who are transgender as well as the rights of those who are not. If the solutions developed by states and communities violate the equal protection guarantees of the U.S. Constitution or federal civil rights laws, federal courts are available to protect students’ rights.

“Until Congress or the courts settle the federal law,” Cassidy added, “states and school districts are free to devise their own reasonable solutions.”

The Department of Interior is charged with stewarding the nation’s public lands, waters, parks, and wildlife. The government maintains 58 national parks across the United States, visited by 307.2 million people in 2015.

The Daily Signal sought comment last week from other federal agencies to determine whether a uniform bathroom policy exists for all federal buildings and federally maintained public restrooms, and whether the administration would hold these federal buildings to the same standard it applies to local schools.

The General Services Administration, responsible for overseeing federal property and procurement; the Justice Department, which enforces civil rights laws; and the Office of Personnel Management, which oversees the federal workforce, did not respond to multiple phone and email inquiries from The Daily Signal. (For more from the author of “White House Opens Restrooms Based on Gender Identity, but Not Sure of Other Federal Buildings” please click HERE)

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Ban on Transgender Troops to Be Lifted July 1

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The Pentagon plans to announce the repeal of its ban on transgender service members July 1, a controversial decision that would end nearly a year of internal wrangling among the services on how to allow those troops to serve openly, according to Defense officials.

Top personnel officials plan to meet as early as Monday to finalize details of the plan, and Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work could sign off on it by Wednesday, according to a Defense official familiar with the timetable but who spoke on condition of anonymity because officials were not authorized to speak publicly about it. Final approval would come from Defense Secretary Ash Carter, and the announcement will be on the eve of the Fourth of July weekend.

The plan would direct each branch of the armed services over a one-year period to implement new policies affecting recruiting, housing and uniforms for transgender troops, one official said.

Carter announced last year that the ban, which affects a fraction of the military’s 1.3 million active duty members, would be lifted unless a review showed that doing so would have “adverse impact on military effectiveness and readiness.”

That phrase raised concerns on Capitol Hill where a key lawmaker questioned whether an “honest and balanced assessment” could be made of the effects on “military readiness, morale and good order and discipline” under Carter’s guidelines for the review. (Read more from “Ban on Transgender Troops to Be Lifted July 1” HERE)

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Voters Oppose Obama’s Transgender Bathroom Mandate by Wide Margin: Poll

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A strong majority of voters disapprove of Barack Obama’s mandate that public schools and universities open their restrooms and private facilities to the opposite sex, according to a new poll.

Voters in the swing states of Ohio, Florida, and Pennsylvania told Quinnipiac University pollsters they disapproved of the Obama administration’s controversial federal guidance requiring public schools and universities to allow transgender students to use the restrooms, showers, and overnight accommodations of the opposite biological sex or lose federal funding.

Polls found respondents in those three states opposed the measure by an average of 14 percentage points.

In Ohio, 55 percent opposed the Obama administration policy, while 36 percent supported.

Florida voters opposed the measure 54-37. (Read more from “Voters Oppose Obama’s Transgender Bathroom Mandate by Wide Margin: Poll” HERE)

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Transgender Appeals Judge’s Ruling Denying Her Bid to Use Male Name

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A Georgia judge who rejected the name change proposed by a transgendered woman who identifies as a man is facing a challenge to his decision.

Columbia County Superior Court Judge J. David Roper had ruled that Rebeccah Elizabeth Feldhaus could not change her name to Rowan Elijah.

“The question presented is whether a female has the salutatory right to change her name to a traditionally and obviously male name,” the judge wrote in March. “The court concludes that she does not have such right.”

“I don’t know anybody named Elijah who’s female,” Roper said, according to a hearing transcript. “I’m not going to do that. I’ve never heard of that. And I know who Elijah was, one of the greatest men that ever lived.”

This week, Roper’s decision came under fire as attorneys for Feldhaus filed papers with the Georgia Court of Appeals to overturn Roper’s ruling.

Feldhaus said in a statement that he felt insulted and objectified to be told he can’t use the name that his family, friends and even co-workers already use.

“It can be a scary situation when I show up for work or the first day of class and my legal name does not match my public presentation and my gender identity,” said Feldhaus, who attended Augusta University. “I just want to change my name so that it reflects who I am.”

Roper had said he did not approve of changing male to female names.

“I will allow a gender-neutral name change that will benefit the general public because I don’t want them to have to go through the embarrassing issue of trying to figure out what to do with you when you present, in your appearance today, with a female name, particularly if you had on a uniform and you were dressed like a man,” Roper told Feldhaus, who is in the Army Reserve. (For more from the author of “Transgender Appeals Judge’s Ruling Denying Her Bid to Use Male Name” please click HERE)

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Exclusive: Here’s What Alaskan Mother Blames for Daughter’s Loss to Transgender Boy at Champion Track Meet

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As widely reported by national outlets over the past several days, a “transgender” boy was allowed to compete in Alaska’s Girls State Championship track meet last week. He placed third at the meet, bumping Mat-Su resident Jennifer VanPelt’s daughter, Allison, from the medal platform.

In a subsequent exclusive interview with Restoring Liberty, Ms. VanPelt revealed that neither she nor her daughter knew that a boy had competed in the girls’ race until sometime later, after media reports came out about it. When they read the boy’s name – “Wangyot” – in one article, Ms. VanPelt exclaimed to her daughter, “Wait! He raced against you! He placed ahead of you, he knocked you out of medal contention!” Her daughter, once the implication of this sunk in, was “really upset.”

Ms. VanPelt told me that Allison “busts her butt seven days a week to train to be able to beat most of the females in this state,” but that she doesn’t “bust her butt to beat a guy [because] men are physically different than women. She can’t grow a bigger heart, or bigger lungs, or more muscle mass like a boy.”

Upset over the fact that her hard-working daughter had been cheated out of a medal, Ms. VanPelt engaged. Even though she does not consider herself politically active – and has been described as “an introvert who raises chickens in [her] backyard” – Ms. VanPelt made her opinion widely known on social media. Several national media groups picked up her comments and now she finds herself at the epicenter of this important issue.

As part of her effort to expose what happened here in Alaska, Ms. VanPelt looked into why the ASAA (Alaska State Athletic Association) is allowing boys to compete in female events. She learned that individual school districts are now given the choice as to whether boys may compete against girls. If a district allows it, the State’s athletic program will not challenge that decision.

Ms. VanPelt thinks this is crazy and so do “close to 9-out-of-10 people” she talks to about allowing boy athletes to compete against girls. She counts as her supporters not just conservatives but liberals, feminists, and members of the LGBT community.

Essentially, Ms. VanPelt says this all boils down to a new cultural norm: the “right as a transgender supersedes your right as a female.” And she’s none too pleased that Alaska political leaders are refusing to speak out against the ASAA’s misogynistic policy.

Ms. VanPelt thinks that “out-of-control political correctness” in the culprit: “we’ve been groomed as a society that we don’t want to hurt other peoples’ feelings, so we shouldn’t speak out about it. We should just keep quiet and turn our heads.”

In looking toward the future, Ms. VanPelt warns “today were dealing with one transgender, what happens when half the field [are transgender]?

To stop this from happening, Ms. VanPelt believes there need to be more people of courage willing to “step it up and say, yeah, this isn’t right, were starting to get out-of-control here.”

I agree. Alaskan leaders – political and religious – should be ashamed for staying silent. They should be embarrassed into action. But we should celebrate those like Jennifer VanPelt who are almost singlehandedly taking on the elites and trying to reverse their perverse agenda.

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I Wish I Had Been Told About These Risks Before I Had Gender Surgery

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Many Americans are unaware of the serious problems that face transgender persons.

For instance, a 2016 study comparing 20 Lebanese transgender participants to 20 control subjects reported that transgender individuals suffer from more psychiatric pathologies compared to the general population. More than 50 percent had active suicidal thoughts and 45 percent had had a major depressive episode.

While it may not be politically correct to link psychological disorders with the transgender population, the researchers see the evidence that a link exists. As a former transgender person, I wish the guy who approved me for gender surgery would have told me about the risks.

Quick to Diagnose

The experience of many gender-confused individuals is that medical professionals are quick to reach a diagnosis of gender dysphoria and recommend immediate cross-gender hormone therapy and irreversible reassignment surgery without investigating and treating the coexisting issues. Research has found that powerful psychological issues, such as anxiety disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, or alcohol or drug dependence often accompany gender dysphoria.

A study published in JAMA Pediatrics in March 2016 shows a high prevalence of psychiatric diagnoses in a sample of 298 young transgender women aged 16 through 29 years old.

More than 40 percent had coexisting mental health or substance dependence diagnoses. One in five had two or more psychiatric diagnoses. The most commonly occurring disorders were major depressive episodes and non-alcohol psychoactive substance use dependence.

Yet, transgender individuals are never required to undergo any objective test to prove their gender dysphoria—because no diagnostic objective test exists.

The cause of this condition can’t be verified through lab results, a brain scan, or review of the DNA make-up.

Research studies from 2013 and 2009 looking for a “transgender gene” showed not a smidgeon of abnormality in the genetic make-up that causes someone to be transgender.

No alterations in the main sex-determining genes in male-to-female transsexual individuals were found, suggesting strongly that male-born transgender persons are normal males biologically.

Psychological Care Urgently Needed

The study concluded that improved access to medical and psychological care “are urgently needed to address mental health and substance dependence disorders in this population.”

On the contrary, it did not conclude that improved access to bathrooms, hormones, or surgery are urgently needed.

A 2015 study of 118 individuals diagnosed with gender dysphoria found that 29.6 percent were also found to have dissociative disorders and a high prevalence of lifetime major depressive episodes (45.8 percent), suicide attempts (21.2 percent), and childhood trauma (45.8 percent).

It also remarked that differentiating between a diagnosis of dissociative disorder and gender dysphoria is difficult because the two can closely resemble each other.

Another study found a “surprisingly high prevalence of emotional maltreatment” in the 41 transsexuals studied. It called for further investigation to clarify the effects of traumatic childhood experiences and the correlation between transsexualism and dissociative identity.

That finding tracks with what I experienced in my transgender life. In my life and in the lives of those whose families contact me, traumatic childhood experiences are present 100 percent of the time.

Childhood Gender Dysphoria

One area where medical professionals should tread lightly is in the diagnosis and treatment of children who have gender identity issues.

A 2015 study aimed to gather input from pediatric endocrinologists, psychologists, psychiatrists, and ethicists—both those in favor and those opposed to early treatment—to further the ethical debate.

The results showed no consensus on many basic topics of childhood gender dysphoria and insufficient research to support any recommendations for childhood treatments, including the currently published guidelines that recommend suppressing puberty with drugs until age 16, after which cross-sex hormones may be given.

An analysis of the 38 youth referrals for gender dysphoria to the Pediatric Endocrinology Clinic at the University School of Medicine in Indianapolis showed that more than half had psychiatric and/or developmental comorbidities.

Without sufficient research and consensus on treatment of children diagnosed with gender dysphoria, and knowing over half have coexisting disorders, any invasive treatment, even if recommended by the current guidelines, is simply an experiment.

It’s time to stop using children as experiments.

Transgender Persons Are Struggling Psychologically

Transgender individuals need psychotherapy not access to cross-sex restrooms, showers, and dressing areas. Blaming society for the ills of transgender persons will not improve their diagnosis and treatment.

Reckless disregard for the mental disorders in favor of enforcing preferred pronouns is madness. It’s time to show compassion by telling the truth and stop pretending they are born that way.

True compassion is acknowledging the mental disorders and providing effective, sound treatment in an effort to slow the staggering number of suicides, before rushing to perform irreversible surgeries. (For more from the author of “I Wish I Had Been Told About These Risks Before I Had Gender Surgery” please click HERE)

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School District Grapples With the Transgender Debate

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A few short miles outside of Washington, D.C., a public school community appears divided over a policy that allows transgender students to use the bathrooms, locker rooms, and other sex-specific facilities in accordance with their gender identity.

Supporters view it as a positive step in the name of equality, while opponents view it as an infringement on the privacy and safety rights of the rest of the students.

In some ways, this community, Fairfax County, Virginia, has been ground zero for the transgender issue. Last spring, a year before the Obama administration issued guidance mandating that transgender students be granted access to facilities that match their gender identity, the Fairfax County School Board passed its own transgender non-discrimination policy.

This has made Fairfax County a test case, in some ways, of what’s to come with the Obama administration’s new transgender policy.

To find out how the community is dealing with the issue, The Daily Signal attended a Fairfax County School Board meeting, where we spoke with people on both sides of the debate. Watch the video to hear their response. (For more from the author of “School District Grapples With the Transgender Debate” please click HERE)

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