I was a day behind the ‘cultural’ curve in regards to what happened during the opening events of this year’s olympics. I had to hear about it in Sunday school. You know…………….when drag queens produced a photo of a spoof of the Lord’s Supper. Personally, I found it putrid. Not only because it presented a political statement that did not belong in sports (no politics from any viewpoint do) but because it mocked my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who at that moment of his supper with his disciples was experiencing one of the most consequential moments of His ministry here on earth. Aside from condeming it and siding with most all conservatives on the issue, it made me think of so many other things we get wrong in tackling culture war issues and how we let them influence us, when there is really no reason we should.
During another partial sleepless night, like I had last night, I started considering the hysteria around the ‘trans’ issue as a whole. I felt like I was fairly, well, fair about the matter. Like conservatives I do believe that God created only two sexes. I believe both are made in His image for a specified purpose in society and in becoming the nucleas of what a family should look like. I also believe that biological males have no business being in athletic competition with biological females (save for things like triathlons or mixed doubles in games like tennis or pickle ball). Yet, like liberals, although I have my world view, I’d don’t believe in forcing it on others. This is where those behind the sickening message during the opening ceremony and those on the far right who attack ‘trans’ people need to find fault with what they are doing. People with a ‘trans’ agenda need to keep the matter in private. Right wing traditionalists need to do the same. Both camps need to see the issue as a private matter and not try to bring it out in the legislative arena. For example, I’d never expect society to pay for public health care for gender altering surgery, through taxes. That should be something paid with private money for individuals who want it. Just like no one should use government to try to block someone from having gender based altering surgery if they pay for it with their own money. Or force them into therapy they don’t want, also with the public’s taxes, trying to make them traditional. Both camps should never try to advertise their viewpoints on the public stage either. I have my perspective on the matter which is biblical and traditional. Yet, I see it as not my business as long as it is kept in someone’s private life. If they have a different view on the matter. I see government’s only role concerning the issue as a protector against harressment, violence and discrimination. Anything further is OVERREACH!
Another reality I considered last evening was the fact that I had trouble remembering the last time I encountered a ‘trans’ individual. I started considering all of the times I worked or was educated in large metropolitan areas of America where one is bound to meet a ‘trans’ individual. Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Miami-Dade County (work) and Dallas (education) were all places in which I spent time throughout the years. Not, being in any one of those communities too long may not have given me the chance to be exposed. Yet, I can distinctly recall that during a mission project in Northern West Virginia I encountered my first ‘trans’ individual in the college hub of Morgantown, there at the local mall. We’d gone shopping for University of West Virginia Mountaineer supplies, to signify our time becoming a part of the state. I remember the reaction we all had as we laughed and gawked. As we all wondered if it was a fraternity prank or a lifestyle? Right there in one of the most ‘red’ states of America. Not one time in those other ‘blue’ places in which I worked. This made me realize the ‘Fox News’ hysteria was just that. And knowing right wing media scare tactics, perception has always meant more than reality. Perception hidding as reality and offered as propoganda has been as much a part of politics as have office holders themselves. Sure, was what took place last week on NBC crass? Yes! Was it something that gave far right media ammunition………….when a reality based argument like mine is trying to take root/……………Unfortunately……………yes! Yet, I can say from personal experience that anyone fearful of the cross currents of culture coming at them, is just really nothing much in which to fret. It was 1997 when I was exposed to the ‘opposite culture’ so many like me are supposed to fear. That was a long time and many blue states ago. In a far, far away ‘RED STATE.’
