“The good thing about science is that it’s true whether or not you believe in it.” ― Neil deGrasse Tyson.
That quote is often used against skeptics of “man-made” climate change, sometimes called “deniers” and labeled anti-science. This has been in an attempt to shut down debate and dismiss scientific data that does not support the “consensus” on climate change and its causes. While this post is not about climate change or my position on it, this sets the stage for the context of the issue before us. Many years ago, I was watching a show on PBS about science and there was a discussion about whether some disciplines should be considered “bad science” because they were based on theory that would be impossible to conduct experiments on and draw conclusions. One of the guests on the panel, I do not remember the name of the person and could not find the quote otherwise I would attribute this to him, said “there is no such thing as bad science, only bad scientists or bad data”. He went on to explain that all science is theoretical until proven true or false. This is what scientific discovery is all about, he stated, but he warned of “consensus without verifiable proof” in science. He explained that if a researcher or group of researchers concluded and there was no questioning of the data and no scrutiny of the method, there was no verified proof. If the conclusions were accepted without such review then a consensus is formed, any rebuttal of the conclusion would be rejected even if there was proof the conclusion was wrong. His warning holds true today with climate change, but there is another consensus taking form and it is based on a political agenda, not scientific research.
For many years now the homosexual community has been pushing to have their lifestyle “normalized” and brought into the mainstream culture. They push for “tolerance” but they have been labeling those who oppose the lifestyle on religious or even scientific reasons as haters, bigots, homophobes, and sometimes terrorists. There is a difference between tolerance, acceptance, and approval that seems to be ignored by the LGB, Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual community (those are the letters they started with). Tolerance is actually a two-way street because you can be opposed to something on moral, political, or philosophical grounds and not treat the person badly. For example, you may be opposed to a co-worker’s lifestyle because he does things that are immoral but you still treat him with respect and dignity. While you may discuss his lifestyle with him, you don’t try to force him to change, this is tolerance. Acceptance, on the other hand, still has the room for objection but the difference is that you accept the person as they are and do not expect them to change. In this instance, those who object to something will generally keep it to themselves and can be close friends with the person, especially family members. While tolerance and acceptance allow for objection, approval requires the complete rejection of moral standards or the adoption of “moral relativism” where you set your own morals based on what you “feel” is right. Tolerance and acceptance are a “live and let live” philosophy that allows people to have views that differ but still be civil to one another.
Over the years, the LGB movement has added some letters to their acronym. These letters are T and Q standing for transgendered and queer. Why they felt the need to add queer is beyond me as it has always been considered a slur. The LGBTQ movement has gone from wanting people to be tolerant to trying to force approval of their lifestyle on those who oppose it. They pushed for same sex marriage that was voted down in most states but through the Supreme Court were able to force it on those states through a misreading of the 14th amendment. In the aftermath, Christian businesses that have refused to participate in same sex ceremonies because of religious objections (which is expressly protected by the 1st amendment) have been sued and fined. The lifestyle has been glorified in movies and on TV. The movement also vilifies anyone who speaks out about their lifestyle even if it is from a scientific, fact-based study one which shows a higher risk for anal cancer. The term “homophobia” is used on anyone who does not approve of the lifestyle even though technically a phobia is a fear, not a hatred. While only about 3.8% of the US population is LGB, there is an even smaller number of people getting a lot of attention recently.
At 0.6%, or 1.4 million people, the transgendered group has been the center of controversy over bathroom and locker room use as well as sports participation. The Left in the US have claimed that gender is a social construct and not a product of biology as we understand it. They claim that people who feel they are a different gender than their sex at birth is completely natural and we should embrace it. This has been promoted by Facebook with over 56 genders to choose from as well as Target that has allowed people to use the bathroom of their choice. The issue prompted some states like North Carolina to pass laws that restrict bathroom use to the sex of your birth. The law caused backlash from the LGBTQ community as well as performing artists who refuse to perform in the state, including dates that had already been set. They claimed they were standing up to discrimination but they were discriminating against the state, can you say irony? This group was brought to even greater prominence when gold medalist Bruce Jenner came out to be transgendered as Caitlyn. The debate between gender and sex was brought to a whole new level when science was inserted into it.
At one time, homosexuality was considered a mental illness and therefore was treated as one. In the 1970’s, however, without any research performed to determine whether it was indeed a mental illness or other mental issue the governing body of psychologists voted to remove it from the list of mental illness. This was done under pressure from gay activists and not from new research into the matter. Very little research has been done into the LGBTQ community as far as mental and physical health go mainly due to opposition to such studies and the reluctance of universities to fund them. There are some statistics that point to issues that affect the community that are higher than the rest of society. The rate of alcohol and drug abuse is higher as is the risk factors for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) like HIV/ AIDS and hepatitis. This is partly due to the high rates of promiscuity especially among gay men. With the reclassification of homosexuality, there have not been any questioning of other forms of sexuality including transgenderism. Even when faced with the strangest behavior, we are told to treat it as normal. When someone is brave enough to suggest there may be a mental issue at work in transgendered people it is met with hostility. So far, the scientific community has expressed no interest in investigating what would cause a person to feel they are a different gender than their sex but they have had plenty to say regarding gender and biology.
In 1819, Imre Festetics published his work The Genetic Law of the Nature and laid the groundwork for today’s understanding of living organisms from trees to humans. While there are still advancements being made in the field, there are facts that are irrefutable and have been established through countless experiments. These facts are so well trusted, they will stand in a court of law as evidence but recently some in the scientific community have ignored these facts for purely political reasons. One of the facts we all learned in school is that our sex is determined by two chromosomes. For females it is XX, for males it is XY and it is accepted fact that there are only two sexes (also called genders) and any variation of it, like being a hermaphrodite, is a mutation and anomaly. In the case of transgenderism, Bill Nye the “science” guy (really he has a degree in mechanical engineering) posted a video denouncing the established fact of the very science that he says he promotes. The promotion of more than two genders has no basis in science and even denies the proven facts. Among the other established facts is the fact that men and women are different physically and mentally and in the name of equality, the Left has been trying to erase that fact.
Science has confirmed what people have known for thousands of years. Men and women are fundamentally different in many ways. Brain scans have shown that the sexes use different parts of their brains when doing the same tasks and have different perceptions when shown photos. It has even been confirmed that women see more of the color spectrum than men. Studies have also shown that women are better at detecting emotion than men. Men are more capable to identify fast moving objects than women. So, there is proof that men and women have different strengths mentally and emotionally and while there are differences, the conclusion is that women and men complement each other instead of competing. This is a reason there are separate sports teams for boys and girls. In younger years, boys and girls are physically similar in strength as there are no biological changes taking place so preteen children can compete equally in most sports. Then a little thing called puberty occurs and boys and girl’s bodies go haywire. Hormones flood in and start major changes physically and mentally that begin to differentiate the girls from the boys who are growing into women and men. Women begin to develop breasts, their hips widen, and grow taller as they usually enter puberty at an earlier age. The main hormone that causes these changes is estrogen. When males begin puberty, they tend to begin with a change in voice then their shoulders begin to broaden. Testosterone is the hormone responsible for these changes and it gives boys the ability to increase muscle mass at a fast rate, faster than most girls of the same age. This presents a problem with children who believe they are transgendered before puberty and after.
Because of the hormonal difference between men and women, men have a natural advantage of strength over women even in their teens. Teenagers go through many changes and the hormones that control them are powerful. Many transgendered teens take hormones and hormone suppressants that counteract the natural hormones in their systems but I would suggest that the artificial hormones are not powerful enough to overpower the natural hormones. With this in mind if a boy feels he is a girl and he joins a girls’ team, even with hormone suppression his testosterone will still cause the changes to his body. For that reason, we must examine what happens when a boy who is transgendered as a girl competes on a girl’s wrestling team. Consider that once they start puberty, a boy begins to gain muscle and thicker bones. Not all boys but most will grow much taller and have longer arm reach. While most girls have longer legs and wider hips, many are not as tall as boys. Even with hormone suppression, boys still have a distinct advantage over girls just take a look at the picture of the girls’ basketball team from Mission College in Santa Clara, CA. Can you tell who is transgendered in the picture. Let’s put this into perspective and context. When was the last time you saw a 5’ 5” player on an NBA team? Chances are it has been a long time because most guys in the NBA are 6’ 5” or taller. A guy who is 5’ 5” would have a drastic disadvantage with other’s as tall as that.
There is an undeniable fact in science. That fact is you are born with specific DNA with chromosomes that determine everything about you right down to your eye color. This DNA cannot be changed by hormones and surgery which are the methods used in gender reassignment. Part of the makeup of your DNA is your sex or gender that is irreversible. To put it another way, if you committed a murder while you were a male and the only evidence that could connect you to the crime was a few drops of your blood you would have left your DNA there. A few years later you have the hormone therapy and the surgery to reassign your gender so you think you are in the clear. The reason you think that is because you are now the opposite sex and you will not be suspected. One day the police show up and tell you that your DNA was found at a murder scene. You use the defense that you are a woman and the suspect is a man but your DNA is what links you to the crimes and therefore cannot be repudiated. People have tried over the years to change their appearance to fool witnesses and law enforcement but with forensic science and the discovery of DNA, it is almost impossible to get away with a crime if you leave even the slightest blood, hair, or saliva evidence behind.
For someone to say that a boy can fully become a girl and vice versa is a rejection of known scientific fact. For someone to claim that it is natural to feel transgendered is a rejection of known scientific fact. For someone to claim there are more than two genders or sexes is a rejection of known scientific fact. Science has proven that gender and sex are hardwired into our bodies and cannot be changed no matter how much hormone therapy (there have not been enough studies to even know if these are truly safe) and surgery that is performed. Addressing the mental aspect of transgenderism has become taboo in the psychological community because of political correctness (a term that was coined by Joseph Stalin). Any logical and scientific debate is shut down as hate speech and those who try legitimate study on the subject are dismissed by their peers as homophobic or bigoted. Until we can understand that feelings do not make fact, we will never be able to discuss the issue honestly. Those who oppose such things as evolution and climate change on the grounds there is no hard proof or that the data used was flawed are called science deniers but the real deniers are those who reject proven scientific fact in favor of social constructs. Gender is not a social construct but is a well-documented fact of scientific research by more than a few scientists over more than 100 years.
owensonit 