By Sarah Holliday
When it comes to gender politics, many in the opposition acknowledge that adults have the ability to choose for themselves whether they pursue hormone therapy or body-mutilating operations, because adults can better weigh the risks of their decisions.
Children, on the other hand, are quite different from adults. Opponents of gender ideology are steadfast in the fight to keep these ideological procedures away from children because they understand how vulnerable children are to the manipulative nature of so-called gender-affirming care. Far too many kids have already become victims of medical experiments as it is.
This is what makes a law recently passed in Germany even more infuriating.
Five-Year-Olds Choose Gender
On April 12, the Bundestag, or German parliament, “passed one of the world’s most far-reaching sex self-determination policies,” Reduxx reported. This radical legislation, it added, “establishes ‘gender identity’ as a protected characteristic and allows parents to change the sex marker on their children’s documents from birth.”
Under the Self-Determination Act, citizens may be fined 10,000 euros ($10,719) for “deadnaming,” a term LGBT activists use when someone, without his or her permission, is referred to by the name given at birth rather than the name he or she chose as part of this identity façade.
And just when it appears it can’t get any more drastic, the Self-Determination Act also “permits parents to alter the recorded sex of children beginning from birth. From the age of 5 years old, it allows for name and sex changes if there is ‘mutual consent’ between the child and their parents.”
Are We Next?
Physicians have emphasized that Europe is ahead of the United States in terms of how far gender ideology has gone. Some countries, though—such as the U.K., Sweden, Finland, and Norway—have begun backtracking as more evidence comes to light of the harmful nature of such procedures.
Thankfully, in America, those determined to keep children safe by preventing legislation such as the Self-Determination Act, known in Germany as SBGG, from happening in this country are fighting back strongly.
But several questions come to mind when analyzing this recent development: What are the implications of a law such as Germany’s for what is next in the gender politics wars? Will similar laws pass elsewhere in Europe? How will America respond?
Parental Rights, Radical Wrongs
Joseph Backholm, Family Research Council’s senior fellow for strategic engagement and biblical worldview, helped give insight into some of those questions, in comments to The Washington Stand.
“If we describe ‘radical’ as something far outside the lines of decency, this is definitely a radical policy,” Backholm insisted. “The idea that parents would be allowed to change the sex of their child from birth is outrageous. Any parent who wanted to treat their son as a girl from birth should lose their parental rights, not do so with the support and encouragement of the government.”
Addressing the details of the law passed in Germany, Backholm noted, “The name is ironic but perfect, much like their flagship holiday, Pride. The Self-Determination Act reflects their desire to define their own reality, but reality will never stop pushing back and will never lose.”
This, of course, is exhibited in the mountains of research and evidence that prove the biological reality of the two-sex binary, as well as the reality that biological sex cannot be altered by hormones and surgeries.
Choose Your Age, or Species?
“Why is a child’s sex the only thing the parents can change?” Backholm asked. “Why can’t they change their birth year to make them immediately eligible for retirement benefits? Why can’t a child who feels like an old soul identify as a retiree?”
In answer to those questions, Backholm contended: “If we allow this logic to prevail, there’s simply no point in having identification documents. Germany should get rid of any attempt to describe someone’s characteristics and simply give every life (we shouldn’t assume their species) an identification number and let them make up the rest. That’s the only way to be consistent.”
However, Backholm clarified, “that would be insane.” But the sad reality is that “it’s not more insane than this law is.”
Speak The Truth
For Backholm, the irrational possibility that “the elites” might decide we can “choose our own birth year … may be coming.”
As to how believers should respond, Backholm helpfully observed, “The correct response for Christians to madness like this is to say what we know to be true without fear.” Ultimately, he said, “The more people hear the truth spoken, the more likely they are to speak the truth.”
“These ideas cannot prevail over time,” he insisted, “but they can do a lot of damage before we come to our senses. Our job is to minimize that damage and encourage a return to reality as quickly as possible.”
Sarah Holliday (media@frc.org) writes for The Washington Stand. A version of this article previously appeared in the Daily Signal. Reprinted with permission.
