2016 | Week of May 9 | #1150

Sixty-three girls, representing fifty-one families, one governor and a supportive team and legislative leadership have all stepped up. And we owe them all a huge thank you.

Last week, our front-line legal partner Alliance Defending Freedom, in conjunction with the Thomas More Society, filed a lawsuit in federal court in Chicago on behalf of 63 girls from Township High School District 211 near Palatine, IL. These young girls are, with the support of their parents, stepping up to say very clearly that they believe their bodily privacy rights and constitutional rights are being trounced on by the federal government and their school district.

Before I go into some of the details of this case, I want to be very clear about this issue. Allowing men and boys in the women’s and girls’ rest rooms and locker rooms and vice versa is wrong. It is unsafe. It is a violation of the God-given modesty and self-protection that God has built into each of us. Policies that allow for this will, hear me well, WILL be abused; in fact, they already have been.  Women and girls who have been sexually abused by a man will be re-traumatized. No, that is not a fabrication; it is true.

Those of us who know these policies are wrong and dangerous are not the ones who need to “educated,” “grow up,” “get over it,” or be forced to use another facility, as those pushing these horrendous policies keep telling us. No, it’s the very small percentage of people who are dealing with gender confusion who should be using another facility. I’m really tired of the emperor having no clothes and everyone ignoring that and acting as if those of us who see this clearly are the blind ones. Christians, I beg you to see this for what it is. Going along to get along or ignoring this issue is wrong and harmful.

Now, to the Palatine, IL situation. The school board originally told a boy who claims to identify as a girl that he should use the boys’ locker room or a single-user facility. That wasn’t good enough for this boy. Eventually, the federal government threatened the school district if it didn’t let him use whatever locker room he wanted. These 63 girls and their parents said we are not going to let them just walk over us. And they are suing the US Department of Education, the US Department of Justice, their school district and the State of Illinois. Make no mistake; they aren’t doing this just for themselves. They are doing this for all the students all across this country—including right here in Wisconsin—where similar policies have been passed by audacious, liberal, belligerent and breathtakingly arrogant school boards who have bought a lie.

Meanwhile in North Carolina, Governor Pat McCrory has sued the federal government for threatening to withhold federal funding to the state. This Governor who has so far shown enormous courage in the face of unrelenting and punishing backlash from the usual liberal, godless crowd, has shown it again. He is not willing to let the Obama Administration once again overstep its constitutional boundaries and ride roughshod over the state he governs. He’s pushing back—and hard.

What’s Governor McCrory’s big bad bill? Basically it says that state employees and state buildings, which would include schools, must have gender-specific restrooms and changing rooms and state employees and others in the buildings must use the facilities that correspond with their biological sex, as stated on their birth certificate. President Obama is determined to open all restrooms and changing rooms everywhere in this country to everyone, regardless of sex. Governor McCrory, joined by the state’s Lieutenant Governor Dan Forest and the state’s legislative leadership have said to President Obama and his henchmen in the Department of Justice, we’ve had enough. We are not rolling over and playing dead on this. Again make no mistake; the ramifications of this are nationwide, not just for North Carolina.

If you agree with me that policies that allow men and boys in the women’s and girls’ restrooms and locker rooms and vice versa are wrong and dangerous, you owe these 63 Illinois girls representing 51 families and this one North Carolina governor, the North Carolina legislative leadership and the legal teams involved a huge thank you. Instead of running for cover as everyone else has or giving in to the bullying, these folks have stepped up in a big way.  Please find a way to thank them. For me and our organization, I can truly say these folks are our heroes.

This is Julaine Appling for Wisconsin Family Council reminding you the prophet Hosea said, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.”