2021 | Week of June 7 | Radio Transcript #1415

This is Julaine Appling for Wisconsin Family Council reminding you the prophet Hosea said, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” Wait! You didn’t miss this week’s commentary. It’s just really important that before I get into the meat of this commentary that I remind you that knowledge is important—and sometimes knowledge that we need can be unpleasant and tough to hear, but we can’t deal effectively or biblically with what we don’t know.

In that spirit, here’s some knowledge we all need.

Governor Evers on June 1 issued three Executive Orders. All three Eos advance the LGBTQ+ agenda. The first EO, #120, authorizes the so-called “pride” flag to be flown over the state capitol the entire month of June and also authorizes the same for any other state buildings.

Now this is the third year, Governor Evers has issued this order in support of what the LGBTQ+ activists hail as “Pride Month.” Two years ago, in response, we did a mostly on-line petition and in two weeks had 10,000 signatures. We hand-delivered the copies of the petition to the governor’s office. He ignored our input then, and he would do so again. Why? Because he is bought and paid for by the LGBTQ+ lobby and that ideology reflects his personal worldview.

The second EO this month, EO #121, relates to state agencies using so-called “gender-neutral” language in external documents. The governor opens this EO with, quote, “Whereas, once-conventional use of gender-specific language is imprecise, anachronous, and contravenes Wisconsinites’ interests.” End quote.      Wow. That’s quite an assertion. He certainly doesn’t speak for me with that statement. I think gender-specific language is right, appropriate, necessary, dignifying, respectful, not out of date and it certainly doesn’t “contravene” my interests.

In this EO, the governor directs all state agencies under his jurisdiction to use gender-neutral terms and pronouns and even to avoid, quote, “making nay reference to gendered family relations.” End quote. So, words such as father, mother, son, daughter, brother, sister, grandfather, grandmother, uncle, aunt, nephew and niece are, according to the governor, ambiguous, unfair and disrespectful.

Frankly, I find this EO disrespectful and unfair. Family relationships are about biology. Without biological realities of male and female, we don’t have any biological family relationships but beyond that, with out that biological reality, we don’t have people. What the governor is doing in this EO is denying science and actually blaspheming God’s created order of male and female, His design for marriage—one biological male and one biological female—and His plan for family—a married couple and their biological and/or adopted children. Governor Evers has undermined Wisconsin’s best natural resource—our married dad-and-mom families.

The third order, EO #122, is an end-run around the state legislature. Last year a state licensing agency wanted to ban so-called “conversion therapy” for anyone by making it an ethical violation for a counselor to try to change someone’s idea about acting on same-sex attraction or gender confusion. The state legislature rejected that rule. So, here comes the governor. In the order, he requires that no state funding goes to any entity that does anything other than provide acceptance, support, or understanding to a minor who is struggling with same-sex attraction or gender confusion. Counseling that warns of short-term or long-term harms is not permitted and would result in that counselor and/or his or her agency losing state money. The governor purports in the EO to want to help minors, but this approach robs young people of any real help or real hope.

So now you are informed to some degree about what the governor has done in the past week to advance the LGBTQ+ agenda. Now what do we do? First, we don’t ignore this nor do we despair and hand-wring. Armed with truth we talk to our family members and to people in our church, including our church leadership, about what the governor has done and will continue doing. Certainly, we pray for the governor, that He would come to faith in Christ. And, we remember these EOs as we consider how we will vote in November 2022 when we next get to vote for governor. Knowledge can be very, very powerful.

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