Words Do Matter – Women Have Babies!
There are distinct differences between men and women, and any effort to argue otherwise is to ignore the physiological and biological realities that regular, common-sense minded individuals know intuitively, academically, and by experience.
As we learned in high school biology class, the normal complement of human chromosomes is 23 pairs, which is comprised of 22 pairs of autosomes (non-sex chromosomes) and one pair of sex chromosomes. We also learned females have two X chromosomes, while males have one X and one Y chromosome. Notwithstanding some very rare genetic mutations (where some have an extra X chromosome), humans are born either male or female – they are either a man or a woman.
However, there are those lawmakers in the General Assembly who deny these time-honored and proven biological facts and have been indoctrinated by the new gender ideology. So much so, that using “him” instead of “her” (or “sir” instead of “ma’am”), even if accidentally, is treated as an unforgivable sin. That’s what we witnessed this week when Lt. Governor Winsome Earle-Sears innocently referred to Senator Danica Roem (D - Manassas) as “sir” instead of the more formal way to address senators. That immediately sent Senator Roem, other Democratic senators, and eventually media commentators, into a meltdown.
This is only significant because Senator Roem is the first “transgender” elected to the General Assembly; has written an autobiography making clear the senator is a biological male; and has been interviewed nationally several times. In defense of the Lt. Governor, she was managing the floor, reviewing multiple pages of bills and calendars, and inadvertently failed to use the more formal way of addressing a Senator. Despite later clarifying that she meant no offense and admitting the word was unintended, the “Virginia Democrats” on X (formerly Twitter) made sure to pile on, saying:
“Apology or no apology, we will not forget this smear, @WinsomeSears. Show some respect for the position you have and don’t insult one of VA’s finest public servants from the dais. Again, we will not forget.”
This is somewhat similar to what happened to former West Point High School French teacher, Peter Vlaming, who almost 4 years ago was fired not for anything he said, but simply for refusing to actively use pronouns that were inconsistent with the biological reality of a student. (And he did on one occasion inadvertently use the biologically consistent pronoun for the student, and immediately apologized.) Despite agreeing to a compromise that would allow him to be true to his convictions while also protecting his student, he used the student’s new preferred name, but avoided using any pronouns, yet the school district still fired Vlaming. In December, after a long legal appeals journey, the Virginia Supreme Court ruled in favor of Mr. Vlaming on account of free speech and free exercise of religion.
The unforgivable sin both Lt. Governor and Vlaming committed was to refuse to affirmatively speak a person’s preferred pronouns that do not align with biological reality. That’s where we’re at in society. The Democrat majority in the General Assembly takes this use of pronouns so seriously that they are pushing a bill (HB 536) carried by Delegate Joshua Cole (D-Fredericksburg) this session that amends the current student anti-bullying law to create a special protected class for students based on sexual orientation and gender that could qualify the refusal to use a students preferred pronouns as bullying.
Another obvious distinction between men and women is that only women – biological females – can have babies. It’s just a fact of life that women have the reproductive organs to allow a human baby to grow within her womb and deliver that amazing creation into the world. Men do not have the biological and physiological capacity to become pregnant and deliver a baby. We all know, and have always known, this basic fact of life.
But this year an otherwise helpful bill (HB 781) carried by Delegate Charniele Herring (D-Arlington), which is intended to collect data to help improve maternal care and quality, purposefully uses the term “birthing people” instead of mothers. It is important to point out that there is no definition of “birthing people” in the law, and there is no definition of the term in the bill. During a Senate Education and Health committee hearing on this bill, Senator Mark Peake (R – Lynchburg) offered a technical amendment to clarify that mothers, not men, give birth, and ALL Democrats on the committee defeated the amendment!
The Democrat majority on the Senate committee didn’t just reject the technical amendment, but some also provided explanations that clearly proved they in fact do believe that men can have babies.
Senator Barbara Favola (D – Arlington):
“The testimony we heard said that the recent literature and information regarding the whole area of maternal and child health, the nomenclature is now using birthing people. Umm, this is just a more inclusive. But that was the conversation we had.”
Interestingly, Senator Favola offered no examples of the peer reviewed scientific articles or medical research that have concluded men can have babies and instead defended the use of “birthing people” on the basis that it is common “nomenclature” – a social construct.
Senator Jennifer Boysko (D – Fairfax), who was clearly irritated that people would even dare challenge the “birthing people” language, said this:
“If some of our colleagues are not familiar that some people are not gender-conforming, and there are women and people who identify as men who are able to have, to become pregnant, I think this is the current understanding in science and health.”
Consider also that the Democrat majority rejected legislation to protect the bodily privacy and safety of female athletes, and endorsed the current practice of biological males playing on all female sports teams. Recently, captains of the women’s Roanoke College swim team recounted their lived experience when a biological male attempted to join the all-female swim team at a VHSL hearing:
“We have been put in an increasingly common, compromising position as female student-athletes. We have been forced by the NCAA and Roanoke College to accommodate the preferences of one male swimmer who previously swam on our men’s team and now prefers to compete on our women’s swim team... We have been emotionally blackmailed and asked to carry the responsibility of one male athlete’s mental health and well-being at the expense of our own… many of our teammates who have lost hours of sleep, many tears and the will to train to race against a swimmer who has an advantage in the water our bodies can never possess. Many of us have all but shut down from fear and anxiety under the weight of the load we have been forced to carry exclusively as women.”
Society cannot survive when we affirm men who believe they are women; refer to women who have children as “birthing people” in the name of inclusion; and dismantle women’s sports by allowing biological males to take the place of female athletes on all female sports teams. The more tragic outcome of these societal breakdowns is that womanhood – that is, what makes women distinct, valued, and critical to a functioning society – is being erased.
For those individuals who are experiencing gender dysphoria, we as Christians should treat them with respect and dignity, as every person deserves. However, that does not require people, religious or not, to violate their deeply held beliefs or conscience (and empirical facts) by speaking untruths. We, as a society, should not demonize a person simply because they choose to live in accordance with their faith, or conscience, or science, especially if we are going to legitimize those who choose to live a lifestyle that is inconsistent with the laws of nature.
Being respectful does not mean going along with a small minority in culture that actually believes men can have babies, or that it’s okay to allow a biological male to compete on an all-girls sports team and jeopardize the female’s safety, all in the name of “inclusion” or protecting a person’s feelings.
We must resist this gender ideology movement with vigor, or we will allow our religious values, the health and well-being of our kids, the condition of society, and the most basic tenets of reality itself, to be sacrificed on its altar.
