There is power in a name, that distinctive designation given to us by a parent, often arrived at thoughtfully, prayerfully and sometimes even painstakingly.
Yet, Colorado legislators and its governor appear to disagree, passing and signing into law yesterday “Bill 24-1039” that will require schools and teachers to use a student’s preferred name.
If the teacher refuses to play along with the charade and fantasy, they’ll be charged with discrimination.
Under the new law, students can demand teachers call them anything – and they need not file paperwork for a legal name change.
It can be “Bob” on Monday, “Mary” on Tuesday, “Snoopy” on Wednesday … spin the wheel of confusion, and however many times and how often you want.
And by the way, the inanity or delusion will be kept between the teacher and the student. Mothers and fathers will be kept in the dark, that is unless the teacher sends a note home about Charlie, but perhaps refers to him as “Rufus.”
As part of the legislation, a “Non-Legal Name Changes in Schools Task Force” will be established, ostensibly to normalize the abnormal.
What’s motivating this change is the claim that sexually confused children are more likely to be depressed and prone to self-harm if they’re forced to go by their legal name.
Yet enabling and affirming lies isn’t loving at all, and often dangerously counterproductive. Opposition to the controversial bill came from a variety of camps, including “Gays Against Groomers,” a group established in 2022 that professes to “oppose the sexualization, indoctrination and medicalization of children under the guise of “LGBTQIA+”
Dr. Rich Guggenheim with the Colorado chapter of the group testified against the legislation.
“Social transition reinforces a child’s gender confusion and, worse, it creates a social environment that pressures and encourages a child to continue down the path to medically transition,” he said. “It is not neutral or harmless.”
When William Shakespeare asked, “What’s in a name?” in Romeo and Juliet, the English playwright and poet was suggesting that the naming of things was irrelevant.
He was wrong then – and the radical Colorado legislators who passed “Bill 24-1039” are wrong now, though in a different kind of way.
Colorado legislators are suggesting names are transient and transferrable, that the easy change of identity can help a student, when in fact they’re only contributing to his or her confusion.
From the very beginning, names have been important. God entrusted and authorized Adam to name all living creatures (Genesis 2:19), and we’re reminded that our words hold great and significant power (Proverbs 18:21). Names hold deep meaning.
Of course, as Christians, we pray and find our identity in the name of Jesus Christ, the most powerful name of all.
It’s not surprising that the sexual revolution and ensuing confusion are giving rise to directives that will only add to the chaos of a culture that has lost its way. Tragically, Colorado legislators are contributing to the tumult.
It was Solomon who said, “A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, loving favor rather than silver and gold” (Proverbs 22:1). Only he wasn’t giving license to sexually confused students to choose their own names and reimagine and redefine their biology to suit their whim.
Please join us in praying for the morally confused legislators, the sexually confused students and the professionally conflicted educators who are now faced with navigating a dangerous law that promises to make a bad situation even worse.
Image from Shutterstock.
