LGBT

‘Pride’ and Black Lives Matter Flags to Become School Symbols

A Colorado school board is poised to make the “Pride” and Black Lives Matter (BLM) flags symbols of their public school district — just one month after trying to ban them.

Durango School District 9-R ordered teachers to remove the flags from schools in October, The Durango Herald reports, after a parent complained they violated the district’s ban on political speech. The edict elicited fierce backlash, including a student walkout, a public protest and animated pushback at a board meeting.

Last week, at least three board members expressed new willingness to exempt the “Pride” and BLM flags from the political speech ban.

The only problem? That pesky First Amendment.

Public school districts like Durango are allowed to ban some types of speech, like political speech, but must apply such restrictions equally.

That’s why the district’s lawyers advised it to remove “Pride” and Black Lives Matter flags in October. Durango can’t ban some kinds of political expression and not others without violating the First Amendment.

Importantly, neither Durango’s school board nor its lawyers deny the contested flags constitute political speech. Most people understand “Pride” flags symbolize support for gender ideology, including policies like allowing minors to undergo transgender medical interventions. BLM is an explicitly political movement geared, in part, toward disrupting the nuclear family.

Instead of trying to defend the “Pride” and BLM flags as apolitical, board members Rick Petersen, Kristin Smith and Katie Stewart say they could draft and sign a resolution endorsing the flags as speech consistent with the district’s educational and cultural goals.

“By designating it as government speech and adopting [the flags] as symbols of our school district, it avoids a First Amendment problem,” Petersen explained in last week’s board meeting.

The line between government and private speech was most recently delineated Shurtleff, et al., v. City of Boston, a 2022 Supreme Court ruling that found public organizations have more leeway to express their own speech than limit the speech of others. Writing for the majority, then-Justice Stephen Breyer explained:

The First Amendment prevents [the government] from discriminating against speakers based on their viewpoint. But when the government speaks for itself, the First Amendment does not demand airtime for all views.

Denver Public School District (DPS) successfully used Shurtleff to defend displaying the “Pride” flag in its schools. A DPS parent had sued the district for displaying the flag, calling it discriminatory and asking they be taken down or paired with “Straight Pride” flags.

A magistrate judge dismissed the suit in August, writing,

Here, DPS selected the Pride Flag, and not [the “Straight Pride” flag], as representing the message that DPS wishes to convey.

DPS’ victory doesn’t mean Durango’s path forward will be easy. The district’s lawyers do not appear to endorse the board’s proposed resolution, according to the Herald. Petersen suggests one wrong move could bankrupt the district:

What this board is trying to do is find a way where can do two things to the best of our ability. One is abide by our Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging policy resolution … and the other side of it is making sure we don’t put the school out of business.

Did you catch that? The district decided to endorse the “Pride” and BLM flags in accordance with their Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging resolution. Published in 2021, this document reads, in part:

Education is at the heart of social justice, as we are a huge player in determining the type of key that children will hold in their hands as adults in our society.

As the Daily Citizen frequently demonstrates, “social justice” means different things to different groups. Black Lives Matter, for instance, believes social justice involves defunding the police, monetary reparations for slavery, and teaching “anti-racism” in elementary schools.

Education requires teaching skills that allow children to grow into productive, engaged members of society. Teaching children to support and inform specific policy agendas isn’t education — its indoctrination.

Durango’s board seems content to further this indoctrination to avoid public backlash. That’s dereliction of duty.

The proposed resolution could take six months for board members to draft. In the meantime, “Pride” and BLM flags will be allowed to stay. The Daily Citizen will keep you updated on this developing story.

To learn more about politics and gender ideology in schools, check out Focus on the Family’s Back-to-School resource for busy parents.

Additional Articles and Resources

Students’ Test Scores Tank After School Consults ‘Woke Kindergarten’

BLM Coloring Book Teaches Elementary Students the Nuclear Family is Racist

Five Things for Christians to Remember During ‘LGBT Pride Month’

Back to School With Sexualized Lessons

Is it ‘Book Banning’ to Keep Sexually Explicit Books out of Schools?

Speaker Johnson is Right: ‘A Man Cannot Become a Woman’

The “trans” bathroom wars have reached Capitol Hill, courtesy of Delaware’s newly elected “Sarah” McBride – the first “transgender” person to the House of Representatives

On Monday, Representative Nancy Mace introduced a bill that would require members of Congress to use restrooms associated with their biological sex.

“Sarah McBride doesn’t get a say. I mean, this is a biological man. McBride does not belong in women’s spaces, women’s bathrooms, locker rooms, changing rooms, period, full stop.”

Nancy Mace is exactly right.

Elected Sarah McBride, the 34-year-old is currently serving as a member of Delaware’s General Assembly.

Born Tim McBride in 1990, the young man announced to his parents in college that he was “trans” – and has assumed this confused identity ever since.

Pressed on Tuesday about Rep. Mace’s bill, Speaker Mike Johnson stated:

“We welcome all members with open arms who are newly elected representatives of the people. I believe it’s a command. We treat all persons with dignity and respect.”

He then added:

“And I’m not going to engage in silly debates about this. There’s a concern about the uses of restroom facilities and locker rooms and all that. This is an issue that Congress has never had to address before. We’re going to do that in a deliberate fashion with members’ consensus on it, and we will accommodate the needs of every single person.”

Later in the day Speaker Johnson spoke again to reporters and stated:

“Let me be unequivocally clear. A man is a man and a woman is a woman. And a man cannot become a woman.”

Media continues to describe McBride as a “transgender woman” – a designation that actually doesn’t even exist.

Despite all claims to the contrary, there are two sexes – male and female.

We read in Genesis, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27). 

Yet scroll any secular news article or watch any news report today about this McBride controversy, and you’re likely to be told otherwise.

Every major news outlet readily refers to McBride as “she” or “her” – and only because the newly elected representative claims to be a woman.

Responding to the escalating controversy, McBride tweeted:

“This is a blatant attempt from far right-wing extremists to distract from the fact that they have no real solutions to what Americans are facing.”

Of course, the only attempt being made here is to report reality – and protect women from men who are pretending to be women.

America is hungry for leaders who speak the truth, who are unafraid to offend, unwilling to go along with lies and make believe.

We pray for wisdom and strength of conviction for members of Congress as they navigate this tragic incident of sexual confusion.

Image from Getty.

Americans are Pushing Back Against Transgender Activism

Transgender activists and their allies have claimed all of November as Transgender Awareness Month. They’ve also staked out November 20 as Transgender Day of Remembrance.

But with recent events, it’s clear that many Americans have grown weary of the activism and are pushing back against gender ideology.

In addition to the whole of November, the week leading up to the Day of Remembrance, November 13-20, has been designated Transgender Awareness Week, which seems kinda redundant since LGBT activists have already staked out the whole month.

It seems triple or quadruple redundant (is that a thing?) because advocates designated October as LGBT History Month and gender idealogues already celebrated Transgender Day of Visibility earlier this year, on March 31.

That’s not even counting the myriad other awareness days, weeks and months proclaimed by LGBT groups. Pretty sure we’re all aware by now.

Parents should know, in particular, that schools with radical agendas use these days, weeks and months to promote and teach gender ideology to children.

We have deep compassion and concern for those caught up in sexual identity confusion, especially those whose dysphoria is fueled by trauma, sexual abuse and other mental health issues. We want those struggling with this confusion to get appropriate counseling, prayer and healing.

But we don’t what this ideology pushed on us and our families at every turn.

This includes many who identify as lesbian or gay – like the group Gays Against Groomers – even though the gay pride movement helped usher in this era of transgender activism.

Here are just a few recent indicators the transgender juggernaut is losing power and momentum and Americans are fighting for truth against this false ideology.

Americans are upset about damaging, sterilizing medical interventions on confused children.

  • Twenty-one states have voted to protect minors from harmful, dangerous transgender interventions such as puberty blockers, opposite-sex hormones and mutilating surgeries.
  • Frequently, laws protecting minors are challenged in court, but several courts have ruled in favor of these laws. Most recently, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld an Indiana law safeguarding children. The court said, “Indiana’s voters have decided, through their representatives, legislative and executive, that medical interventions are too risky and novel to be safe treatments for children with gender dysphoria.”
  • More than a dozen detransitioners have sued doctors and clinics for irreparably hurting their bodies with experimental and destructive medical procedures. Women like Chloe Cole, Kayla Lovdahl, Prisha Mosley and Soren Aldaco have filed suits alleging they suffered physical and psychological harms from these treatments.

Americans don’t want men playing women’s sports.

  • In October, The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board published an opinion piece, “Transgender Sports Is a 2024 Sleeper Issue.” The Journal explained many people oppose “having progressive cultural values imposed on them. That includes compelling their daughters to compete against athletes who were born male.”

    The editorial board noted three senators, Ohio’s Sherrod Brown, Montana’s Jon Tester and Wisconsin’s Tammy Baldwin were all under fire in the 2024 election because of their support for boys playing in girls sports. Brown went on to lose by almost 4% and Tester lost by 7%. Baldwin won a tough race by a slim margin of less than 1% of the vote.
  • San Jose State University has received incredible blowback over a transgender-identified player, Blaire Fleming, on the women’s volleyball team. Starting setter and co-captain Brooke Slusser has been outspoken about the danger to female athletes and joined a lawsuit against the NCAA for its transgender policy. Associate head coach Melissa Batie-Smoose was suspended after she filed a Title IX complaint against the Mountain West Conference, and Women’s volleyball teams at five universities have now chosen to forfeit six times rather than play the school.

    More recently, Outkick reported, “A dozen women have filed a lawsuit against the Mountain West Conference and its commissioner, along with officials at San Jose State University.” The suit alleges “violations of Title IX and of their First Amendment rights” for allowing a male to play for San Jose State.

Americans are disturbed by continued privacy and safety issues from boys and men in women-only private spaces. 

  • The Ohio Legislature approved SB104, a measure that requires schools to maintain single-sex bathrooms and private spaces. If signed by the governor, it will be the 14th state to protect children in K-12 schools. Six of those states require single-sex spaces in other government buildings.
  • More and more people who know there are only two sexes are speaking out about men who harm women in restrooms, prisons and locker rooms. Fox News reported on a man who was “transferred out of women’s prison after being indicted on 2 rape counts.” Reddux published an article, “Trans-Identified Male Inmate Who Impregnated Two Women at Female Prison”; the prisoner helped another prisoner, who murdered a woman, to also be transferred to a women’s facility.  

Transgender issues resonated with many American voters and played a part in the 2024 election. One of the most effective political advertisements for President-elect Donald Trump showed Vice President Harris supporting taxpayer-funded transgender surgeries for prisoners and “letting biological men compete against girls in their sports.” The ad concluded with this message, “Kamala is for they/them. President Trump is for you.”

Stemming the tide of transgenderism won’t be easy. We may win legislative and political battles, but only broad cultural change will win the war.

Gender ideology is rooted in deep cultural beliefs, including our notions about what it means to be human, the belief that our sex doesn’t define us – we define ourselves, and thinking our deepest identity comes from sexual attractions, thoughts, feelings and behaviors.

Transgender ideology stems from post-modern thinking, which says there are no ultimate truths. It comes from Gnosticism, with its deep detachment from physical reality and beliefs that only the mind or spirit are important – the body doesn’t matter. This dogma is grounded in Marxist beliefs that society is divided into oppressors and oppressed. And it’s rooted in the belief that gender dysphoria can’t be healed but must be accommodated by hormonal and surgical interventions.

We may win some battles, but unless these deep-seated falsehoods are defeated by the truth, this sexual confusion, and the devastation it brings, will remain in American culture.

Related articles and resources:

Activist Group WPATH Influences Judgment in Case of Prisoner Receiving Trans Surgery

Are Sex and Gender Different Things?

Huge Title IX Win: Department of Education’s 2021 Interpretation Ruled ‘Unlawful’

Dr. Jordan Peterson, Notre Dame and the Upside-Down World of Culture

Meta to Decide Whether “Misgendering” Is Hate Speech

Texas Children’s Hospital Embroiled in Fraud Scandal as Haim Case Kicks Off

Olympic Women’s Boxing Champ is Officially a Man

What Are Male and Female in God’s Story?

Why a Trans Woman is a Not a Woman

Image from Shutterstock

Here’s How to Respond to the Trans Speech Police

How should you respond when someone demands you salute trans ideology in your personal speech?

This question comes after a truly stunning exchange on a recent CNN post-election panel.

Jay Michaelson, a liberal rabbi, professor and Rolling Stone columnist, went apoplectic when fellow panelist Shermichael Singleton, a young, black conservative commentator, simply stated “there are a lot of families out there who don’t believe boys should play girls’ sports.”

Michealson exploded with self-righteous moralism,

They’re not boys! I’m not going to listen to transphobia at this table! I am not going to listen to you call a trans-girl a boy … When you use a word that’s a slur. They’re not boys… I’m not going to sit there and listen to that.

The CNN moderator struggled to get control of the panel, asserting, “Let’s reset for a second because, look, this is a really heated issue, right?” She added,

And, Shermichael, I know that you understand that people have different views on this. I think out of respect for Jay, like let’s try to talk about this in a way that is respectful.

Of course, Singleton, who was simply speaking truth, was the one who was encouraged to be “respectful.” Not Michaelson, who rudely interrupted Singleton, and tried to control the words everyone around the table used.

You can see the lively exchange here.

It is well worth watching just to see what we are up against in the cultural battle over truth and reality. Kudos to Shermichael Singleton for holding his ground and not backing down.

Everyone of us must take note of this. It is instructive to ask “How would I respond in such a situation?”

No one wants to be mean or insensitive to others. And we all want to be liked. But we must also remember to never lose sight of basic reality – that boys are boys and girls are girls. This is one of the most basic, self-evident truths in the universe.  So never, ever be bullied into saying anything that belies this fundamental truth.

And never allow anyone to use your sense of compassion against you, to force you to say things you know are untrue.

You can simply say, “Excuse me. I am someone who identifies as a believer in biological facts and will never apologize for this.” Continue with, “I am an unapologetic conscientious objector to gender ideology and the destructive game it is playing on our generation.”

All of us must refuse to live by lies, even when bullied by others. We should never play the pronoun game. Gender pronouns are the catechism of this new secular religion that is creating such destructive confusion among young and old alike. Pronouns are the gateway drug into gender ideology. They lead to crazy-making at school and in the workplace.

The most powerful thing to do in the face of lies about what it means to be male or female is simply to refuse to play along in any form or fashion. When they call you mean or insensitive, simply reply with all confidence, “You know that is no true. You know the kind of person I am, and I will not be bullied into your game with manipulative insults.”

Declare that you will not allow anyone to police your speech in service to an unsubstantiated, anti-scientific belief system.

And do not be bullied by the baseless canard that suicide results when we don’t affirm people in their new gender identity. It is their go-to move when backed into a corner. It is not true and it is horrifically manipulative.

This recent CNN panel affirms anew that we are very much in a battle for the essence of reality and speech itself. Assure yourself of what you know to be true, gird yourself with that truth, and never be bullied into denying it. No matter how angry others may be, no matter how you are bullied.

 As you do so, others will be emboldened to speak up against the lies of gender ideology. Remember, moral courage is contagious.

Additional Resources

Don’t Be Bullied in the Pronoun War

Part I – Navigating Gender Pronouns at School and Work

Part 2 – Required Personal Pronoun Use at School and Work Leads to Crazy-making, Literally

Part 3 – What to Say When Pressured to Use Gender Pronouns

Part 4 – Is it Ever Right to Use Personal Gender Pronouns?

How to Respond to “Trans” and Gender Ideology? Simple: Live Not by Lies

Do Not Fall for the ‘Affirm Them or They Will Die’ Lie

How Moral Courage for Truth is Contagious

Why Christians Can’t Avoid the “Trans” and Gender Redefinition Issue

Why Focus on the Family Cares About the Gender Issue?

Yes, Sexuality and Gender Are Undeniable Gospel Issues

Image credit: CNN

Olympic Women’s Boxing Champ is Officially a Man

Imane Khelif, the reigning gold medalist in Olympic women’s boxing, is, in fact, a man, a medical report obtained by Reduxx confirms. The findings highlight the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) willful failure to protect the safety of female Olympians and the integrity of the Paris Games.  

Khelif entered the contest under a cloud of suspicion. The International Boxing Association (IBA) had disqualified him from women’s boxing a year earlier after two independent blood tests concluded he had XY chromosomes.

The IOC knew about these tests but declined to investigate or bar Khelif from competing. Instead, officials relied heavily on 2024 Olympic regulations identifying women solely by their female passports. Any questions about Khelif’s biology were quickly rebuffed or minimized.

“These boxers are entirely eligible,” IOC spokesman Mark Adams lectured, referring to Khelif and silver medalist Lu Yu-Ting, who also has XY chromosomes. “They are women on their passports. It’s not helpful to start stigmatizing like this. We all have a responsibility not to turn it into some kind of witch-hunt.”

IOC President Thomas Bach doubled down: “We are talking about women’s boxing. We have two boxers who were born as women, raised as women, who have passports as women and who have competed for many years as women. This is a clear definition of a woman.”

Bach later claimed, “There was never any doubt of [Khelif and Yu-Ting] being women.”

Bach is wrong on two counts. A woman is a human with XX chromosomes or, alternatively, a human designed to produce large gametes. Living as a woman or having a female passport does not make someone female.

The IBA blood tests also raised substantial doubts about Khelif’s biological sex. His opening bout against Italy’s Angela Carini only raised suspicions higher. If the IOC had investigated these claims, it might have discovered that Khelif had been diagnosed with a rare disorder of sexual development (DSD) in 2023 —one that absolutely excludes him from competing against women.  

In August 2023, expert endocrinologists Souymaya Fedala and Jacques Young determined Khelif had 5-Alpha-Reductase deficiency, a developmental disorder that only affects males.

Infants with 5-alpha produce too little dihydrotestosterone, which causes them to be born with ambiguous genitalia. Doctors often mistake babies with 5-alpha for girls. But, importantly, this disorder does not stop the production or effect of testosterone. A person with 5-alpha will go through male puberty —which is when most find out their true sex.

5-alpha is a terrible, disorienting disorder. It also categorically disqualifies sufferers from participating in female sports. Fedala and Young’s analysis found Khelif had XY chromosomes, normal male levels of testosterone and male reproductive organs. That means he has the same chromosomal and hormonal advantages all men have over women athletically, including heavier bones, bulkier musclers, broader shoulder and larger hearts and lungs.

Khelif and his coaches received this diagnosis more than a year before his Olympic debut. He and his team decided to compete anyway, indulging in a televised display of violence made more shocking by its intentionality.

The IOC had all the information they needed to stop Khelif from participating. The barest hint of an investigation would have revealed the larger report released by Reduxx — Khelif’s coach had already alluded to it publicly.

Instead, the IOC gave Khelif a gold medal.

The whole debacle represents an egregious failure of the organization’s mission to “encourage and support the promotion of ethics and good governance in sport … and to dedicate its efforts to ensuring that, in sport, the spirit of fair play prevails, and violence is banned.”

Marshi Smith, co-founder of the Independent Council on Women’s Sports, puts it this way as she spoke to Reduxx:

The IOC and the Algerian Olympic Committee are complicit in endorsing male violence against women under the guise of public entertainment on the world’s largest sport stage. They stood by as women were subjected to physical assault for spectacle, stripped of safety, fairness, and their lifetime achievements. All those involved must face swift and serious consequences.

Smith continues:

We urge leaders in sports and governments worldwide to condemn the IOC and demand a public commitment to ensuring fair and safe sports for women from this day forward. This must never be allowed to happen again.

First and foremost, the IOC must officially define what a woman is, rather than leaving it up to individual nations. Checking passports does nothing to determine a competitor’s biological advantage. IOC officials must find their courage to adhere to truth, instead of ideology.

On behalf of the female population, I hereby exhort the IOC to, well, grow a pair.

Additional Articles and Resources

Two Men Win Olympic Gold for Battering Women

Olympic-Sized Stupidity: It’s Wrong for Men to Fight Women

Olympic Privilege? Officials Protect Sports – But Only at the Highest Level

Male and Female Biology Matters

World Rugby Finds Men and Women are Different, Announces New Guidelines Protecting Elite Women Players