Why Are People Rejecting Trans Ideology, But Not Same-Sex Marriage?

There has been talk as of late about why the lie of trans ideology is dying a steady death, while support for so-called same-sex marriage (SSM) has declined only slightly, notably among conservatives.

Why is this?

University of Texas sociologist Mark Regnerus explains in the Public Discourse how trans ideology is the “bridge-too-far,” which may cause more to question other lies of sexual revolutionaries.

As he explained to the Daily Citizen, “The winds have shifted.”

Professor Regnerus states in his article, “What might have seemed like the next progressive triumph-in-waiting is instead running off the rails.”

“There are at least four key reasons why the gender saga has not enjoyed the same cultural, popular, and legal success that SSM has.”

1. While gay marriage radically redefined a vital social institution, trans ideology redefines the human person.

Regnerus explains, “Just listen to the difference between a man saying, ‘I’m allowed to marry another man,’ and the same man saying, ‘I am able to become a woman.'”

There is indeed a massive difference. One is a mistaken choice someone can make. The other is an impossible ontological claim about the person making the claim.

In fact, the majority in Obergefell v. Hodges wrote in their opinion that any citizen has the right to disagree with same-sex marriage. Try disagreeing that a neighbor or co-worker is not the “woman” he claims to be. It will not go well for you with those who have bought the lie that male and female are chosen identities.”

Regnerus continues, “It’s why same-sex marriage seems a no-brainer to an author like J. K. Rowling, but transgender claims are not just uncomfortable but an offense, an unacceptable transgression of the social contract – a bridge too far.”

2. Legalization of same-sex marriage was a change decades in the making and all possible by changing views of marriage.

Regnerus explains, “Same-sex marriage was only possible because the demand for marriage and the respect that the institution long commanded had been eroding for more than forty years.”

No-fault divorce laws severed marriage of any lasting meaning, allowing the party ending the marriage, for any or no reason, all the power while the faithful spouse had none.

“Obergefell was also a reflection of how much marriage has been bled of its understanding as a reproductive union,” Regnerus reminds us. He rightly states, “Without the contraceptive revolution, SSM would never have occurred.”

3. Same-sex marriage is morally wrong, but simple to wrap your mind around.

Same-sex marriage redefines marriage. Transgender ideology, however, can look different, so we’re told, depending on the individual’s imagination. We cannot question their “reality,” and therefore we are expected to be on board for all of it.

Being “trans” can involve changing clothing, name, physicality and appearance in a binary or non-binary way. It also can include someone’s mere pronouncement of change without any actual change whatsoever. Just the claim makes it “true.”

Furthermore, there were years of public debate over same-sex marriage, as anemic and disingenuous as it was before Obergefill. The same can’t be said about trans ideology. Instead, everyone was expected to get onboard.

Regnerus correctly notes, “The pace at which consensus is sought, then declared, in this entire domain has been ridiculously rapid, a political rather than empirical move.” It was done by edict and power politics.

4. It’s easier for people to see trans ideology as harming children. It’s harder to make the same case about same-sex marriage.

Yes, gay marriage placed children in intentionally motherless and fatherless homes simply to satisfy adult wishes. But fawning media profiles of the adults constructing such “families” papered over this.

Trans ideology, however, mutilated children’s bodies and messed with their minds. Too many of us saw this carnage in our own extended families and neighbors, and as a result pushed back.

These are all reasons for so many people to now reject trans ideology, all while largely supporting the radical redefinition of the family that gay marriage wrought.

Hopefully the lie of transgenderism will reveal the destructive fiction of the family and same-sex marriage.

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