When does the madness end?

Every morning brings some new online story of sexual insanity.

In Britain, a man undergoing a hysterectomy and a metoidioplasty, an operation giving him a penis, had his vagina removed without his consent. The two doctors treating him were temporarily suspended for this operation. Apparently, they figured if he was to be a he, he wouldn’t need a vagina.

On this same morning I read of a new law proposed in the California Assembly requiring retail stores to display toys in gender-neutral zones, banning the separation of toys for boys and girls. Barbie and G.I. Joe must stand side by side.

Finally, New Jersey has introduced into its public schools a new curriculum promoting Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender subject matter. Promoted by Garden State Equality (GSE), this new curriculum will be taught in all classes beginning in fifth grade.

All three headlines popped up on a single morning.

The first instance of the man with the missing vagina – a great title for a mystery novel, by the way – is emblematic of the craziness of our time. An aside here: I usually write my columns fairly fast, and then edit them. For the last five minutes, I have sat here trying to think of something else to say in this case, but no more words will come. Res ipsa loquitur: the thing speaks for itself.

The article regarding California made me laugh. As writer Chrissy Clark points out, California has multiple problems ranging from homelessness and drug abuse to high taxes and debt, but the Assembly is wasting time on gender and toys? Much of my laughter derived from an image in my head of some Assembly members gathered around a table in a small room trying to cook up one more way to rule the Great Unwashed. “I know,” one of them says. “My son and I were at the store the other day, and he wanted to buy a Lovabella Baby Dolly, but he got embarrassed shopping in the girls’ aisle. Isn’t that discrimination or something?”

Then there is New Jersey across-the-curriculum sexuality program. As writer John Hanna tells us, “GSE envisions its curriculum as ‘a model that we can bring to every other state in the nation.’”

Not so many years ago, the gay community asked for tolerance and worked to pass laws to bring about that request. Then came demands for acceptance, which is an entirely different creature. Now comes the next step: the indoctrination of children and teenagers.

A number of grassroots organizations have risen up to oppose such laws and curriculum. John Hanna makes three important objections regarding the latter:

“It denies reality and invites irrationality.” If a man can become a woman by calling himself a woman, then what is a woman?

“It imposes its will on children’s bodies.” GSE would dictate that even parents should be forced to step aside if a child wants to take puberty blockers or to undergo surgery to become transgender.

“It is a totalizing and intolerant ideology.” GSE makes no secret that those opposed to its agenda are “haters” and “bigots.” It expects everyone to adopt its special vocabulary. Instituting this compulsory education into the schools, Hanna writes, “effectively establishes such ideology as a state religion.”

Toleration can be a virtue. To demand acceptance and then add indoctrination are vices.

Suppose you believe the earth is flat. I can tolerate your point of view, though I would find you misguided and amusing. Suppose you demanded I accept your flat-earth theory. I would probably laugh in your face, even if you had a gun pointed at my head. (I am one of those people who sometimes can’t resist laughing at the ridiculous.) The next step is to indoctrinate me, to force me to see the earth from your viewpoint.

Communists and fascists follow this same blueprint every time they come to power.

We hear much about the rights of tiny identity groups in this country, but what about the rights of the many parents in this case? When schools push an across-the-board curriculum, opting out of classes is no longer an option.

At the end of his article, Hanna directs readers to The Kelsey Coalition, a volunteer organization founded to protect the young who identify as transgender “from medical and psychological harms.” Their assertions regarding these dangers to children should throw a bucket of ice water on the fervent GSE radicals.

Enough. Let’s end with one piece of good, or at least humorous, news.

New York Post writer Miranda Devine takes us inside Ethical Culture Fieldston, one of the most liberal private schools in the country. The school is so progressive that its policies and teachings are offending even its liberal parents. As one insider told Devine, “Boys and white people are demonized. If you’re a straight white Jewish boy, you’re the worst.”

Here’s the kicker: another insider informed Devine that “Moms were coming to the school crying because their kids were growing up so conservative because that was their rebellion against what was going on with the school.”

The complaints of these mothers will probably have little effect on these administrators and teachers. As Oscar Wilde once said, “Irony is wasted on the stupid.”

[Image Credit: Flickr-Ted Eytan, CC BY-SA 2.0]