by Larry Richman
I'm trying hard to be tolerant and to embrace diversity. But it seems that every time I start to get a handle on things, something pops up that throws all of my recent sensitivity training out of the window. I guess my brain is just impossible to wash. Maybe I am not the one who is confused. We are purposely being confused by the confused. We are receiving a cultural lobotomy as we watch the confused media parade confused experts into our living rooms, to confuse us on the meaning of things for which there should be no confusion.
Up until the mid 1970s, psychiatric experts classified homosexuality as a "mental illness." Then they decided that it was merely a disorder. Then they decided that it's not even a disorder, but something perfectly normal and natural. We're told that it is not a lifestyle choice, but an inborn, inherent, immutable, born-that-way-characteristic that should be embraced with pride and its virtues should be taught to elementary school children.
Two decades ago, Chastity Bono, the daughter of Sonny and Cher, announced to the world that she was a lesbian. She said she was sexually and emotionally attracted to other women. We're told that this is an inborn, inherent, immutable, born-that-way-characteristic. But last week, she announced that she was no longer a lesbian, but a man and would undergo surgery to change her female parts to male parts.
It used to be easy when there was just gay and straight. But now, sexual identity is a very a complex continuum of heterosexual, homosexual (gay and lesbian), bisexual, pansexual, polysexual, asexual, transgendered (transwomen and transmen), transsexual, cross-dresser, transvestite, drag king/queen, genderqueer, cross-gender, androgyne, pangender, bigender, ambigender, non-gender, agender, gender fluid, intergender, and autogynephilic.
Back to Chastity Bono's condition, or disorder, or whatever it is. Wikipedia says that "the precise definition for transgender remains in flux." What? I thought these were inborn, inherent, immutable, born-that-way characteristics? Aren't we told that people are born with a "gay gene?" Transgender, which is a form of Gender Identity Disorder (GID), designates "a person whose identity does not conform unambiguously to conventional notions of male or female gender roles, but combines or moves between these."
Apparently, Chastity's gender confusion has confused her and now she realizes that she has been living a lie. She wasn't really a lesbian, but a Sonny trapped in a Cher's body. So, after a little plastic surgery, a shave, and a haircut, Chastity will no longer be Chastity the lesbian, but Chaz the artificial man. The gender "experts" tell us it is perfectly normal and that anyone who would question it is not normal but hateful, judgmental, and intolerant. I am confused by all the confusing disorders. Let me ask a few questions to see if it can begin to make sense:
After the sexual reassignment surgery, will Chaz be a man or still a lesbian just in a man's body?
Since Chastity was born with a "gay gene," when she becomes a man, I assume he'll then be attracted to men. If not, and Chaz is still attracted to women, would that make him a heterosexual man?
Was Chastity living a lie as a lesbian, because she wasn't really a lesbian at all, but a man trapped in a woman's body? If she really isn't a lesbian, was she born a heterosexual or a homosexual? Did she have a gene transplant?
When Chastity becomes Chaz, will he stay with his current lesbian girlfriend? Seems to me if Chastity was really born with the "gay gene," her girlfriend is about to lose her former girlfriend to a gay man. (This gives new meaning to the term ex-girlfriend.)
If Chaz stays with his lesbian girlfriend, would they be a heterosexual couple? What would we call them? Husband and wife? Bi-sexuals? Or are they something new, perhaps tri-sexuals (a lesbian with a former lesbian who converted to a heterosexual-homosexual-artificial-man)?
If Gender Identity Disorder (GID) is acceptable and sexual reassignment surgery is acceptable, why not consider Body Integrity Identity Disorder (BIID) as normal and acceptable? (Yes, it's a real thing.) BIID sufferers obsessively perceive their "true selves" as missing one or more arms and legs (hence the nickname "amputee wannabe"). Rather than trying to help patients learn to live with their desperate yearning to harm themselves, some fringe transhumanists argue that the principle of personal autonomy requires that BIID patients be aided in "safely" becoming the amputees they so desperately want to be. How is this different from sexual reassignment surgery, which involves cutting off healthy body parts to satisfy a yearning to become something they are not?
Shouldn't we just label pedophilia as Age Confusion Disorder (ACD)? Sex with animals as Species Confusion Disorder (SCD)? Rape is really just Date Confusion Disorder (DCD). Adultery is Spouse Confusion Disorder (SCD).
Will Chaz be forced to get a new birth certificate? Not that it matters. (Why would anyone ever need a real birth certificate anymore?) Is she still an American? The US Constitution says you have to be a "natural born" citizen. What s/he will become is certainly not natural. I guess s/he could just put a Certificate of Live Birth (CLB) on her Web site.
Why aren't the pro-gay factions desperately trying to get Chastity to stop? They argue that people are born gay or lesbian and it is inherent and immutable, and it will cause great harm to anyone who tries to change from being gay or lesbian. That's why they constantly protest ex-gay groups like Exodus and Evergreen. Why do they embrace Chastity's choice to change from being a lesbian to a heterosexual-homosexual-artificial-man but curse those who choose to change from being gay to straight?
Well, I hope this cleared everything up. I'm sorry if I seem so narrow-minded. I've always been accused of being too analytical. Thanks goodness it will never happen in today's schools. People who think for themselves are labeled with a disorder, put on Ritalin, and assigned to special classes where the experts will straighten them out.
Some of the material in this post was adapted from "Gender Confusion, Confusion" by Coach Dave Daubenmire.
