(Editor's Note: This blog was first posted on The Stand on June 30, 2021 at the end of the LGBTQ Pride Month. The theme is as urgent today as it was then.)
I will be shunned by the world for saying this, but I’m really glad that Pride Month is over. At least for this year.
I’m tired of seeing every business logo, website, network, marquee, app, and storefront “rainbowized” with a symbol that God intended for good. I’m weary from seeing headline after headline about the latest LGBTQ athlete or the closeted celebrity who finally came out.
I was in the kitchen the other day while my children were watching TV. With concern in his voice, my 10-year-old son suddenly said, “Mama, I don’t think we need to watch Universal Kids anymore.” I asked, “Why?” He said, “Because some kids were just on there talking about how it is ok to be a boy and feel like a girl, and how it is ok to be both a boy and a girl. One girl said she had two moms.”
I simply replied, “You’re right. We don’t. Thank you for realizing that and for telling me about it. Go change the channel.”
Then my seven-year-old daughter chimed in: “I know that boys don’t marry boys, and girls don’t marry girls. And I’m going to hide that in my heart and always remember that in case someone tries to tell me something different.”
Amen, little one! Amen! There is much truth in the age-old saying: “Wisdom oft comes from the mouth of babes.”
I just pray that the Lord will continue to root and establish such wisdom in the minds and hearts of my children for years to come and that they will hold fast to it. Because, right now, the world is inundating them with a very different message that’s contrary to Scripture…and it’s frightening.
“This is an emergency for the church,” said Maria Baer, a freelancer for The Gospel Coalition and a regular contributor to Christianity Today and WORLD.
And I would add, it’s an emergency for Christian parents.
Baer wrote these words in the context of a discussion about the ever-growing transgender ideology that is permeating our culture and indoctrinating our children.
In her article titled “3 Ways Parents Can Help Kids Navigate Transgender Ideology,” Baer said:
“Kids are regularly exposed to transgenderism: the assertion that an inner sense of gender trumps our biological sex. This ideology shows up on social media, in advertising, and in entertainment. Kids are also hearing it from their friends.”
I can attest to all of this.
I recently searched for “girls’ T-shirts” on Old Navy’s website, and the results gave me a mix of both masculine and feminine designs. It wasn’t hard to realize the company’s gender-neutral marketing approach.
At the end of May, I walked into the local Carter’s store for babies and children. A few graphic tees quickly caught my attention. One had a rainbow of muted colors on it with these words: “Love Comes in All Colors.” I thought, “It’s a children’s store! Surely not!”
Then I noticed a separate display with two other graphic tees both with brightly colored rainbows. One said, “Love One Another” and the other said, “Proud of My Family.” Then just below the shirts was a rainbow striped onesie for babies!
My heart sank…and broke. From the minute the babies leave the womb (assuming they get the chance to in this pro-abortion world), they are being fed the lie that there is something wrong with God’s plan for gender and sexuality.
My heart broke even more when I watched “The Blue’s Clues Pride Parade Sing-Along Ft. Nina West” on the Nickelodeon show’s YouTube Channel. West is a drag queen who leads the song that uses various animals to teach preschoolers that all LGBTQ+ lifestyles are normal and acceptable, even fun. The song talks about transgender, pansexual, nonbinary, asexual, and bisexual family members. It even depicts a trans beaver with mastectomy scars.
I was truly speechless after that one.
In addition to the indoctrination by the entertainment media, Baer explains how school districts in nearly every state are using sex-ed curricula that teach how one’s “sex assigned at birth” may not match one’s “gender identity.” In other words, it’s ok to be born as a boy but feel and live like a girl…and vice versa.
Sadly, such lies are very convincing, especially to impressionable children. That’s why it’s all the more important for Christians to contend for the truth in this world of lies.
Here is an excerpt from Baer’s article that I found especially convicting:
“If Christians want to maintain the credibility required for telling our friends and neighbors the truth about Jesus, that he rose from the dead and is the image of the invisible God, what we say about all reality matters. As people of truth, we simply can’t afford to lie about our created bodies—no matter how good our intentions. If we do, why should anyone believe us about truth that also transcends our physical bodies?
Christians want to tell the truth not just for our credibility’s sake, but because by telling the truth we love our neighbors and honor the God of all things. Transgender ideology is a lie, which means by its nature it hurts and destroys.”
So we have to ask ourselves: Do we want to be truth-tellers or liars?
Baer offers parents three specific ways to help your children navigate transgender ideology. (The points are condensed and summarized but can be read in their entirety here.)
- Re-catechize About God’s Image – While transgenderism says that the specifics of our physical bodies don’t matter, Scripture says that every human being is made in the image of God and has value and purpose. Children must be taught this and reminded of it often.
- Reclaim the Beauty of Bodies – While transgenderism rests on the notion that our biological sex might be wrong, Scripture says that God created us as either male or female and both are good and for His glory.
- Remember: Kids with Gender Dysphoria Are Hurting – While the acceptance of transgenderism means that cultural leaders are ignoring the deeper issues going on within a child’s heart, Scripture calls believers to respond in truth and love. We don’t truly love our neighbor when we lie to our neighbor.
Baer sums it up this way: “Like each of us, they [those blinded by this ideology] need love, community, friendship, and to know Jesus.”
Knowing how to rightly respond is hard, messy, and complicated, especially for Christian parents. But Baer is right: “[W]hatever else we do in response to the normalization of transgender ideology, we can’t not talk about it with our kids.”
It’s a chance to speak truth into our children’s lives and into the lives of others.
Though I’m weary and tired of all the Pride Month hype, I have to remind myself to use it as an opportunity to continue teaching my children that they were created in the image of God, knit together by His perfect design, for His glory and our good.
