LGBT – Page 58 – Family Council

Is Buttigieg’s Confirmation Historic?

Feb 4, 2021John StonestreetLGBTLGBTQ

*John Stonestreet, Radio Host and President of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview.*

CNN’s Jake Tapper, along with many others in the media, used the word “historic” to announce that Pete Buttigieg would be the next U.S. Secretary of Transportation. Headlines made sure to note Buttigieg is the first Senate-confirmed LGBTQ cabinet member in U.S. history.

Buttigieg is former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, a great town but not one with a complicated public transportation system. When his nomination was announced, Buttigieg tweeted he “loved” transportation and had even proposed to his husband in an airport terminal. Other than that, it’s not clear why President Biden thought him the most qualified person for the job.

To use the term “historic” is to diminish the word, to diminish Buttigieg (who is more than his sexuality), and to diminish his new office, which merits someone with appropriate qualifications.

If firing someone because of their gender identity or sexual orientation is discriminatory, isn’t hiring someone for the same reason just as discriminatory?

Either way, it’s not progress, and it’s certainly not historic.

President Biden Signs Executive Order Redefining “Sex” in Federal Law

Jan 22, 2021Jerry CoxCurrent Events, LGBTLGBT

On Wednesday night President Joe Biden signed an executive order instructing all federal agencies to interpret the word federal “sex” in anti-discrimination laws to include sexual-orientation and gender-identity.

This tracks with promises President Biden made during the presidential campaign to reinstate many of the pro-LGBT rules and guidelines that the Obama Administration rolled out prior to 2017.

The new executive order instructs all state agencies to evaluate and amend or rescind any rules or regulations that conflict with the Biden Administration’s redefinition of “sex.”

If left unchecked by congress and the states, this could result in federal agencies like the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, OSHA, and the Department of Justice rolling out new policies that affect businesses and force pro-LGBT policies on ordinary Americans.

Joe Biden Promises to Reinstate President Obama’s Guidance Letting Boys Use Girls’ Locker Rooms, Restrooms at School

Dec 2, 2020Jerry CoxLGBTEducation, Homosexuality, LGBT, Transgender

Joe Biden plans to reinstate the Obama Administration’s 2016 guidance directing public schools to let boys who claim to be girls use girls’ shower facilities, locker rooms, and restrooms at school, according to the Associated Press.

In May of 2016 the Obama Administration’s federal Department of Education and federal Department of Justice jointly issued a set of guidelines reinterpreting federal law for schools that receive public funds — like K-12 public schools and many colleges and universities.

The guidelines indicated that to continue receiving funds these schools must let biological males who claim to be female use the girls’ restrooms, locker rooms, showers, and similar facilities at school, and vice versa.

The guidelines also addressed male and female student housing at schools.

Needless to say all of this created a lot of controversy at the time.

Arkansas’ governor and attorney general issued statements telling public schools to disregard President Obama’s guidelines, and Arkansas, along with nine other states, sued the federal government over the issue.

President Trump rescinded the Obama Administration’s 2016 guidelines after he took office the following year.

In 2017 the late Sen. Linda Collins (R — Pocahontas) filed S.B. 774, the Arkansas Physical Privacy and Safety Act, to help protect the physical privacy of people in showers, restrooms, and locker rooms on government property — such as public school campuses. Family Council supported S.B. 774, but it ultimately did not pass.

Obviously, it is very troubling to hear Joe Biden promise to reinstate President Obama’s radical pro-LGBT policies. This is an issue Family Council plans to monitor closely and continue to address in the future.