I continue to hear the argument that most people who are saying Black Lives Matter use the hashtag or participate in a BLM rally are unaware of BLM stands as regards to Transgenderism. I want to go into a little more detail on exactly what BLM believes about this topic and why it is ultimately in conflict with the concept that life matters.
The below quote is taken from the what we believe section of the Black Lives Matter’s website.
We foster a queer‐affirming network. When we gather, we do so with the intention of freeing ourselves from the tight grip of heteronormative thinking, or rather, the belief that all in the world are heterosexual (unless s/he or they disclose otherwise).
This line of thinking must be understood in the light of the Transgender Movement. So what exactly is it to be Transgender?
The American Psychological Association explains this phenomena.
Transgender is an umbrella term for persons whose gender identity, gender expression, or behavior does not conform to that typically associated with the sex to which they were assigned at birth. Gender identity refers to a person’s internal sense of being male, female, or something else; gender expression refers to the way a person communicates gender identity to others through behavior, clothing, hairstyles, voice, or body characteristics.
APA’s definition of Transgenderism rests upon the concept of internal sense.
According to this Internal Sense logic. It requires that one has a sense of being and that that sense of being must then relate to something external which is what they call Gender Expression.
But strangely enough, there is never a shortage of established externalizations to relate too.
Almost always gender expression rears its head in the forms of what is considered gender stereotypes. For example, wearing a dress, putting on make up, and speaking with a higher tone of voice, are the normative behaviors manifested in Trans Men. According to the APA it must be because of their internal sense of what they are. It just so happens that their internal self is often expressed by the gender stereotypes associated with women.
It almost appears as if the external realities are causal to the internal self’s manifestation and not the other way around. For example, if I am a woman and if I perceive masculinity as aggression and I am naturally inclined to be aggressive. Then regardless of my biological sex I would consider myself a man.
The problem is if you do that exercise enough, associating your perceived internal self with gender stereotypes, eventually, you will eliminate male and female all together. If I associate a love of beauty with femininity then I am a female. But then say I am also a lover of violence, and therefore, a man. At what point do I stop self realizing? I could go on and on until I have come to the point of complete neutrality. It is like mixing water colors, mix enough and eventually, you are left with only one color.
The logic as defined by the APA is that the Internal Self precedes the the external and not the other way around. But Transgenderism appears to only go so far as what can be observed externally.
The reason for this is that externals is all one has to go off of because experience is limited. How could you be for certain that you are anything other than yourself if you have no experience being someone else? If I am a dog, I could imagine being a cat, I could hunt like a cat, meow like a cat, listen to cats experiences but I cannot be certain that I am a cat. Simply because I have nothing to grade cat feelings to. No hard standard of feelings to grade my feelings to because I have never felt like a cat before, because I am a dog.
A Transgender person has no experience being the opposite sex so how can they relate themselves internally to the internal sense of being the opposite sex? They would need supernatural powers to enter into a woman and gain knowledge of what it feels like to be a woman. Other wise, it comes down to guess work. I guess I am a woman because I think this is how women must feel.
In that light, if a person who is biologically male, sees within themselves something they associate with femininity they therefore assume that they are female. Rather than assuming they are masculine because they are biologically male and associating the traits within themselves as masculine regardless of where that trait appears externally.
Black Lives Matters associates themselves with Transgenderism largely impart because they see the issue of Transgenderism as being similar to the issue of racism. Racism is wrong because it discriminates based upon someones skin color. A color that is biological and is not influenced by choice. To make a judgement solely based upon skin color would not take into account the choices or merits of the person being judged. Therefore, their choice would be meaningless and the judgement would be biased and unjust.
However, Transgenderism may not be biologically rooted because it requires the internal self to identify oneself. If it is a choice then the actions of a transgender person are subject to the same judgement of merit that anyone’s actions are subjected to. The only alternative to Transgenderism as a choice would be biological and if it is biological there is ample ground to identifying it as a mental illness similar to multiple personality disorder or bi-polar disorder.
Now, what you might be asking is why does it matter if BLM believes that they should support Transgenderism? How does that take away from their fight against Racism? Well, observe BLM’s intentions, “When we gather, we do so with the intention of freeing ourselves from the tight grip of heteronormative thinking.”
Ideas matter and BLM is not passively supporting this idea. When they gather they are intentional about freeing themselves from the concept of hetero normative thinking. Or in other words freeing themselves from the idea that there are only men and women.
This idea is harmful. Not only does it cause confusion but it takes away from the movements main goal. There really isn’t very much room to say that a white person could not self identify as a black person if the concepts of self-identification are to be followed out. Ultimately, if it is untrue it will cause harm if it is believed. It is causing harm in the black community and I will go into further detail on this in my next blog.
Now this is where Christians must be very aware of what is going on.
Society has decided that the only god is the god of self. It is the idol of our age. I am weary of the apologetic nonsense that has been perpetuated by the Church. Transgenderism is either a mental illness or it is a sin. There is no biblical or logical ground for anything else. If you say you are something that you are not you are either a liar or ill.
There is ample space for racial justice outside of BLM. If BLM is going to seek to spread lies then why associate yourself with BLM? The concepts that allow Transgenderism to be accepted are the same concepts that if carried out will eliminate what it means to be human and that is at odds with the very belief that life matters.
THE MIND AND HEART 