It was a tiny issue. In 2014, for example, in England and Wales, there were 247,372 heterosexual weddings, and 4,850 same-sex marriages. Already there are several hundred same-sex divorces each year.
Once the novelty has worn off, I suspect the numbers of same-sex unions will decrease, just as heterosexual ones are doing. The point - that the old ways are dead and gone - will have been made, and the campaigners will move on to something else.
I once thought the same about the transgender issue. But the idea that people are whatever sex they think they are is a terrifying weapon in the hands of modern Thought Police. Whatever you say, you cannot possibly be right about this.
Express any opinion (apart from total submission), and within minutes you will be besieged by condemnation. It will be cleverly based on the idea that you are somehow being cruel to some troubled person, even though you aren't doing this at all.
But that is just a pretext. In reality, a whole moral and social system is being destroyed, and traditional ideas of male and female are the next target, now that husbands and marriage have been done away with. For once you begin down the road of sexual revolution, there's no end. There will always be someone more militant than you.
Since the French Revolutionaries set up the guillotine, the same thing has been true. Revolutions are all based on the false idea that humans and their nature can be changed.
And once changed, they will fit neatly into the Utopia that is planned for them. Utopia, as we find every so often in Russia, China and Cambodia, can only be approached across a sea of blood, and you never actually arrive.
The opposite view (now very unfashionable) is that we are all made in the image of God and cannot be changed into something else. This sounds odd to most modern ears. But in fact it is the foundation for the absolute respect for human life and liberty which underpins civilisation. Once it's gone, you can make excuses for anything in the name of some invented 'right'. Mass abortion is the obvious example.
And that is why The Mail on Sunday's exclusive story, that a teacher has been disciplined for failing to respect the transgender gospel, is so important. His slip was small, and momentary. One of his pupils, who would once have been called a girl, has decided to be male. He called this person a girl. So he must suffer.
In the vanished world of absolute truth, the student's sex would not be a matter of opinion. People might (and I would favour this) treat the person's view of their sex with sympathy and try to go along with it. Who would want to hurt somebody on a matter of such delicacy?
But in the new revolutionary world, truth is what the revolution says it is. This works in many ways.
A Left-wing newspaper recently claimed I had said something I had not said, and do not think. Shown irrefutable evidence that I had not used the words alleged, it continued to claim that I had used them, because that is what it thought I had said.
This leads down a very dark staircase. Reality must increasingly be forced to fit the beliefs of the new elite. Teachers must be punished for speaking the truth, so schools are no longer places where truth is respected or dissent allowed - which means they are dead, to all intents and purposes.
And perhaps most grievous of all, teenagers are placed on a medical conveyor belt which leads to powerful body-changing drugs and possibly to surgical alteration.
It is not just crabbed reactionaries such as me who fret about this. In an eloquent article in The Times, the far-from-conservative commentator Janice Turner recently warned: "But in a decade, when our adult children turn to ask, 'Why did you let me do this? Why didn't you stop me?' we may wonder if this was progress or child abuse."
The answer to the question 'Why didn't you stop me?' will be even sadder.
We are failing to stop this because we are afraid of the intolerant revolutionary mob, which would lock up dissenters if it could, but for the moment contents itself with Twitter storms and witch-hunts.
I can't laugh this off. It is not just a wind-up. It is a threat to free thought and, after many months of staying silent about it, I feel I have to say so.
That faint rumble you can hear is the mob assembling for another heresy hunt.
Reader Comments
Highland Fleet Lute So, one's birth sex is a sole determinant then ? ?Biologically, yes, although one might be culturally indoctrinated to believe otherwise.
Highland Fleet Lute So, one's birth sex is a sole determinant then ? ?It is an obvious determinate of one's sex surely? Anything else is surely based on wishful thinking not truth. The lies being put about now are doing more harm than good and in the long run we will know this for sure.
This has not been easy, no major transformation is, but the insights that have been provided are priceless. It is my hope that in the near future people who are having this experience can be counseled with this understanding. The majority of people who are having this experience are not mentally I'll as so many like to claim. It is our culture that fails to allow this process to unfold. Many cultures in the past recognized this and guided those who experience to understand it as a special gift and not something to fear.
I have been fortunate enough to make it through without mutilating myself, and now I am living as a integrated conciseness who can express itself in many different forms.
There are, and modern panic notwithstanding, many good reasons why older cultures -- more advanced than ours -- honoured their 'two-spirited' people
The Ancient Ones honoured their "two-spirited" as they themselves, being more 'advanced' in reconciling (honouring) their personal shadow material, were capable of honouring 'the other'. .
Gdefergi, yes. Takes a whole lot of self love and courage!! I applaud your effort and accomplishment!
The irony is that I've read elsewhere, via psychics, etc., that the human species is unique in that they possess a high sexuality envied by other species/entitites in the universe who are often fascinated by our sexuality and the manner in which we procreate. Evidently, the sexuality of a separate male and female presence is not widely adapted throughout the universe because the form is hard to create. Androgyny is easier to produce. I have no idea if any of these ideas are actually correct, but I think that we have to think more deeply and investigate more thoroughly. Do I "blame" anyone for feeling differently than their assigned sex at birth? Nope. We live in a "Grand Age of Confusion and Misdirection."
In any case, let's rejoice in human consensual sex, which supposedly shoots us into the stratosphere of universal oneness. To borrow a 60's phrase, let's make love...not war.
And i too believe that we are the privileged, and envied child of the universe. But dem frogs keep a ribbetting... god! damn dems dumb!!
"let's rejoice in human consensual sex, which supposedly shoots us into the stratosphere of universal oneness."
thus pontificates the prostrate kitten?
shall I consider myself sufficiently sexually herassed by herself today Ma'am? after all Love..
a day without sexual harassment ..is as a day without sunshine.
"The opposite view (now very unfashionable) is that we are all made in the image of God and cannot be changed into something else. This sounds odd to most modern ears. But in fact it is the foundation for the absolute respect for human life and liberty which underpins civilization. Once it's gone, you can make excuses for anything in the name of some invented 'right'. Mass abortion is the obvious example."
Line in the theological sand, anyone?
To wit: what, exactly , might this much vaunted 'image of God' be in fact all about ? ?
To follow on with the non-sequitur, ' . . . and cannot be changed into something else.' only furthers his nonsensical thrust.
Just for fun then let's change his 'image of God ' to something possibly a little more Reality-based such as, say, 'an expression of Creation's intent'.
From there it seems to me that if Creation, if you will, is 'intent' upon anything it's intent upon the expression of its every manifestation and the complete, untrammelled experience of same in any and every situation.
Given that then, how can the supremely difficult change that a transition certainly is be anything less than an expression of an admittedly notional Creative Intent ? ?
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For one, I am sick to death of the paralogical idiocy bandied about by non-experiencers such as our Mr. Hitchens in respect of a dilemma with which they have no experience and hence no way to so much as begin to understand.
Black and white 'thinkers' in a Technicolor Universe; and one amoung uncountable trillions what is more.
Yes, it is black and white thinking when I express it that way, truly. I believe that when the foundation has been undercut then the house, no matter how you've dressed it up, collapses.
I am willing to maintain my beliefs quietly while extending respect to all people, no matter their view of themselves, so long as they don't rub their beliefs in my face. I am quite glad to be a 'non-experiencer' and thank God I don't have to deal with what you have had to go through.
I agree. It is an exceedingly dangerous path to walk to believe human beings have options and capacities that depend on radical chemical and physical manipulations and distortions of the body. There is a strong push now to believe that such manipulations and distortions have no downside, either physically or spiritually. We want to cheer that on, to congratulate people for their 'bravery' in pursuing invasive changes. However, such manipulations are based in lies, and therefore are not, as the quote states, respectful of human life. I have empathy for anyone in pain and do not have any desire to judge or diminish it, but validating a lie does not make it true, and does not provide the support we think we're giving to people for the very real emotional pain they are suffering.
Theology and belief. A person either believeStill more 'Either/Or' 'thinking' in an 'And/Both' world and you and others here are. not. picking up the thread; it seems in fact you'd sooner rip it from the Fabric than see how it's part of the Weave.the events and changes of today surrounding the male/female place in creation are a natural progression that should be tended to like a growing plant, or a person believes that the original creation is sacred and that things today are not in accordance with that.
Lapsing into a seemingly endless, and therefore tedious, repetition of points made earlier:
What I'm going to call a "Two Spirit" phenomena -- a strong internal alignment with both the Yin and Yang aspects of an embodiment -- has been part of the human experience for as long as we can exhume record of same.
Yet, somehow, you're happy to obliterate that inconvenient-to-your-viewpoint little fact of human existence.
Weird . . .
But no matter, your POV is self-ossified unto an unassailable correctness; you are right , you know better , your views are more accurate and run deeper than those of us actually who know from our own experiences what we're talking about.
Also weird, but hardly rare.
Now, for what must be the billionth but certainly not the last time: it isn't 'gender' dysphoria, it's 'physical sex' dysphoria. i.e. It is not the case that a tiny percentage of people are unhappy with their gender identity; no, they're unhappy with the sex of the mortal coil -- that's mortal coil -- thru which Western cultures demand they express themselves, costs and/or outcomes be damned.
And it isn't 'Sex Reassignment Surgery' -- a notion as ridiculous as its name -- its more like 'Apparent Physical Sex Modification Surgery'. i.e. The rework of appearances to more acceptably align with an individual's more deeply felt person in the (Western) world.
It's about providing the eternal Soul the appearances of a mortal coil most congruent with the Soul's preferred expression.
But no, there will be endless subsequent arguments and debate, insisting that no, the physical aspect is the superior and must be 'respected' at any and/or all costs. 'God' is otherwise offended.
This in my view is stupidity exalted . . .
I did not intend to strike through my quote of Baybar's words.
Natural law, Deism, Age of enlightenment.
and see what comes up.
this particular subject matter pertains to.. " why did God make males and females"
perhaps, it was so. that we would not eat or kill them?
and learn to rise above what the animals do?
he dares NOT. reveal to me his own personal faith Love. my own personal bet? he is Jehovah's witness.
I pretend not. to tell others what they believe in. however, I will defend my faith when attacked.
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Why would they, is it not the order of their days to first be whole within oneself; and from there, whence a need for any external 'legitimization'.
One needs of course a social fabric and it seems to me that those more-whole-than-not individuals naturally contribute significantly, without fanfare.
I dislike the Daily Mail but Mr. Hitchens is on to something. He uses the word 'Unfashionable'. I think the article can be summed up thus;I agree. I think it is a good article. You can have free choice to be a dog if you want. Although men and women are both human their sexuality is obvious. It seems to me to be a lie that they can change sex. It's never truly been done if we are honest.
"The opposite view (now very unfashionable) is that we are all made in the image of God and cannot be changed into something else. This sounds odd to most modern ears. But in fact it is the foundation for the absolute respect for human life and liberty which underpins civilization. Once it's gone, you can make excuses for anything in the name of some invented 'right'. Mass abortion is the obvious example."
Line in the theological sand, anyone?
In the rush to political correctness and the displays of self-assessed higher knowledge as evidenced in comments here, most appear to have forgotten the real-life painful physical and mental/emotional manipulation and mutilation that is inherent in the 'treatment' of those seeking to be another gender.
Some 40% of transgender people attempt suicide,regardless of their 'transition status'. A similar number seek reversal of their transit surgery.
That hardly suggests that physical transition is the best treatment or response to those exploring their sexuality.
As a parent and quondam teacher, I am extremely concerned about the way children and young people are being used and abused (yes, abused) by their parents and doctors.
Having counselled many a young person through their sexuality anxieties and served as a trustee of a politically correct support organisation for LGBTX youth, I have never encountered any young person whose problematic perceptions of their sexuality and gender were fixed and permanent.
Just for fun then let's change his 'image of God ' to something possibly a little more Reality-based such as, say, 'an expression of Creation's intent'.
To me these words mean the same thing. (?)
Closed my eyes.
'God' is a thinly disguised control meme and 'Creation' is not.
STS and STO.
Worlds apart . . .
Only to those whose lives have been crushed and tainted by cynicism.
Read, "Fingerprints of the Gods" for a take on how ancient STS off-worlders conned native earthlings into believing they were deities.
The line extends unbroken to the present where we have a smiting, blighting, needful, jealous, judgemental, curmudgeon of a misogynist demanding of endless, fearful and obsequious propitiation masquerading as the One and Only. . .
No thanks . . .
I like my own ideas much, much better
what I do for a living demands that things work 100% of 100% all of the time. and when they fail to work as designed?
they MUST " fail-safe" .
it does not matter where one lives. if one is comfortable and has fresh food to eat.. there is a guy like me behind the curtain sir.
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And although I don't manage/maintain key systems, up time is key in my world as well.
Things need to work first time, all the time and the 'failsafe' is me, alone.
Cascading failures are not however, unknown because sometimes - I - break . . . and in the main no one fixes me but me
and speaking of the larger senses . are you of the opinion, that mankind understands and can quantify gravity ? that Black holes.. and dark matter... actually exist , and can be proven to exist?
sir?
"Thou art, shall not piss off thy service technician. lest thou pay more"
Plumbers use endoscopes . that is why I know what one is... Me suspects thou art. prefers to use gerbils.
nah, fail-safe means that the building does not explode or catch fire dude.I get it, or that your switching power supply doesn't explode, or that a bias fail causes a shutdown, not a meltdown
and speaking of the larger senses . are you of the opinion, that mankind understands and can quantify gravity ? that Black holes.. and dark matter... actually exist , and can be proven to exist?Not that my opinion much matters: You are talking about some deep fundamentals of what humans call 'physics' and I don't believe that humans yet grasp the deep fundamentals of anything at all. We are mere water striders upon the surface tension of Creation's as yet fathomless depths.
Whence, Deism . . .
Plumbers use endoscopes . that is why I know what one isSo do gastroenterologists, and ENTs, and aircraft engine service techs, and spooks . . .
Me suspects thou art. prefers to use gerbils.I think your sentence structure misapplies an archaic form.
But never mind, I take your gist to be vulgar
GoodOpticsHow can creation have an intent? Surely it has been created?
Just for fun then let's change his 'image of God ' to something possibly a little more Reality-based such as, say, 'an expression of Creation's intent'.
To me these words mean the same thing. (?)
euclidestrivoli Google translation: Many important things to solve. Do not waste time talking about sexual choice of ropes and shoes. Let them go the way they want ... treat your life and let others live ...Easy to say but it is affecting other children and taking them down the wrong paths. Children are vulnerable and need guidance. Let us guide our own children.
Well, I certainly didn't think I was speaking to a dog. If you feel I was 'attacking your faith' I apologize.
You asked me what I thought and I replied without any malice aforethought.
Good day to you too.
Joyeuse Action de Grâce (Joyfilled Act of Grace)
You re so right!
...so did God make us in His image and likeness or did we make god in our image and likeness?People these days seem to making God in their image instead of accepting Him for who He is.