An Issue Facing our Local Schools
“Male and female Created He them …” attributed to Moses
The suspension or removal of gender by court opinion has just begun its assault on cultural norms. Discussions with public school superintendents reveal that more than one school in my Senate District is affected. Administrators are moving quickly to address the formerly simple task of bathroom accommodations. Several pieces of legislation have been drafted for the express purpose of protecting student personal privacy and safety specifically as it applies to the use of school restrooms.
Senate Bill 720 is one of those bills. The bill requires that all school restroom, locker rooms, and shower rooms that accommodate multiple students be designated either male or female and provides definitions for each. Webster’s definitions of male and female are pretty straight forward:
Male
- Pertaining to the sex that procreates young, and applied to animals of all kinds; as a male child; a male beast, fish, or fowl.
- Denoting the sex of a plant which produces the fecundating dust, or a flower or plant that bears the stamens only, without pistils.
- Denoting the screw whose threads enter the grooves or channels of the corresponding or female screw.
Female
- Among animals, one of that sex which conceives and brings forth young.
- Among plants, that which produces fruit; that which bears the pistil and receives the pollen of the male flowers. Adj. Noting the sex which produces young; not male; as a female bee.
To be perfectly clear in the protection of student safety and privacy, SB 720 specifically defines “biological sex” as the physical condition of being male and female according to birth certificate and chromosomes. Schools have always presumed male and female to be intuitive by observation of physical, biological, and/or anatomic measures. Nevertheless, imagination is now elevated above sight, feel, and measure, requiring male and female to be defined in statute. Furthermore, in the bill when a student wishes to use facilities designated for the biological sex inconsistent with their own, acceptable accommodations, such as providing access to a unisex bathroom, may be provided, but only with parental consent.
SB 720 offers a pragmatic solution to an unforeseen quandary. Many of my constituents may find it baffling that a few judges could subjugate science to psychology, but we are where we are, and privacy and safety of all students is definitely threatened if we do not act legislatively. Some of you may theorize that such reasoning could lead to men demanding the privileges of a woman-owned business, or a ten-year-old demanding a driver’s license or to be allowed to vote, or a Caucasian demanding minority status – we could be looking at a lawyer’s dream. Let’s hope that is not the case. It is worrisome, however, when things as fundamental to our legal system as a birth certificate or DNA suddenly become moot.
“When illusion becomes conviction, then certainty must be deemed delusion.” Anonymous
You can contact my office at (573) 751-2108 if you have any questions. Thank you and we welcome your prayers for the proper application of state government.