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April 1, 2021 (Family Research Council) — Yesterday, President Joe Biden proclaimed it to be “Transgender Day of Visibility.” Decrying the supposed systemic discrimination of those who identify as transgender, Biden's proclamation only exposed just how out of touch he is with much of America.

President Biden used the opportunity to push Congress to pass the Equality Act, a piece of legislation that we know would corrupt the family, advance abortion, and harm many people, including women, medical professionals, religious schools, and even the very members of the LGBT community that the bill claims to protect. If Biden truly cared about equality, he would advance religious freedom, not advocate for a bill that mandates government-imposed inequality by requiring acceptance of a particular ideology, suffocating public debate about issues that deserve thoughtful discussion.

Urged on by Biden, the complete abandonment of biological reality in the media and culture only grows more apparent by the day – despite what we constantly hear about social conservatives “denying science.” Commenting on developments in South Dakota, the latest of which is Governor Kristi Noem offering a watered down version of her women's sport policy through executive order, one reporter wrote, “The orders also reference 'biological sex,' a disputed term that refers to the sex as listed on students' original birth certificates.”

Calling “biological sex” a disputed term is laughable. But it is also tragic for those who are forced to adopt and espouse such moral and factual confusion. Despite the aggressive efforts of LBGT advocates, we know that sex isn't really “assigned at birth.” One's “sex” is a physiological state of being either male or female, and is objective and observable well before birth.

The difference between the sexes is instinctively understood, even by children. Kids know the difference between mom and dad, and they can pick up on the different ways that boys and girls interact. When supposedly “enlightened” progressive adults contradict something so obvious, the results are harmful – both for children who don't understand and adults who must live their lives denying biological reality.

Thankfully, Americans are not ready to give up this cultural fight against truth and reality. Courageous state legislators in Arkansas are taking a stand. The Arkansas legislature recently overwhelmingly approved the Save Adolescents from Experimentation (SAFE) Act, a bill sitting on Governor Asa Hutchinson's desk right now that prohibits doctors from performing gender transition surgeries on minors and bans taxpayer funding from covering them.

Gender transition surgery often comes with harmful consequences, sometimes leaving children permanently sterilized or disfigured, changing the course of their lives forever. The SAFE Act protects minors from irreversibly altering their bodies during a stressful time of life in which they are not yet mature enough to make such long-term decisions.

For minors who grow up to regret their decision to transition, the effects are devastating. Victims like Keira Bell say medical professionals should have challenged her when she claimed she wanted to transition. But she acknowledges, “When you are that young, you don't really want to listen.” Legislation like the SAFE Act would have protected impressionable young people like Keira from making similarly harmful mistakes.

In a culture where questioning LGBT ideology can get you “canceled,” reasonable legislation like the SAFE Act is exactly the type of the protection that minors need. The bill has been sent to Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson to sign. He should do so promptly for the sake of Arkansas' children who are navigating a confused culture that is increasingly in denial about biological facts.

To tell Governor Hutchinson to sign this bill into law, visit here.

Printed with permission from Family Research Council.