How Will Christian Parents Respond to the Transgender Bathroom Edict?

Surely all of us by now have heard of the president’s bathroom bill directive. A few weeks ago the country was aghast at Target’s decision to allow those who identify as a sex opposite their own to use the bathroom of their choice.

Millions of people boycotted Target and still do for this absurd and dangerous decision.

This week our commander-in-chief once again assumed a level of authority that does not belong to him and essentially blackmailed schools all over the nation; he threatened lawsuits and to cut off their federal funding if they refused to allow children to enter bathrooms of the sex with which they identify. Furthermore, this extends to locker rooms and showers as well, which is unconscionable.

There are three reasons why this bathroom bill directive is wrong

1.It removes states’ rights to govern their own education system. Until now every state had the right to decide how it was going to govern its own education system. Now this top-down directive from the Oval Office essentially tells every state how it’s going govern its school system, whether or not they agree with the directive. While this is not a law, because a president doesn’t have the power to write laws, it carries a lot of weight. Without federal funding, a school will have to close its doors.

These states have two choices: fold and surrender to this decree, or fight back and risk losing federal funding. Personally, I’d love to see a majority of the states call the president’s bluff!

2.While some claim that forcing transgender/cross-dressing people to use a bathroom of their biological sex is discriminatory, subjecting people to sharing a bathroom with those of the opposite biological sex is alsodiscriminatory. It discriminates against those who identify with their biological gender by subjecting them to an uncomfortable and vulnerable situation, without giving them a choice.

What’s more, forcing young people to use locker rooms shared by those of the opposite sex is an irresponsible decision. It is uncomfortable enough, at best, to disrobe in front of those of the same biological sex. How much more disrobing in front of those of the opposite sex? It makes both parties vulnerable at an age when hormones are raging high.

Furthermore, it is immoral. For Christians, this should be a no-brainer. The Bible clearly says over and over that we are not to view another person’s nakedness, unless they are our husband or wife. I would argue this goes for locker rooms where kids of the same sex are forced to disrobe and shower.

This is why kids are so uncomfortable with it. God never designed us to be comfortable with our nakedness being exposed.

However, to disrobe in front of someone of the opposite sex is immoral, plain and simple, no matter how they identify.

3. It places the most vulnerable among us in great danger. While the Washington elite choose to bend over backwards to appease a very small minority of our population (roughly 0.3 percent), they choose to place millions of women and children at risk of being attacked by predators.

While I believe few among us truly believe that most transgendered people are predators, there are “straight” people who arepredators and will gladly take advantage of this decision to enter bathrooms of the opposite sex and prey on children: women, boys and girls alike.

This hits the school system right in the gut. How many stories have we heard of coaches, janitors and teachers sexually abusing children? And now they’re given even greater access to children when they are most vulnerable and no one can question it.

And how will parents react to this bathroom bill directive?

This is the question that has nagged at me the past two days.

Three weeks ago my Facebook timeline exploded with angry posts opposing and boycotting Target. And now I am waiting for another massive backlash, for the posts by angry parents frightened to send their kids to school.

I am waiting for the boycotts of the school system and parents sincerely seeking suggestions for alternative forms of education.

I am waiting to hear parents say, “I am never sending my kid back to a school where they are locking in a building for 6-7 hours a day without my protection from potential sexual predators”.

At the end of the day, God gave usthese children, and it is our right and responsibility to protect them. We can bury our head in the sand and soothe our conscience by saying, “That would never happen to my child,” or, “My kid knows how to protect himself.”

And yet in 2010, statistics showed that 20% of girls and 5% of boys are sexually abused, and 93% of of those cases were by people that had some sort of relationship with that child, including a teacher, coach or instructor of some sort.

Homeschooling is a good option for parents.

While I do not believe that isolating your children from evil is a reason to choose homeschool, I think we’d all agree that there are more reasons than just the bathroom bill to choose homeschooling. Overall, statistics show that the children testing in public school tend to test lower than children who are homeschooled.

There is a good reason for this; public schools are caught in a web of political correctness that governs how and what they teach. Furthermore, classrooms are over-full, and teachers are unable to give children individual attention they so often need.

To be fair, not every school is bad and most teachers genuinely want to help their students succeed.

But Washington and union politics often hold them back from accomplishing what they set out to do when they chose a profession in teaching.

I think that now, more than ever before, parents need to start seriously investigating alternative forms of education. And while private school could be an option, even many private schools receive federal funding. Furthermore, I believe that they will be the next target of an Oval Office directive.

Rosilind Jukic, a Pacific Northwest native, is a missionary living in Croatia and married to her Bosnian hero. Together they live with their two active boys where she enjoys fruity candles, good coffee and a hot cup of herbal tea on a blustery fall evening. Her passion for writing led her to author her best-selling book The Missional Handbook. At A Little R & R she encourages women to find contentment in what God created them to be. You can also find her at Missional Call where she shares her passion for local and global missions. She can also be found at on a regular basis. You can follow her on Facebook, Pinterest and Google+.