Volume > Issue > Transanity Is Taking Over. How Will the Church Respond?

Transanity Is Taking Over. How Will the Church Respond?

NEW OXFORD NOTEBOOK

By Pieter Vree | January-February 2024
Pieter Vree is Editor of the NOR.

On January 1 a new law went into effect in the State of California mandating that large retail stores that sell “childcare items or toys” must offer a “gender neutral section or area” — or face fines of up to $500. The law defines childcare item as “any product designed or intended by the manufacturer to facilitate sleep, relaxation, or the feeding of children, or to help children with sucking or teething.” It defines children as “persons 12 years of age or less.”

This might not seem like a big deal; after all, some girls like playing with toys traditionally designed for boys, to no long-term ill effect (there’s even a time-honored name for such girls: tomboys), and vice versa (though the name for such boys is less innocuous: sissies). Why embarrass girls by forcing them to look for their favored toys in the “boys’ section,” and vice versa?

It would be naïve to think that this law merely aims to make kids comfortable when shopping for their favored toys. This is about more than toys or shopping. The new law is, all in all, just another brick in the wall of the edifice that’s come to be called — by Pope Francis, among others — “gender ideology.”

And the government keeps laying down bricks.

Consider: On January 1, 2026, all schools in the Golden State must, by force of law, make an “all-gender” restroom available to students. This law will apply to public and private schools that “maintain any combination of classes from kindergarten to grade 12.” Yes, even Catholic schools must comply.

Enjoyed reading this?

READ MORE! REGISTER TODAY

SUBSCRIBE

You May Also Enjoy

Wuerl, the Flesh & the Devil

The whole Wuerl saga goes to show — yet again — that many of the leaders of the Church aren’t so much interested in professing the truth as they are in protecting their prestige.

“Politics and the English Language.” By George Orwell.

Language should reflect reality. If it doesn’t, what possible limits could be placed on misleading, manipulative language?

Reflections on Pope John Paul II's Legacy

There is now a general assumption that because the pope gets so much attention, he must have global tasks commensurate with worldly publicity.