Jay W. Richards – February 11, 2022
President Joe Biden has sought to inject gender ideology into our laws since his first day in office. He might prefer a massive bill like the Equality Act that elevates the categories of “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to status of race and sex. But that effort has stalled in the Senate. So, for now, his administration is looking for ways to insert sexual orientation and gender identity concepts into existing law.
The latest? In January, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services proposed a rule that would add sexual orientation and gender identity language to the 2010 Affordable Care Act. According to the department, these amendments will ensure that those who identify as LGBT receive “medically necessary” care. This includes “gender-affirming” surgeries and hormone “therapy.”
In fact, the department’s proposed rule circumvents the law and treats dubious treatments as essential health benefits in qualified health plans. This not only contradicts the best science and medicine, it’s a disaster for insurers, for medical providers, and, most of all, for those struggling with gender dysphoria.
Sex, gender and discrimination
The rule has legal problems, but we shouldn’t allow that to distract us from the fact that it strikes at the heart of what it means to be human. To see this, it helps to keep a few definitions in mind.
The first is “sex.” Human beings are a sexually dimorphic species. With the very rare exceptions (such as those resulting from disorders of sexual development, sometimes called “intersex”), everyone is clearly either male or female. This is biology. It’s also common sense — as revealed by the testimony of every culture in every time and place throughout history.
Many people also affirm the sexual binary of male and female on religious grounds. The book of Genesis, for instance, says that God created us “male and female.”