Ruth Institute Submission to the United Nations Independent Expert on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI)
A Response to the Call for Input to a Thematic Report:
“Gender, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity”
Submitted by Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse
Founder and President, The Ruth Institute
March 9, 2021
We offer the following items for the consideration of the Independent Expert:
- 1. SOGI-based policies promote violence and discrimination – Attempts to impose a radical gender agenda are promoted
as a way to protect individuals against violence and discrimination, but invariably lead to violence and discrimination against those whose only
crime is to dissent from the ideology of the Sexual Revolution. It is easier to sell a cause as defensive, rather than offensive – as this most
certainly is. Forcing women and girls to share showers and bathrooms with so-called trans-males is an assault on their privacy (modesty), hence
a type of violence.Gender “non-discrimination” laws discriminate against adherents to the natural order. Catholic hospitals and physicians would
be forced to provide hormone-blocking drugs and surgery (including the removal of healthy organs) in violation of their conscience.
- 2. Gender identity laws would eliminate all sex-based protections for women and girls, which required decades to achieve – Gender
identity would destroy women’s sports by forcing females to compete with males who say they’re women, with their superior strength, agility, speed
and endurance. A man who says he is a woman who is also a rapist could be incarcerated in a woman’s prison and gain access to shelters for battered
women, thus endangering the safety of women. - 3. Enshrining SOGI-based rights into law creates an open-ended redefinition of the meaning of unlawful discrimination – For instance,
discrimination could potentially include failure to provide surgery, puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones. - 4. SOGI-based laws have the potential to criminalize speech – What constitutes “violence and discrimination” when gender identity
holds sway? Defining criticism as a crime will ultimately suppress speech. Criticism of government policy is a natural human right. We reject the
idea that criticizing gender theory is a form of violence and discrimination. The theory that an individual can choose his or her sex ought to
be highly contested. The theory that efforts to protect women’s spaces is the equivalent of inciting hatred is itself a type of bigotry. SOGI-based
laws could also ban or redefine the use of gender-specific words. - 5. “Gender identity” is anti-science – The expression “gender identity” has only come in vogue in the past few years.
It implies that the sex of the body is “assigned at birth” and is an artificial construct based solely on physical characteristics. The further
implication is that individuals can chose their “gender identity” from a shopping list created by activists. (112 different “gender identities”
are reported on Tumblr.) In reality, individuals are born male or female, with only a handful of medical exceptions. Someone born a male will remain
a male until the day he dies, regardless of what he does to his body with hormones and surgery. DNA can’t be changed. - 6. SOGI-based policies undermine the family, which is entitled to protection, according to the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights – The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (adopted in 1948) acknowledges a number of inalienable rights. Article 15 describes
the family as, “the natural and fundamental group unit of society,” which thus is “entitled to protection by society and the state.” So-called
SOGI rights are a direct assault on the family. Their adherents push for gender indoctrination in the schools and media. Some want hormone treatments
and surgery on minors administered/performed without parental knowledge or consent. - 7. SOGI is an assault on religion – Christianity, Judaism and Islam all hold that God created us male and female
and endowed us with a nature based on our sex. Gender ideologues believe these ideas are antiquated and bigoted. In other words, if a person is
born a male (with a penis and testicles) he can, nevertheless, choose to be a “woman” and by proclaiming that choice – with or without chemical
or surgical alteration — become every bit as much a “woman” as one who was born a woman. Along with science, religion is the primary force which
denies transgenderism, which makes it a principal target of gender activists. We reject the idea that believers should be forced to deny the tenets
of their faith. Christians and Jews should not be required to re-write Genesis (“Male and female, He created them,” in the words of the King James
Bible). - 8. A gender regime would force people to lie about the reality of biological sex – Prohibiting certain types of speech
is bad enough. Compelling speech is even worse. Compelling false speech and forcing people to lie, corrupts people’s consciences and sense of right
and wrong.
Ruth Institute Press Releases on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity:
“Equality Act” Will Force Us to Lie Says Ruth Institute
Planned Parenthood Despicable for Medicating “Transgender” Youth–Ruth Inst. (ruthinstitute.org)
In Pushing the Trans Agenda, Biden will Make Obama Look Like Phyllis Schlafly (ruthinstitute.org)
Removal of Healthy Breasts from Adolescents is Unconscionable, Says Ruth Inst. (ruthinstitute.org)
New House Rules Erase Women, Says Ruth Institute
Ruth Inst. Outraged by Australian Drag Queens’ Suit Prohibiting Criticism (ruthinstitute.org)
Actress’s Name Change Doesn’t Alter Reality, Ruth Inst. Says (ruthinstitute.org)
Brits Ban Puberty Blockers: Ruth Inst. Cheers (ruthinstitute.org)
Ruth Inst. Applauds Court Ruling on Reparative Therapy Bans (ruthinstitute.org)
Barrett Didn’t Have to Apologize. Homosexuality is not Innate, Says Ruth Institute
American Journal of Psychiatry Corrects Pro-Transgender Surgery Study (ruthinstitute.org)
Ruth Inst. Rejects UN “Gender-Neutral Language” Manipulation (ruthinstitute.org)
Ruth Inst: Blatant Judge Bias in “Trans” Athletes Case (ruthinstitute.org)
Ruth Institute Petition Calls for Moratorium on “Sex-Change” Operations
Ruth Institute Questions Why Radicals Think Pro-Family Equals Anti-LGBTQ
Opposition to Mutilation Isn’t Hate Speech (ruthinstitute.org)
Ruth Institute President Says Teaching LGBT History is Indoctrination, Not Education
Ruth Institute President Decries “Gender-Fluid” Dating Show
“Once-Gay” Survivor of Pulse Nightclub Shootings to Speak at Historic Summit (ruthinstitute.org)
Ruth Institute Delighted to Sign Letter Affirming Biological Nature of Sex
