by Jennifer Roback Morse December 28, 2023 at National Catholic Register
In 2023, I learned three things about the political push to enshrine transgenderism in U.S. society.
My line of work takes me into some unusual situations and allows me to talk with some fascinating people. I thought I’d summarize the year 2023 with a few things I’ve learned about the transgender issue.
1. The transgender political push was driven from the top-down.
I interviewed John Bursch, the vice president for appellate advocacy for the Alliance Defending Freedom. The ADF is a public interest law firm defending religious liberty, the right to life, and the meaning of marriage. He argued before the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of the state of Michigan in the case that redefined marriage, Obergefell v. Hodges. The occasion for our interview was the publication of his new book, Loving God’s Children: The Church and Gender Ideology. (You should read it if you want a sound guidebook to dealing with the trans issue.)
In our conversation, he reported that he noticed how the sexual revolutionaries pivoted to the trans issue immediately after the Obergefell decision. The celebration over same-sex civil marriage was short-lived in the mainstream media. In a matter of weeks, the mantra became, “’This is just like same-sex marriage. People are being discriminated against because of who they are.’ … They were ready to quickly shift the culture to the T portion of the LGBT.”
Bursch mentioned Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner and Jared/Jazz Jennings as part of the immediate cultural shift. I looked it up. The “Caitlyn Jenner: The Full Story” story appeared in Vanity Fair magazine on June 25, 2015. The reality TV show I Am Jazz, featuring Jared/Jazz and his family, premiered on July 15, 2015.
The Obergefell v. Hodges decision, removing the dual-gender requirement from marriage, was announced on June 26, 2015.
The timing of these events is not “smoking-gun” proof that the media, legal entertainment and political elite had the transgender pivot planned in advance. In principle, the timing could be purely coincidental, not coordinated.
Possible, yes. Probable? I don’t think so. For my part, I’m adopting a “I can’t prove it, but I’m going to operate on the assumption that it is true until further notice” stance.
2. A man can have a positive pregnancy test.