Our school principal, Mr. Perry, wrote in his October newsletter: “A couple of weeks ago, there was a protest march in Canada called the 1 Million March 4 Children.  If you’ve read about this… you might be confused about what’s happening.  I want to bring to your attention one issue that is critically important to parents and what was being objected to by the marchers.  That is the policy of schools to conceal gender transitioning from parents.  You should care about this issue because it removes the role of parents in being involved in significant, life-changing decisions in raising their children and puts it in the power of government authorities.  You may think you are safe from this government action since your children are in a Catholic school.  To some degree, you are…  But governments have the power to change this.  I ask you to watch this issue closely and let your MP and MLA know your opinion.”  Praise God Mr. Perry is taking action to protect children and families.

Let’s now look at the Gospel: “Then the Pharisees went and plotted to entrap Jesus in what he said.  So they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians” (Mt 22:15-16).  The first fact to notice is that the Pharisees and Herodians are working together, which is an unholy alliance because they disagree on many things.  However, since Jesus is a common enemy, they’ll work together.

In a similar way, according to scholar Carl Trueman, transgender and queer ideologies weren’t originally part of the lesbian and gay movement in the 80s.  By definition, people who are gay, lesbian, or bisexual admit that gender is binary.  But the transgender and queer movements joined LGB when they saw that it was advantageous.  This is why the famous gay journalist, Andrew Sullivan, wrote, “It is not transphobic for a gay man not to be attracted to a trans man” (Strange New World, 130-135).  For him, a transgender man is female.  And Canadian journalist, Sue-Ann Levy, just wrote: “I am a lesbian…  The queer activists… do not speak for me…  That is a huge part of the takeaway from Wednesday’s 1 Million March 4 Children…  Most gays like me – conservative or liberal – just want to live their lives…  We also agree with letting children be children and disagree with the concept of ramming pronouns and gender identity down the throats of kids as young as five!  It’s absurd and bordering on abusive…  When I was growing up and suspected I was different, I waited for years to determine whether those feelings were legitimate.  But the kids in… Canadian schools have no chance in 2023.  The loud minority of queer activists and school board administrators are hellbent… to convince kids, who likely have never even thought of such sophisticated concepts, that there are dozens of genders and they may not have been born in the right body.  Perhaps kids have an issue with gender dysmorphia; perhaps they are tomboys or effeminate – but many will grow out of it or decide they’re LGB, instead of mutilating their bodies for life with puberty blockers.  But the efforts of the past few days – during which they marched proclaiming the parents participating in the 1 Million March 4 Children were ultra right-wing, transphobic and hateful – take their manipulation to a whole new level.  This borders on evil.  They are playing with kids’ lives”. 

Here’s the point: The LGBT movement isn’t as unified as it seems and actually contradicts itself.  To support one part of the movement doesn’t mean one has to support all; people within the movement make all sorts of distinctions.  So, we can, too: We love all people, but can firmly disagree with what they’re advocating.

The Pharisees and Herodians “went and plotted to entrap Jesus in what he said…  ‘Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality.’  Tell us, then, what you think.  Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?” (22:15-17).  ‘Entrapment’ is the right word.  By asking if it’s lawful to pay taxes to the emperor or not, they’re giving Jesus a no-win situation.  If He says Jewish people can pay taxes, then it looks like He’s betraying His Jewish people to a foreign enemy.  But if He says that they shouldn’t pay taxes, then they’ll report Him to the Roman governor.

Entrapment is also happening in our culture.  Activists say to us, ‘Jesus loved all people, so you should love your children who are trans.’  ‘Shouldn’t you be more compassionate and call your children by their preferred pronouns?’  ‘Do you want a live son or a dead daughter?’ or vice-versa.

Rachel McKinnon, a biological man who transitioned to female, says this to young people (Please watch 3:43-4:03).

Why do people support breaking away children from their parents?  Part of the entrapment model is that they start the indoctrination early on.  In Durham, Ontario, one public school uses a book for Grade 1s about a girl who wants her teacher to call her ‘Max’.  In BC, Revelstoke High School had a workshop for students Grade 9 and up about “accessing gender affirming care [which includes puberty blockers, removing breasts and penises, creating fake breasts and penises, etc.], acquiring gender affirming gear, self advocacy and where to direct your parents… for support”—that’s wrong: Children do not tell parents how to accept surgery that damages a healthy body.  And, according to an Ontario school board, “Staff must keep a student’s gender identity and gender expression status confidential unless the student gives explicit consent to inform the parent(s)”.  Please remember, this is already in or will be coming to your public schools, and they want this taught at St. Anthony’s, Little Flower Academy, Vancouver College, and St. Patrick’s High School, because it’s already happening in Catholic schools across the country.  In Halifax, there was a group of parents and activists who wanted this book removed from public libraries, because, “The library should… should stand up to hate speech”:

I just finished reading the book, and Abigail Shrier is fair.  She interviewed so many transgender supporters and just shared their opinions, which exposes that many are anti-science and don’t have the welfare of children ultimately in mind.  She is also so empathetic to children who want to transition.  The vast majority are girls who never doubted their sex as children, but they were often intelligent, lonely, and needing help, and so they turned to social media.

“But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, ‘Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites?” (22:18).  Notice that Jesus isn’t naïve.  We, too, need to be aware that many activists will bully us!  And so, we can do as He did: point out the hypocrisy of activists, as long as we do so with charity, because we love activists.  Sue-Ann Levy wrote, “While [the activists] labelled the 1 Million marchers as ‘bigots,’ [they] no doubt had trouble reconciling the fact that many of the marchers were Muslim moms – a very group they allegedly protect…  It was amusing to watch their hypocrisy.”

Jesus continues: “Show me the coin used for the tax.’  And they brought him a denarius.  Then he said to them, ‘Whose head is this, and whose title?’  They answered, ‘Caesar’s.’  Then he said to them, ‘Give therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s’” (22:19-21).  Caesar’s image was stamped on the coins, but the book of Genesis says that humans are made in the image of God.  So, when we look at each human person, we see His image stamped on us.  That means everything we have and are belong to God.  This is important because Marxist activists against the parents were chanting ‘Whose kids?  Our kids!” (Please watch 10:46-10:54).

 

Here’s the thing: no one owns children.  When we say someone is ‘my spouse / father / mother / child,’ we don’t mean it in the sense of an object.  It means we have a responsibility toward them!  And parents have a God-given duty to love and raise their children.  Activists do not.

Mr. Perry reminded parents that it’s a sacred teaching of the Bible and the Church that parents are the primary teachers of their children.  No one can usurp that right and duty.  So, give taxes to the government, but never give your children, because they do not love them.

Jesus loves all people, but never agrees with sin.  So, here’s our action item: Defend your children, their bodies, and their innocence.  Speak out against puberty blockers, which stop a healthy human process, and against transgender surgery for children.  To love children means never allowing them to lose healthy body parts.  Could you talk to at least one other parent this week whom you normally don’t talk to about this issue?  That way, you strengthen each other.

Jesus was compassionate.  So, let’s listen to young people and their needs.  I was shocked when I read that some parents actually swore at their children for going down this path (Irreversible Damage, 188)—that’s terrible!  But, permissiveness is also unhelpful.  A woman named Denise (who doesn’t give her last name for fear of reprisal), the founder of a website for parents called 4thWaveNow, “advises against adopting the child’s [new] name and pronouns.  Our kids ‘need us for a reality check…  I think you have to find your own limits though’” (211-212).  This tough love worked for Denise’s daughter, who desisted from identifying as a trans man, whereas many parents who were interviewed by Shrier were supportive of the LGBT movement, but devastated when they realized that giving in to their children’s demands only made things worse because it confirmed a false identity.

Finally, remember what Aaron Kimberly said about the suicide statistic of people who have transitioned.  Aaron is a Canadian registered nurse born a woman but has transitioned to a man (Please watch 30:19-31:50).

“When they heard this, they [the Pharisees and Herodians] were amazed; and they left him and went away” (22:22).  Maybe the world will be similarly amazed if we have compassion for children who are struggling, love our enemies, and speak the truth in love.