It seems Transgenderism is having its historical cultural moment, but what really is this about and how should Christians respond?

Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #80 of Discerning What Is Best, a podcast applying unchanging biblical principles in a rapidly changing world, and a Christian worldview to current issues and everyday life.

Transgenderism or Trans ideology, the “T” in LGBTQ+, is experiencing something of a historical moment. While trans activists claim trans people are marginalized victims, trans ideology is now the dominant view in public education, media, social media, entertainment, athletics, government, even the Pentagon and the White House.

Now trans ideology is taking hold of corporate marketing in America.

“America clearly is in the throes of a cultural campaign for transgender rights, privileges, and immunities. It is a multi-faceted movement at once entertaining and dangerous.”

“It is not only major corporations, including Nike, Proctor & Gamble, and Anheuser Busch that have jumped aboard the transgender bandwagon. 

Universities and now, the federal government and the judiciary are all in.”

“The transgender glorification movement truly has transitioned into high gear.”

“The cultural shift, especially in corporate marketing, has been nothing short of seismic. Where once Jack Daniels whiskey was presented as a sophisticated spirit, with ads depicting entertainment icon Frank Sinatra, the Tennessee-made alcoholic beverage now is branded by drag queens, in a timid genuflect to the LGBTQ+ movement.”

Other companies on the bandwagon include Ulta Beauty, Olay, Tik Tok, Instacart, Tampax, Nike, Kate Spade, Crest, and many more.

“One of the strangest kowtows to the LGBTQ+ campaign has been Hershey’s chocolate. During WWII, Hershey’s was one of a number of products that became closely identified with the American armed forces, especially the Army GI. 

Eight decades later, the universally recognized brown Hershey’s milk chocolate candy bar wrapper markets itself as a “HER-SHE’s” treat and advertises yet another biological male transgendered to female.”

“Last week, female swimmer Riley Gaines was violently assaultedat San Francisco State University for daring to speak about the unfairness of male athletes competing against females.”

This goes way beyond trans boys or men accessing restrooms designated for females.

Recently, the highest profile trans marketing is Anheuser-Busch featuring a biological man, Dylan Mulvaney, who identifies as a woman on their Bud Light cans. Supposedly, Mulvaney is celebrating "365 days of girlhood" This resulted in both backlash from Country Music stars and the general public evidenced by pictures of Bud Light stacked unsold in stores, and resulted in the usual charges of bigotry and intolerance from the Left aimed at these musicians, the public, and conservatives. 

Kid Rock shot up a case of Bud Light with a rifle. Ted Nugent called the partnership with Mulvaney the "epitome of cultural deprivation."

Meanwhile, you have to wonder what corporations are hoping to accomplish. Not market share, for sure. The number of adults in America described as transgender is totals less than 1%. And Anhueser-Busch has lost some $5 billion in value since the Bud Light can debacle.

“Disney experienced this last year, as it offered up a number of entertainment releases with woke messaging, which were routinely avoided by audiences, leading to losses. There was the gay rom-com movie “Bros” that basically defined a woke motion picture release, and it was not even supported by the gay community, becoming one of the biggest bombs of 2022.”

Some suggest this move to woke-ize their image and products is all about the companies' Corporate Equality Index score, a ranking overseen by a major LGBT+ lobbying group, the Human Rights Campaign.

“'Workforce Protections', 'Inclusive Benefits', 'Supporting and Inclusive Culture', and 'Corporate Social Responsibility and Responsible Citizenship' are all used to determine how a company compares on the all-important ranking…The CEI falls under umbrella entity ESG, stood for 'Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance', and its 'ethical investing' movement, which funds ideological projects including those that phase out fossil fuels, promote unionization, and maintain racial and gender equality hiring quotas.”

"While being Transgender has become the latest trend, gender clinics and stakeholders who profit from transitioning young people want to normalize transitioning, so they use people like Dylan as a pawn in their game and lobby companies to be more 'inclusive,’…The more we see trans people everywhere, the more likely kids will want to become like them."

But while this may be Trans Ideology’s big moment, since the entire movement is based upon lies, its seeming success is not without consequences.

Being a “she matters. Without a ‘she’ and a ‘he’, we wouldn’t be we. They wouldn’t be they. You and I wouldn’t be. Period. We live in a culture that is increasingly more hopeless and meaningless because of the determination to be genderless. Our DNA determines our sex/gender, but anytime we deny God’s design for humanity, disaster always follows.”

“We’re not avatars living in some make-believe world. We’re all bound by the same scientific and moral laws. This is reality. Tragically, many have no use for what it actually is. They want to conjure up a surreality untethered from facts and consequences.”

Allow me to pause and say there is such a thing as gender dysphoria, meaning there are people who struggle with who they are biologically. This is real, and it is usually painful. Those who struggle with gender dysphoria need help, “acceptance and affirmation,” to use the trans ideology phrase, not for transitioning by denying their God-given sexuality, but acceptance and affirmation of them as human beings made in God’s image, persons who need our loving care pointing them to the Sovereign Creator God who makes no mistakes.

So nowhere in this podcast am I subtly suggesting people struggling with gender dysphoria should be ridiculed, rejected, much less hated or abused.

But I am also saying that these individuals with genuine difficulties represent a very small percentage of the population. Many more people embracing trans and other non-binary postures are involved in choices rooted in hearts blinded by sin.

Simply because people choose to willfully deny God’s definition of sexuality does not mean the rest of the population must accommodate their every predilection.

“When you deny what you really are, you deform your mind, you warp your personality and instincts, you disguise and mutilate your actual nature, and thus it becomes virtually impossible to live a normal life…But you will always find yourself challenged when around normal people because you know you are denying your own normality. Men are men and women are women, and if they try to be what they are not, they are going to have some serious issues. It is inevitable.”

Increasingly of late, we’re seeing transgender mass shooters, most recently Aubrey Hale in the tragic killing of Christian school students and personnel in Nashville.

This does not mean all trans people will become shooters, but neither does it mean we should ignore this development.

Aubrey Hale’s “fact-denial caused (he/)her to become so psychologically unstable and morally obtuse that he/)she wanted to (die and take others along.) And, quite frankly, it is totally the fault of the transgender ideological movement. They encourage people to be what they are not, to reject their own nature, and to live totally opposite what they truly are. Leftist transgender ideology is completely, and forever, to blame for every one of these people who get screwed up and filled with hate against those who are trying to help them be what God made them to be and wants them to be. And they end up crying for help but finding no answers. Because the Left, by denying God and true nature, has no answers.”

What trans identifying people need is not transition to a gender that is not their biological sex. 

What they need is spiritual transformation of their heart. They need, like all of us, the truth of Scripture: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Cor. 5:17).

The Lord promised, “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you” (Ezek. 36:26).

Not physical transition but spiritual transformation is what transgender people need to secure lasting peace.

Well, we’ll see you again soon. This podcast is about Discerning What Is Best. If you find this thought-provoking and helpful, follow us on your favorite podcast platform. Download an episode for your friends. For more Christian commentary, check my website, r-e-x-m as in Martin, that’s rexmrogers.com. 

And remember, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm.

© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2023   

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