Will media finally cover the March for Life event?

Today about 500,000 people are expected to march in Washington, D.C., in defense of the voiceless who are aborted every day in America. Vice President Mike Pence is scheduled to address the crowds today, the first time such a high ranking official has ever acknowledged the largely pro-life crowd who gather each year to remind us of the worst Supreme Court decision since Dred Scott - that being, Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that made abortion legal in all 50 states.

It is mind boggling that the country's largest abortion provider, Planned Parenthood, still tries to claim that it offers healthcare to women, when time and time again they are exposed for doing no such thing. Try calling any Planned Parenthood clinic and ask for pre-natal services or a mammogram. You will get turned down because they do not offer those services. They offer abortion services, and perhaps other sexual-related services like STD screening.

No doubt, you can count on pro-abortion protesters to be present at today's March for Life screaming about the government keeping its "hands off our bodies" while demanding that government pay for abortions and contraception so women can continue doing what they want with their (and their unborn children's bodies) with no responsibility of their own.

You can also count on the event getting little coverage in comparison with what the "Women's March" got last week following the inauguration of President Donald Trump. But with a newly elected pro-life president and vice-president, maybe the mainstream media will be more likely to tune in. Of course, any coverage the event might receive could likely be skewed to portray today's marchers as extremist, bigoted, ignorant crazies, rather than the good-hearted, loving supporters of life that they really are. We'll see how it goes.

Hello, oh, happy day...!

On Monday, November 3, 2008, I took a picture from my home office window of the setting sun outside. It was the night before what I knew would be the election of Barack Obama and I wanted to preserve the last sunset on what was left of America as I knew it. Sounds a bit melodramatic, I know, but, what can I say -- I wasn't in the best mood that day. Turns out, it was for valid reasons.

On Inauguration Day 2009, I tried to be optimistic and, at the very least, revel in the history we were making by having the first black president. But I couldn’t pretend I didn’t know what Barack Obama represented in his leftist policies and therefore, couldn’t ignore the uneasy pit in my stomach. Unfortunately, things turned out even worse than I feared.

After eight years of Barack Obama, America’s enemies laugh at us and our friends no longer trust us. Our military is depleted, our dependence on food stamps has soared, our traditional institutions have been obliterated, and the word “hate” is now freely applied to anyone who openly supports and tries to live the loving teachings of Christ, while their livelihoods are stripped away.

I don’t know what kind of president Donald Trump will be. But I know he fundamentally differs from Barack Obama in that Trump openly proclaims his love for America, while Obama promised to fundamentally change it. 

Trump wants to build on and improve what makes America great, while Obama spent years apologizing for it. 

Trump respects our law enforcement and military, while Obama often took the side of thugs, set race relations back by decades, and used our military as a playing ground for social engineering and other reckless experiments.

I don’t know what America will look like four years from now under a Trump presidency, but looking back at Obama’s, I see the wreckage strewn about. I see anger, division, and many other consequences of the identity politics to which we were all subjected for so long. 

I don’t know if terrorism will be diminished in four years, but I trust Trump won’t bow to foreign kings, ignore our open borders, make deals with our enemies that put us all at risk, or treat our best ally in the Middle East, Israel, like dirt. 

I don’t know what the employment rate will be in four years, but I know Trump understands and acknowledges the merits and efforts of hard work, and would never wag his finger at us, denying that our accomplishments are our own. Instead, I foresee a president who would inspire Americans to work hard, pull their weight, and do their best.

I don't know if Trump will go to church regularly as president, but I trust he would never deny our country's Christian heritage, put Christians on the same level as fanatic Muslim terrorists, or, as Hillary Clinton did, promise that we'd not be allowed to use our moral or religious beliefs as grounds for objection to reprehensible things like abortion.

I don’t know of any Republicans who smashed windows, bashed faces, set fires, or threatened murder as expressions of their disapproval of Barack Obama. But I have seen plenty of those who have done these very things to express their disapproval of Trump, including CNN who shamelessly ran a story recently about how President Obama could continue his presidency if Donald Trump and Mike Pence were to be assassinated before being sworn in. 

And while I give Barack Obama credit for his seemingly gracious behavior as the transition of power takes place, it would have been nice to hear him condemn the violent oppositions to Trump and CNN's despicable story, or at least berate his fellow Democrats for their very ungracious boycott of Trump’s inauguration. That’s okay now – I suppose it’s about to all be water under the bridge - as long as we can reverse the direction that the water's been flowing for eight long years.

What stands out the most is that, despite all this, Americans did not give up. We did not cave in to these eight years of anti-American rhetoric, nor allow that path toward destruction to continue under a Hillary Clinton presidency. Here's to hoping that, under Donald Trump, we can undo some of that damage and turn back to a better path. 

Do I think Trump is perfect? Definitely not. There are some areas, in fact, that I wish he'd do differently in his approach to some things, but I'll address those things as - and if - needed. Today, though, is about the end of an era that was negative, unjust, and damaging, and the chance we have now to turn things around. To Trump's naysayers, I humbly say, give him a chance, and at the very least, respect the office of the presidency. We really are all in this together. 

It's been a long, weary eight years. I'm so ready for a change, and more than anything, I'm ready to see the sun shine on our country once again. Happy Inauguration Day!

Transgender movement's folly exposed by one who lived it

In a time when there is an increasing backlash among the LGBT community against gender-specific terms like "boy" and "girl", "mom" and "dad", is it any wonder that it would blatantly use young people as tools to further any part of their agenda? 

Below is an article by Walt Heyer that appears on The Witherspoon Institute website. Mr. Heyer is a former transgender who does a magnificent job of exposing the dangerous truths about the transgender movement. As many studies show, the majority of young people who experience gender identity issues outgrow them by the time they reach adulthood, but as some, like the National Geographic, are doing, the push for transgenderism seems to matter more than allowing kids to evolve naturally as they're meant to do. 

Studies also show that transgenderism is a serious psychological disorder and so encouraging those suffering from gender identity disorders to undergo extreme surgical and hormonal alterations as a solution is like encouraging an anorexic to get liposuction. I would even call it a form of  child abuse. At some point common sense and honesty must prevail and Mr. Heyer does a great job of outlining the issue. Please take a look:

I was just like the ‘trans’ 9-year-old in National Geographic. Now I know it’s pure fantasy

by Walter Heyer

Psychiatrist Richard Corradi calls transgenderism a “contagion of mass delusion.” As a former transgender, I can tell you that Dr. Corradi is correct. Yet National Geographic magazine selected a trans-activist boy named Avery Jackson for the cover of its special January “Gender Revolution” issue—an image and publication that will only help promote this “contagion of mass delusion” around the globe.

Like it or not, there are two sexes: male and female. Man and woman join to form the foundation of family. National Geographic apparently felt the need to give the LGBTQ movement a helping hand in redefining gender and family.

If you’re an LGBTQ loyalist, you will love the “in your face” cover photo of the boy Avery. But for me, one who was restored after living for eight years as a female transgender, the cover photo is a sad and painful reminder of a lost childhood, a family ripped apart, and a marriage that did not survive. To me, the cover is a glossy reminder of the brokenness of transgender ideology.

The cover photo of Avery, like all photos, shows one moment in time. What it does not give us is a long-range perspective of the consequences of Avery’s choices and those of his parents. It cannot show us his future.

I lived “the life,” just like Avery. I was a cross-dressing boy at age nine, but—after years of pain and self-delusion—my cross-dressing stopped decades later, when I realized that the idea of changing sexes is pure fantasy. Cross-dressing initially felt zany, fun, exhilarating, and wonderfully affirming of my belief that I should have been born a girl. But after many decades of trying to comprehend the gender confusion that persisted even after my sex transition, I came to understand that my grandmother’s cross-dressing of me was emotional child abuse. The psychological harm grew as years went by.

Suicide

The transgender promotional cover photo of Avery fails to address the 41 percent of the transgender population who will at some point attempt suicide. Even when affirmed, accepted, and loved, transgender individuals attempt suicide, which indicates that the issues they struggle with run deeper than a change in gender identity can rectify. Sex reassignment has not proven to be effective in resolving gender dysphoria for nearly half of this diverse population of gender-troubled individuals.

A review of 100 research findings concludes that sex changes are not effective, and many transgender people after surgery remain traumatized to the point of suicide.

This National Geographic cover is slick work, as it attempts to legitimize cross-dressing. Calling it “transgenderism” sounds more current than “cross-dressing,” but the reality remains the same.

Avery is simply a cross-dressing boy. Cross-dressing affects outward appearance only; what you do not see are the deeper long-term psychological consequences. No sex is changed; no biological transformation takes place.

Interestingly, in the glossary of the “Gender Revolution” issue, no mention is made of cross-dressing.

Yet, to promote their misguided ideological mission to deconstruct gender norms, the author-activists include the recently invented term for all of us non-transgender people, who number about 99.7 percent of the population: “cisgender.” In this way, the sexual activists are engaging in nihilism—dismissing human nature and observable reality itself.

Fantasy and Delusion: What “Feels Right” Isn’t Always Right

Transgenderism is interesting in theory, but slicing up bodies and injecting hormones is pure Frankenstein 2.0. To treat gender dysphoria, a surgeon operates on a man and makes a “woman.” To keep up the façade, cross-gender hormones are prescribed for life.

Is the surgeon’s transgender female equivalent to a biological female? This argument requires some intellectual parallels.

Let’s compare a real diamond with a manmade cubic zirconia. Which one is a real gem? Or take a 20-dollar bill printed by Treasury Department of the United States and compare it with a counterfeit $20 made in the back room of Lefty’s bar. Which one is genuine?

Surgically created sex changes and cross-dressing boys are as fake as a counterfeit twenty-dollar bill or a cubic zirconia. Yet, if we are to be politically correct, we should call a cubic zirconia a diamond and accept a counterfeit twenty-dollar bill as legal tender. We don’t want the zirconia or the counterfeit currency to feel sad because we call them fake.

With the extreme emphasis on political correctness and safeguarding people’s feelings, we are abandoning all ability to call what is fake “fake” and what is real “real.”

Yes, I enjoyed cross-dressing. Yes, the cross-dressing feelings were strong, delighting me when I slipped on that soft, full-flowing purple chiffon evening dress Grandma made especially for me. Yes, strong feelings of wanting to be a girl grew from seeing myself in the mirror. I believed I should have been born a girl and desired to be one. As a young person, I did not doubt I should have been a girl.

My delusional pursuit progressed over forty years from cross-dressing to cross-gender hormone therapy to surgery. I sought out a gender therapist who specialized in diagnosing gender dysphoria and approving people for gender reassignment surgery. But seeking him out was a mistake, because a gender therapist’s vision of treatment is narrowly focused on one destructive path: sex change.

In hindsight, I can see more clearly today than ever before.

I can see from my experience that transgenderism is fantasy motivated by strong feelings. When it comes to gender, people can change clothing and other aspects of the public persona, but biological sex will always remain fixed.

There are no lab tests or medical findings that can even prove the existence of transgenderism. The only way to diagnose it is when someone self-identifies as transgender. No amount of hormones or cosmetic surgery can effect a biological change of sex. Feelings, no matter how strong, cannot change sex. To pretend anything else is only a masquerade. At best, transgenderism is Mardi Gras, not reality.

Child Exploitation

Even if young Avery is willing to be used in this way, National Geographic’s cover photo is exploitation. The health and well-being of this child are being sacrificed to advance a political and cultural crusade.

Avery may not realize that his feelings and photos are a revenue source for National Geographic and a strategic tool for the LGBTQ lobby. Yes, the bright lights are squarely on Avery. He is today’s poster child—a hero, at least for now. But Avery’s male sex is unchangeable, while feelings do change. What will surface eight, ten, or even thirty years from now? Anyone who thinks that affirming his transgenderism can undo Avery’s innate male sex has caught the contagion of mass delusion.

Avery’s mom surely thinks she is helping her son, just as my grandmother thought she was “helping” me. Today, my body bears the scars from all the unnecessary surgeries I endured because as a young boy I was enabled, encouraged, and provided opportunity to act out such a fantasy.

It is naïve to believe there are no negative outcomes from using this young boy as a symbol and presenting him as an activist. National Geographic’s irresponsible imagery of a cross-dressing boy on the cover will no doubt ratchet up the spread of the contagion that is transgenderism.

Notably, the magazine does not include any interviews with individuals who have had their lives destroyed by the long-term consequences of cross-dressing and gender confusion. Cross-dressing eroded my true gender which in turn ruined my teen years, ripped apart my marriage, and ended my career.

There Is a Way Back

Avery and I have something in common: the strong belief starting in childhood of being a girl.

What makes me different from Avery is seventy years of life experience dealing with the transgender fantasy. Experience is a great teacher. I learned that sex-change surgery and living the life of transgender female didn’t deliver the serenity I was promised. Instead it complicated matters. Every day I had to confront the reality that I was not a real woman.

Many do not have the desire or courage to admit that transgenderism is delusional and was never required medically to resolve their gender conflict. I, on the other hand, wanted my sanity restored. Admitting my regret made me rare in trans-land.

I turned to Christ and away from transgenderism. I wanted to be obedient to the Lord. Obedience is giving up what I want, in order to live the life Christ wants. I had to stop living in defiance of God and stop demanding that the church, God, and everyone else make accommodations for my delusions. Demanding that people use my preferred female pronoun was childish.

I must have been right about obedience, because once I gave up what I wanted, He drew me to a new level of sanity. Through prayer and counseling, I was unshackled from my transgender female life and restored to life as male.

One passage that guided my steps and gave me hope comes from the book of Matthew, where Jesus says, “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

The LGBTQ movement and their co-conspirator, National Geographic, throw open the wide gate that leads to transgenderism and seeks the destruction of gender persona. But gender acquired through hormones and surgery is a delusional pursuit, and the delusion is contagious. Promoting Avery’s situation as a success story will hurt others who are struggling, because it advances the false idea that embracing transgenderism will solve the issues they face and heal the pain they feel.

I determined to be one of the few who find the narrow way that leads to a redeemed life. My faith was rewarded with a redeemed life in my male gender, far better than transgenderism. Yes, that makes me very different—and very richly blessed.

Reprinted with permission from The Witherspoon Institute.

Could 2017 signal a return to common sense values?

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and overall holiday season. I am a little slow easing back into the swing of things at the start of this new year, but am thinking it's time to put into practice one of my New Year's resolutions: to stop procrastinating. Am not off to the greatest start on that, but will try my best!

At the beginning of this new year, there is already so much to talk about that it's hard to focus on just one topic right now. One thing that keeps popping into my head, though, is something that happened toward the end of last year that, to me, seemed like one of the most under-reported international stories of the year: Poland officially recognized Jesus Christ as the King of Poland and called upon Him to rule over their nation, its people and their political leaders. Imagine if this were to ever happen in America.

This declaration took place on Nov. 19 when the Catholic Bishops of Poland in the presence of President Andrzei Duda and many Catholic pilgrims.

"Immortal King of Ages Lord Jesus Christ, our God and Savior," they declared at the ceremony, "bowing our heads before You, King of the Universe, we acknowledge Thy dominion over Poland, those living in our homeland and throughout the world. Wishing to worship the majesty of Thy power and glory, with great faith and love, we cry out: Rule us, Christ!"

As reported by Fr. Paul McDonald in Rorate Caeli and at Radio Maryja, the enthronement or recognition of Christ as King of Poland "was done in the official presence of the president of Poland [Andrzei Duda]" and was repeated at many Polish cathedrals and parishes on Sunday, Nov. 20.

In our increasingly secular world, I wonder if the story got such little attention because of the decreasing belief and faith in God, and therefore the story simply was of little interest, or because the godless in our culture simply didn't want to acknowledge such a significant God-centered occurrence in our modern times. 

Either way, Poland doesn't seem to be the only country in Europe that is starting to at least revisit its Christian roots. France, for instance, is seriously considering electing Francois Fillon as its next president, an openly devout Catholic who is winning votes with his conservative faith and values and promises to preserve traditional values while  upholding France’s Catholic roots. Although he has no plans to overturn the 1975 law that legalized abortion in France, he has promised to “put the family at the heart of all public politics.”

The family is “certainly not a place for dangerous social experimentation”, he said for instance, referring to recently passed adoption rights for same-sex couples.

What's going on in Poland and France seems to follow similar cultural shifts such as those in the UK with the Brexit vote and here in America with the election of decidedly non-establishment Donald Trump. Maybe people are tired of the politically correct mindset that has pushed God out of the public square, replacing the void with more Big Government, terrorism, drug addiction, mass shootings, and various other forms of malfeasance. 

Maybe the direct, albeit, yes, brash approach of Donald Trump will signal to others that it is safe to come back out into the public square and speak freely. We need to speak with love, of course, and I will always advocate for decency and decorum, but ultimately it will be up to us to take back our country and stop fearing the wrath of the politically correct, intolerant left.

While obviously there is so much work left to be done, who knows, maybe 2017 will be the year of fresh starts and the return to common sense, decency and the overall Judeo-Christian values that can turn things around for the better for all of us. At the very least, I have hope.