political agenda

This blog is originally appeared at LGBTQ Nation.

He claimed that his experience delivering babies proves that transgender people don’t actually exist, though his argument remains unclear.

Washington, D.C. — Senator Roger Marshall (R-Kansas) questioned Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas at a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing focused on the President’s proposed budget request for the Department of Homeland Security for fiscal year 2025. The hearing examined resources and authorities requested to protect the homeland.

This week, Sen. Marshall introduced the “Defining Male and Female Act of 2024,” a bill aimed at legally erasing the recognition of transgender individuals. Marshall argued that the bill is a response to what he describes as the Biden administration’s effort to “replace biological sex with dangerous radical gender ideology.”

The proposed legislation consists largely of definitions, with terms like “father” and “girl” now explicitly tied to the words “male” and “female.” Under the bill, “male” and “female” are defined as individuals who “naturally have, had, will have, or would have, but for a congenital anomaly or intentional or unintentional disruption, the reproductive system that at some point produces, transports and utilizes sperm or eggs for fertilization.”

Marshall claims the bill would prevent transgender individuals from participating in school sports and ensure “sex separation” in spaces like restrooms, locker rooms, dorms, prisons, and shelters for victims of sexual assault.

“As a physician who has delivered over 5,000 babies, I can confidently say that politicizing children’s gender and using them as pawns in a radical woke agenda is not only wrong, it is extremely dangerous,” Marshall said. However, his experience as a former OB/GYN does not make him an expert on transgender issues. “We must codify the legal definition of sex based on science, not feelings. With this legislation, we can fight back against the Biden-Harris Administration’s assault on our children.”

Marshall’s assertion that the Biden administration is behind the existence of transgender people is inaccurate; transgender individuals have existed long before Biden’s presidency and will continue to exist long after it. Transgender people are not an “ideology”; they are human beings.

A similar bill was introduced in July in the House of Representatives by Rep. Mary Miller (R-IL), who also claimed her bill would prevent Title IX protections from applying to transgender people. However, the argument that transgender individuals are not protected by Title IX hinges on the notion that discrimination based on gender identity is discrimination based on sex assigned at birth. In other words, if a school allows cisgender girls to compete on a sports team but excludes transgender girls, this constitutes discrimination based on sex, as the only difference between the two groups is their sex assigned at birth. Title IX bans sex-based discrimination in education.

While Marshall’s bill is unlikely to pass in the current Senate controlled by Democrats, its introduction could signal plans to reintroduce it next session when Republicans are projected to regain control of the chamber.

This blog is originally appeared at LGBTQ Nation

The Oklahoma Superintendent of Schools recently spent $25,000 in state funds on Trump Bibles.

Ryan Walters, the controversial Oklahoma Superintendent of Schools, has directed school districts statewide to show a video of him praying for President-elect Donald Trump. This unusual and politically charged directive, issued amidst a recall effort against Walters, has sparked strong opposition from local school administrators. The video and accompanying order were sent out to schools on Thursday.

At least seven major Oklahoma school districts announced Friday that they will not show a video in which Superintendent Ryan Walters discusses the objectives of his newly established Office of Religious Liberty and Patriotism, concluding with a prayer for former and future President Donald Trump.

The video, which carries a highly partisan tone, criticizes the “radical left” for attacking religious freedom in schools and accuses teacher unions of undermining patriotism.

“We will not tolerate that in any school in Oklahoma,” Walters declares in the video. “We want our students to be patriotic. We want our students to love this country, and we want all students’ religious liberty to be protected.”

The video wraps up with a prayer in which Walters asks for divine guidance for the nation’s leaders and specifically prays for Trump and his team.

“Dear God, thank you for all the blessings you’ve given our country. I pray for our leaders to make the right decisions. I pray in particular for Donald Trump and his team as they continue to bring about change to the country,” Walters says.

Edmond Public Schools Superintendent Angela Grunewald informed parents on Friday that her district will not disrupt its locally approved curriculum to show Walters’ video.

Grunewald emphasized that her district will continue to teach the Oklahoma state standards and the curriculum set by the local school board. “Any changes to that would be based on local decisions,” she said, citing a recent ruling by the Oklahoma Supreme Court that upheld the authority of local school districts to make such decisions.

Similarly, Midwest City-Del City Public Schools Superintendent Rick Cobb told the Oklahoma Voice that his district will not show the video. “We do not believe he has the statutory authority to require us to share this content,” Cobb said.

The Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office supported this stance, declaring the mandate unenforceable. “Not only is this edict unenforceable, it is contrary to parents’ rights, local control, and individual free-exercise rights,” said Attorney General spokesperson Phil Bacharach.

Newly sworn-in Democratic state Sen. Mark Mann, a former member of the Oklahoma City Board of Education, also urged other districts to resist the mandate. “When Oklahoma needs to make gains in reading and math scores, the last thing we need to be doing is pushing the superintendent’s blatant, self-serving political agenda,” Mann remarked.

Walters’ controversial order, which is seen as unenforceable, accompanies his ongoing effort to distribute 55,000 Bibles to Oklahoma schools. On the same day his prayer video was released, Walters posted another video celebrating the arrival of the first 500 Bibles in AP Government classrooms.

Walters’ budget request was specifically aimed at purchasing a version of the Bible known as the “Trump Bible,” which combines the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, and the Old and New Testaments into a single Christian nationalist text. The initial purchase of these Bibles amounted to $25,000.

Walters has been mentioned as a potential candidate for Secretary of Education in Trump’s second-term Cabinet. Both Walters and Trump have advocated for the abolition of the U.S. Department of Education.

Tag: political agenda

MAGA Education Official Instructs Schools to Show Video of Him Praying for Donald Trump

The Oklahoma Superintendent of Schools recently spent $25,000 in state funds on Trump Bibles.