Critique transgenderism? Not allowed in Ontario

A great article in The Public Discourse: "The Absurdity of Transgenderism: A Stern but Necessary Critique" by Carlos D. Flores. This article makes many good points. Among these:

A petition is floating around the internet to ban so-called “transgender conversion therapy,” a procedure that involves, presumably, an attempt by a professional to help a person who is experiencing a gender identity disorder (also known as gender dysphoria). If the progress of the homosexual movement is a guide to what will come next, we can expect that laws will soon be passed criminalizing individuals’ receiving therapy to help them do away with transgender identities or desires—even for those who want to relieve themselves of such identities and desires.

Wouldn'tcha know it, this is exactly where we are in Ontario. A bill is being passed at this very moment making this very therapy illegal. I really don't know what Catholic organizations such as Courage will do with that one, since they are basically being squeezed out of their own teachings.

In fact, many things are becoming illegal in Ontario, including freedom of speech. Reading this article, I was struck by the fact that this very piece would likely face some kind of human rights legal challenge today in Ontario. It would take a lot of courage - and perhaps some foolishness - to publish it here in Canada.

Towards a new strategy for prolifers

Prolife media has been abuzz with the story of a pro-abortion blogger who posted a piece in which she openly admits that abortion kills a baby, but provocatively asks: "so bloody what?" The blogger is unfazed, and she still supports abortion.

Prolifers can find this perspective so horrific that it literally shocks them into silence. We are used to debating whether or not the baby is a living human person. We see that most pro-abortionists continue to deny that the fetus is a baby at all, and we tend to believe that pro-abortionists are sincere in their claim of ignorance. After all, it's unthinkable that civilized people would actually be okay with killing an innocent baby.

But what this blogger said should not be news. Rather, it should be a wake-up call. Prolifers need to switch tracks, and stop wasting so much of their time on trying to prove the humanity of the fetus. That avenue of debate is really just a red herring, and that is why proving our case will get us exactly nowhere.

Why same-sex parenting is unjust, and heterosexuals are wrong too

In some ways, it's easier to be a baby monkey
than a baby human these days.

I just discovered Katy Faust, who blogs at asktheBigot and wrote this amazing article for Public Discourse. Katy was raised in a lesbian household, so she speaks from first-hand experience when she discusses how the children of same-sex families often suffer from a lot of loss and grief, stemming from the absence of one of their biological parents.

She has some really great quotes in her article, among them:

Same-sex parenting is not unique in the alternative family landscape. What is unique is encouraging an alternative parenting structure guaranteed to deny a child’s right to a biological parent. In no other situation does society promote such a loss.

It's striking that in Canada there is no longer any debate at all on this topic. The opposition has been silenced, and gay parenting has been thoroughly normalized. We never hear about the "other parent". No one talks about the biological father or mother who is missing from the family of each and every child that is raised in a gay household. All we ever hear is the mantra that "some children have two mothers or two fathers", as if children were born into same-sex households naturally, as if both of their same-sex social parents were their actual biological parents.

Sheryl Sandberg's Lean In: A Book Review

Visit the book's website.

I just finished reading Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg (Knopf, 2013). This post is the first part of my two-part book review.

I surprised myself by actually reading this book. I've criticized Sandberg's pushy feminism in previous articles, and I wasn't planning on wasting my time. But when I walked past it in the library, it stared me down: an express 7-day loan, a quick read! So I gave in on a whim.

And you know what? Shockingly, I found myself kind of liking Sheryl Sandberg. She is not a horrible dragon. She is not Hillary Clinton. She doesn't seem to have an ulterior motive or a hidden agenda of leftism. She is an ambitious and intelligent business woman, and she worked hard to succeed in the corporate world. Now she wants to inspire other women to do the same.

Moreover, I was able to make more sense of this book, and to place it into a greater context, having first read read Overwhelmedby Brigid Schulte. This preparation helped me to understand one thing right off the bat: Sandberg is a success in the "ideal worker" culture.

Long Good Friday for Angela Kennedy and Canadian Christians

The crowd shouting "Give us Barabbas".
Image via wikimedia.

A version of this post appears on LifeSiteNews.com.

Yesterday was Good Friday, and tomorrow is Easter. But the Good Friday darkness that has descended upon Christianity in Ontario and across Canada shows no signs of abating.

The latest evidence: this week's fiasco concerning Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB) Trustee Angela Kennedy. Kennedy is a Registered Nurse and has been a Catholic school trustee for 14 years. Recently she was nominated to the Toronto Board of Health. This is a big deal as the Board only has 13 members, and makes some very important decisions about Toronto's public health policies.

Kennedy had been nominated by the Civic Appointments Committee (CAC) on March 26, after TCDSB Chair Mike Del Grande wrote a letter to the CAC, daring to protest the fact that the only seat on the Board of Health which is reserved for a school board representative has been filled with a public school trustee for 13 years straight. Del Grande had said: “this ongoing lack of representation on the Board of Health is an enormous disservice to this large constituency.” He also said of Kennedy: "I would ask that you support her nomination without prejudice."