God's design for gender good enough for these Republicans

The Republican Party in Kansas has passed a resolution on human sexual identity that affirms God's design for gender but that homosexual activists are calling "anti-science."

The resolution (adopted on February 17, 2018) states that "God's design was the creation of two distinct and complementary sexes – male and female"; that there's "no scientific consensus regarding the ethics or effectiveness of attempts to align one's biology with one's self-perception through experimental and exploratory medicine"; and that the Kansas Republican Party "affirms God's design for gender as determined by biological sex and by self-perception."

Eric Teetsel, a delegate to the convention and head of the Family Policy Alliance of Kansas, submitted the resolution. He says the GOP didn't start the cultural fight over gender, but they would like to finish it.

"As Christians I think that we are compelled to respond to the lies that we see in culture because we have knowledge of the truth," he shares. "We know what's true and what's good, based on God's created order."

But passing a resolution at the GOP convention is different than actually passing a bill at the state level and making it law. That, he says, will be difficult. "There's just no appetite among the leadership of our elected leaders to make that happen," he laments.

Teetsel suggests they might be scared off by stories out of North Carolina, which had a similar tussle last year.

"That narrative was construed about financial repercussions in North Carolina – although if you look at the data, it turns out there was no actual damage in North Carolina," he points out. "Nevertheless, people are looking for an excuse not to do something difficult – and they'll take whatever they can find."

The family advocate also counters the claims of pro-homosexual groups that a resolution stating gender is based on biological facts is anti-science.

"People who actually undergo sex-reassignment surgery are still 19 times more likely to commit suicide," he notes. "If these were true remedies, you would expect people to undergo those procedures and suddenly find themselves at peace and healthy – right? And instead we see the exact opposite."

The pro-LGBT group Equality Kansas opposes the resolution, calling it "a cheap election year attack [against] those who do not fit inside the narrow world view of [Sam] Brownback, his family, and his wing of the Republican Party." Teetsel is the son-in-law of former Kansas Governor Sam Brownback.