When North Carolina lawmakers passed the “Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act, in schools and government buildings people must use the bathroom that corresponds with their ‘biological sex,’” proponents and critics of the law have been involved in a public debate.
Often talking past one another, the stakes of the debate were just raised this week, as popular retail giant Target issued a statement saying people who self-identify as transgendered persons could use whatever restroom or fitting room they wish.
Target’s statement (read the full version here) said in part, “Inclusivity is a core belief at Target. … In our stores, we demonstrate our commitment to an inclusive experience in many ways. Most relevant for the conversations currently underway, we welcome transgender team members and guests to use the restroom or fitting room facility that corresponds with their gender identity.”
People I know, who do not want a biological male to be in the same dressing room or bathroom as women and girls, are cutting up their Target credit cards and swearing not to shop there again. Other people and individuals are applauding Target, and other corporations are sure to follow.
This public debate is getting ugly. People who support Target’s stance are accusing supporters of the “bathroom laws” as paranoid, discriminatory or worse.
Yet let’s look at some facts. Just last year, the University of Toronto had to walk back its policy of open gender-neutral bathrooms, after more than one voyeurism incident.
In the Christian worldview, we know that sex matters. God created men, and God created women (Genesis 1), and after sin came into the world, we have a fallen nature. The sexual drive is a powerful reality, and it must be checked and kept in proper boundaries.
For the better part of history, every civilization has known that bathing and dressing quarters must be separated by sex, because the sexual temptation to do wrong is so great.
In our age of political correctness and moral relativism, though, we are catering to a very small group of people and an ever-adapting worldview. Today, it’s bathrooms. Tomorrow, it could be dorm rooms. Where does it end?
Target’s policy is wrong and misguided, and there is a significant chance it will backfire in a way that even its supporters recognize, just as it has in Toronto and other places.
Until this grand social experiment with sexual identity ends, Christians will be in the minority view. Let’s pray that we can uphold the truth and decency, but in a way that when the experiment is over and the promises of the sexual revolution do not come fulfilled, that the church will be waiting to welcome them into the fold.
As Christians, we must be careful in our zeal for propriety and decency that we do not unnecessarily offend our neighbors who self-identify as transgendered. Just as God made male and female, He made us in His image and loves every sinner, every person in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Let’s not let Target’s tragic mistake get us off target from reaching our neighbors for Christ.