RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper recently signed a proclamation marking “Gender Expansive Parents’ Day” to “honor” parents that don’t identify “exclusively as masculine and feminine.” The recognition has generated opposition from at least one Christian group in the state, which says that the decree undermines the God-designed roles of a father and mother.
“[A]ll parents, regardless of gestational relationship to a child, gender identity or gender expression, deserve to be celebrated for the love and nurturing they give to their children,” the Dec. 6 proclamation reads.
It states that at least two million U.S. children have a parent that is homosexual and that more than 400,000 children are in a foster home where one parent identifies as homosexual.
The declaration also claims that homosexuals are six times more likely to foster and four more times likely to adopt.
“[I]ncreasingly, many of these LGBTQ parents also exist outside a traditional gender binary,” the proclamation reads, explaining that terms such as “non-binary,” “gender expansive” and “agender” are used to refer to “a spectrum of gender identities that are not exclusively masculine or feminine.”
“[P]arenting for those who do not identify as mothers or fathers can be isolating due to lack of public parenting communities, adequate parenting support systems, healthcare disparities, and legal discrimination in adoption and child custody,” it states.
“[R]ecognition of the work and sacrifice of non-binary, agender, and other gender expansive parents, as well as that of other non-traditional primary caregivers is key to our efforts to create a more inclusive state,” the document reads. “[T]he State of North Carolina recognizes any supportive relationship that a child has with their parent and honors gender expansive parents.”
Cooper recommended that all North Carolinians observe the date.
According to reports, the proclamation was the brainchild of Rep. Vernetta Alston, D-Durham, a lesbian who is raising two children with another woman. She told The News & Observer that the day can serve for those who don’t fit into Mother’s Day or Father’s Day celebrations.
“I identify as female, but for me, in our life, for our kids, my wife is their mom,” explaining that she is recognized by the children on a different day than Mother’s Day. “Why should I, or anyone situated similarly, celebrate in isolation?”
However, Mark Creech, executive director of the Christian Action League, lamented the proclamation, calling it “a form of cultural heresy that works to undermine the nation’s core strength — the character of the family.”
“It [in essence] declares a mother or a father offers nothing uniquely beneficial to the care and development of a child,” he said. “Same-sex parenting purposely denies a child either a mother or a father. Moms and Dads are not interchangeable.”
“The home is our most important firewall against poverty, physical, mental, and emotional health issues, which, if compromised, only cost us billions of dollars in social welfare and law enforcement expenses,” Creech stated. “Only natural marriage and natural parenting can secure a healthy future for our children and civilization. By promoting this disinformation in a proclamation, we are setting this nation up for an incredible amount of harm.”
THE GOSPEL
As previously reported, while some view transgenderism and gender confusion as a medical condition, Christians believe the matter is also, at its root, a spiritual issue and a result of mankind’s fallen state.
The Bible teaches that all are born with the Adamic sin nature, having various inherent feelings and inclinations that are contrary to the law of God, and being utterly incapable of changing by themselves.
It is why Jesus came: to “save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).
Scripture outlines that Jesus came to be the propitiation for men’s sins (1 John 2:2; 1 John 4:10), a doctrine in Christianity known as substitutionary atonement, and to save men from the wrath of God for their violations against His law (Romans 4:25, Romans 5:9, Romans 5:16), a doctrine known as justification.
The Bible also teaches about regeneration, as in addition to sparing guilty men from eternal punishment, Christ sent his Holy Spirit to make those who would repent and believe the gospel new creatures in the here and now, with new desires and an ability to do what is pleasing in the sight of God by His indwelling and empowerment (Ezekiel 11:19, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Titus 3:5).
Jesus said that men must be born again, and have their very nature transformed by the Spirit from being in Adam to being in Christ, or they cannot see the Kingdom of God (John 3:3-8).
Ezekiel 36:26-27 states of this inner rebirth, “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments and do them.”
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