In a recently approved rule package for the 117th Congress, passed along partisan lines, the House of Representatives has House adopted “gender-neutral” language in the name of “diversity and inclusion.” The document removes sex-specific terms, replacing words like “father” and “mother” with “parent,” “aunt” and “uncle” with “parent’s sibling” and so on, attempting to erase the way that the differences between the sexes shape these relationships.
The push for “gender-neutral” language matters because words are never “just” words. Words are how we communicate with and about the world around us, and it’s important that the words we use tell the truth about the world. If they don’t, then we put ourselves at odds with reality. Insisting on “gender-neutral” language implies that humans are essentially “gender-neutral.” This simply is not the case. A person’s “true self” cannot be separated from their biological sex. To be a human is to have a body and to have a body is to be either male or female. We cannot deny this without denying reality itself.
The distinctions between fathers and mothers, uncles and aunts, brothers and sisters, and husbands and wives exist because the differences between men and women are real. And not only are they real, they are a wonderful and essential part of how God designed the world and they shape our relationships. Mothers are not fathers and fathers are not mothers because only women can fulfill the unique calling of motherhood and only fathers can fulfill the unique calling of fatherhood. When we replace words like “mother” and “father” with “gender neutral” language, we overlook the fact that mothers and fathers interact with their children in different ways that play a vital role in a child’s wellbeing.
As The Colson Center’s John Stonestreet has observed on numerous occasions, if ideas have consequences, bad ideas have victims. Sex denialism is an ideology that has victims and is at odds with human flourishing because it denies basic aspects of what it is to be human. Denying the difference between mothers and fathers denies the fact that children need both and will face struggles when that need is not met. Refusing to recognize the differences between the sexes also makes it impossible to protect safety and privacy in settings such as locker rooms, changing rooms, and restrooms, or to maintain fairness and opportunity in women’s sports. In each of these instances, human dignity is under attack.
God did not design humans as generic, sexless creatures, but as male and female, uniquely reflecting his glory. If we lose sight of this truth, we will fail to properly understand what it is to be human, and if we fail to understand what it is to be human, we will make it all but impossible to uphold human dignity and build a healthy society where people flourish.
The words that we use matter because truth matters. Male and female are not a matter of personal opinion or preference. They are essential realities, and the way we speak ought to reflect this. Furthermore, in order to be just, our laws should reflect the reality of the world as God has designed it, including the reality that humans are created as either male or female. We cannot hope to see laws that upheld human dignity when our lawmakers fail to grasp fundamental truths about what it is to be human. Sadly, the rules adopted by the House obscure the truth about human sexuality, and by accepting them, Congress has created a hurdle for themselves as they attempt to make laws that uphold human flourishing, therefore doing a great disservice to the people they are supposed to serve and represent.
