OPINION:
Several years ago, I was meeting with the opinion page editor of a major newspaper. We were discussing the implications surrounding the redefinition of marriage, a subject raging at the time. I mentioned that adoption by same-sex couples would deliberately deprive children of both a male and female parent, a reality that was sociologically shown to harm a child’s development on numerous levels.
The bespectacled newspaperman shrugged and explained that in the quest to expand so-called homosexual rights, it seemed children would be necessary collateral damage in the all-out battle to revolutionize and redefine sexual freedom.
The coldness with which he said it was jarring. Yet that same iciness has surfaced again with the Biden administration announcing that schools may forfeit lunch funding if they refuse to expand Title IX to include protection of transgender students.
Title IX dates to 1972 and prohibits discrimination based on sex in federally funded education programs.
Mischief makers at the U.S. Department of Agriculture have attempted to usurp that authority of Congress by demanding Title IX be reinterpreted.
“USDA is committed to administering all its programs with equity and fairness and serving those in need with the highest dignity,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said last year. “A key step in advancing these principles is rooting out discrimination in any form — including discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.”
Earlier this fall, a Senate resolution intended to strike down the Biden administration’s dangerous overreach received bipartisan support but was defeated by three votes. Thankfully, the fight is far from over.
What the USDA and the Biden administration are trying to do is well beyond the department’s scope. But then threatening to cut funding for children’s food is devious and manipulative — an “ends justify the means” kind of move.
In essence, poor students are now more “necessary collateral damage” in this runaway sexual revolution. With these new guidelines, the USDA has basically adopted the stance of an abusive, domineering parent who says, “Obey me, or you won’t get any lunch!”
Thankfully, many states are standing up against this egregious governmental overreach. In fact, 22 states sued the Biden administration over the new USDA rules, arguing that they “inappropriately expand the law far beyond what statutory text, regulatory requirements, judicial precedent, and the U.S. Constitution permit.”
Decisions in various courts have been mixed, setting up the inevitable likelihood the issue will eventually find its way to the Supreme Court. Sarah Perry, with our friends at The Heritage Foundation, summed up the situation.
“The president is keen to expand the definition of sex in any way that he can, especially in the context of public education,” she said. “They are content putting reduced lunch programs on the chopping block for kids — many of whom are minorities — who maybe only get one hot meal a day.”
When will the madness end? We’re talking about school lunches for kids. Is the Biden administration really prepared to let underprivileged students go hungry if their school isn’t willing to hire transgender teachers or indoctrinate students with pro-LGBTQ ideology? Sadly, it would seem so.
But here is the real bottom line. The weaponization of Title IX isn’t just about the ongoing expansion of the sexual revolution, nor is the real threat over lunch. What’s at stake are our children’s hearts and minds.
Bureaucrats and bullies appear determined to force their agenda on unsuspecting or unwilling parents and children. We cannot stand idly by and let it happen.
• Jim Daly is president of Focus on the Family.
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