SB 150 attempts to restore balance and sanity in the classroom | Opinion
The hysterical reaction to Max Wise’s SB 150 highlights exactly why legal protections for pronoun dissent in the classroom are necessary. Opponents of the bill have made clear what should happen to you if you don’t fall in line with their gender ideology. Kentuckians should lose their job, become a social pariah, be unemployable and unable to feed their family, unless they submit.
This is especially concerning when some of the loudest detractors of the bill haven’t yet read it. It’s easy to find left-leaning teachers characterizing SB 150 as “don’t say gay” or claiming that chosen pronouns will be “practically illegal,” while also demanding we trust them with our children and give them a raise. SB 150 merely allowing other teachers a choice to affirm their own beliefs is met with dubious threats of suicide, a tactic we recognize as abuse in any other context, but one given a pass here when the abuser claims an identity, or to speak for an identity, of inherent moral worth in the popular culture.
This dysfunction keeps the left oblivious to the empathy of the right. Nobody wants more suicides. The issue, rather, is ultimate cause. Many on the right view transgenderism itself as the cause, and affirmation as a temporary fix instead of root solving. Therefore, the solution to suicidal transgender Kentuckians is not self-aggrandizing affirmation, but rather thankless, and often harshly resisted, mentorship and guidance on the realities of the lifestyle. In a similar vein, one might say Narcan reduces overdose death rates, but this isn’t an excuse to ignore fentanyl addiction and distribution in a community where you raise children or care about your neighbors.
The left’s propensity to blame also prevents any meaningful reflection and self-maintenance. A glance in the mirror might force one to grapple with the fact it’s a lie that our identity, sanity, and happiness as humans requires total affirmation from everyone; a lie that becomes insidious when foisted upon young people with no consideration of the costs. Once the lie has taken hold, it then yields adolescents who are incapable of dealing with the adversity of adult life. The lie exacerbates neuroticism in already vulnerable and unstable people struggling to find executive function and deep-rooted happiness.
But even so, SB 150 doesn’t reflect a desire from the right to legislate their beliefs onto you. On the contrary, it protects those that would dare keep their dignity by expressing a heretical thought in a climate where it is impermissible to do so. The off chance that this might positively impact a child and set them on a different path, or force scenarios where we figure out how to co-exist is a bonus, but not guaranteed.
Not content with allowing people their own beliefs, SB 150 detractors are already planning ways to circumvent the state and hold you accountable. A former teacher has taken to social media to call for comprehensive lists of teachers who “deadname” children or use the wrong pronoun, organized by state, school of employment, and published online. The formal term for this is doxing. Elsewhere, teachers can be found publicly wishing for vengeful medical procedures performed by transgender doctors on the Senators who sponsored the bill. At the time of publication, it is unclear whether these posts come with a matching voodoo doll.
When vitriol and toxic emotion dominate the public discourse, it is crucial for ordinary people to stand their ground and speak up. SB 150 is a welcome and long overdue attempt to restore balance and sanity in the classroom, from the perspective of minimizing the professional and financial damage that can accompany dissent. The left will always find new ways to hurt people they disagree with. But this is a good start.
Will Simpson is a retired GED Instructor, avid gardener and current biophiliac residing in Paducah, KY with his wife of 22 years. He can be reached at wsauer0003@gmail.com.