Senator on gender crisis: Handle children with care and compassion

AN Independent Senator has called for children at the centre of the gender crisis controversy to be handled with care and compassion.

"I am suggesting that as we go forward and we think of how these children should be handled, they must be handled with care and compassion," Dr Maria Dillon-Remy said.

"We must value all people, including those who do not have the same ideas as you and me. The reason for that is even though they do not think that they are made in His image, that is who they are, and God expects that we treat them as such and that we must value all people."

Dillon-Remy, who is also a paediatrian, added that having done a lot of work with children with HIV, the youngsters faced discrimination and other problems.

She made the comments on September 7, at the Dr Levi Duncan Convention Centre, Edinburgh in Chaguanas where the Divine Encounter Fellowship Ministries International, in collaboration with the TT Council of Evangelical Churches, hosted the seminar titled The Gender Crisis: The Church's Response.

Dillon-Remy, who is a past president of the TT Medical Association (TTMA), gave her presentation via Zoom.

She called on parents and guardians to be alert to what their children are exposed to from the shows they look at and the books they read outside of school, which gives information about what is expected of their sex and gender.

"So it is important that we get the information right," Dillon-Remy said.

Dillon-Remy distinguished between gender and sex, saying in the grammatical sense from her understanding, there are the masculine, feminine, and neutral (for things) genders.

Sex is the biological and physiological differences; males have XY chromosomes and females XX.

She said international and intellectual organisations define gender as a social construct.

On evidence of gender theories and concepts, she cited a 2016 US special report on sexuality and gender orientation.

On sexual orientation, it says the understanding of sexual orientation is an innate, biologically fixed property of human beings and that the idea that people are "born that way" is not supported by scientific evidence.

It also says that compared to heterosexuals, non-heterosexuals are about two to three times as likely to have experienced childhood sexual abuse.

The authors also concluded that non-heterosexuals are at an elevated risk for a variety of adverse health and mental outcomes, and children are a special case when addressing transgender issues.

On the church's role in the gender crisis, she added, "Does the church only include the people on the pulpit, or does the church also include people in government? Are the people in government who are followers of Jesus Christ part of the church? Things like that we have to look."

She acknowledged that contrasting views with world organisations on the topic requires consistency, unity and vigilance of people.

She added, "As the truth is spoken, it must be spoken with courage and sensitivity."

Bishop Don Hamilton of the Pentecostal Assemblies of the West Indies (PAWI) said a point of concern for hosting seminars and workshops like the event cannot be that they are responding in the dark, meaning that members (internal) know what they are saying, and external people do not.

He said people are told that this is a plural society where conflicting views can coexist. He said the gender issue is not about pluralism. It is about replacement.

"In other words, we are not coexisting with you, we are about replacing your worldview."

He referred to Dr John Money, who performed a botched surgery on a boy who was raised as a girl. The boy was left without a penis.

Hamilton said in Money's thinking, gender was/is constructed.

At 38, the boy, who identified as a man, died by suicide.

"Money's experiment failed primarily because the boy came into consciousness that he was a boy and not a girl," Hamilton said.

He said gender is an overhauling, a revolution, a replacement. It is not coexisting side by side as we think.

He added there is a never-ending number of reported genders, up to 140.

Joseph Vernon Duncan, senior pastor of Divine Encounter Fellowship Ministries International, did not mince his words emphasising that there are only two sexes and genders.

He accused many world organisations of using their powers to manipulate society and come up with destructive things.

Based on the scriptures, Duncan said that the love of money is the root of all evil.

"Sex and gender presently are emotionally rooted and shrouded in mystery. It should not be. The average person is enthralled by mere reference to these terminologies," Duncan said.

"Young people are confused because of what has been pumped into their minds and now into their bodies. Gender is not a word to be incorporated into the nature of maleness or femaleness."

He further accused world powers of shifting people's attention, very subtly, from male-female disparity.

"They have gone to sex-gender disparity, so we do not pay attention to the real issue. They skillfully separated or tried to separate sex from gender. The science of biology affirms that there are only two human sexes or genders – male or female – corresponding with the Bible," Duncan said.

"Gone are the days when people criticise us for not being scientific enough. Where are those days? We need to bring them back because science is what rules the world. If you, with your fastness, could change the law of gravity, all of us would crash on the ground. Gravity remains where it is."

He added that God has kept it there and the intricacies of nature are kept intact.

"Yet, men who are supposed to be guided by science, are now living by philosophy and speculation and want us to adopt the same approach. No way! We have learned enough. Maybe they taught us too much," Duncan said.

"We do not accept sexual orientation as a proper terminology describing human beings. It is either a spiritual problem since it is not biologically driven or a psychological problem. The expression' sexual orientation' is a smokescreen aimed at diverting attention from the real issues."

He reiterated that gender came from grammar. "It is not something built into male-female nature. It is cosmetic and decorative."