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| Elliot Page (Women’s Health Magazine) |
I admit being conflicted by the increasing phenomenon of transsexuals changing their gender. On the one hand I completely understand the desire to live as the gender in which one identifies. It must be excruciating to live a lie just because you were born a certain way. This issue was exquisitely addressed in a lecture by Rabbi Efren Goldberg a while back. He said that this phenomenon is far more common among Orthodox Jews than anyone could have ever imagined. His sympathetic portrait of transgender people is a lesson in Jewish tolerance we would all do well to follow.
And yet, as Rabbi Goldberg clearly stated the idea of physically changing one’s sex from male to female or vice versa is strictly forbidden by Halacha. As is hormone therapy and cross dressing for that purpose even without surgery. Considering that the suicide rate of transgender people is so high, it is not a simple matter for a rabbi to advice a transsexual person how to deal with it.
This does not seem to be the case in general society. Transgender people are embraced with sympathy and love - and treated as fully equal to the rest of us. At least that’s how the mainstream media and Hollywood portrays it. To them it is simple moral issue. Treat people the way they want to be treated. Religious issues are irrelevant.
The media and entertainment industry are very influential; their argument pretty reasonable. I believe that if a survey were conducted on this issue the response of the public would reflect that. On the other hand I also believe that it is difficult for a lot of people to wrap their heads around the idea that one cannot identify as the gender in which they were born - to such an extent that they would rather die than continue to live that way. Add to that the surgery involved – and that makes it doubly perplexing and difficult to accept. I must admit having the same thoughts – even while understanding how difficult it actually is for them.
But in a world that has tilted leftward those feelings are ignored. As are any religious reservations about it. Live and let live supersedes religious values. Transsexuals have been granted the same civil rights protections as any other minority.
On the surface that seems fair. But for Orthodox Jews it might present a problem. When Halacha forbids something, how society feels about it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t even matter how we feel about it. When a transgender person asks an Orthodox Jewish urologist to perform sex reassignment surgery - there is a conflict of interests. On the one hand denying them would be a denial of their civil rights. On the other hand forcing an Orthodox Jewish urologist to perform the surgery would violate his religious rights.
Until recently, the courts have heavily favored civil rights over religious rights. I understand that in some cases a religious right should give way to a civil right. Just to take an extreme example, if a religion practiced human sacrifice, the civil rights of a human being to live obviously outweighs that religious right to sacrifice him. But there is a lot of grey in other areas of conflict between the two rights. Like the case of an Orthodox Jewish doctor being asked to perform sex reassignment surgery.
The idea that sex reassignment surgery is just another medical procedure does not sit well with me. And yet it is the hallmark of liberalism to see it that way in a world where personal freedom trumps everything else - as long as it doesn’t hurt others.
This is this direction the country was going. And it might explains why so many religious people voted for Trump. Orthodox Jews included.
Apparently the citizens in this country are not as liberal as the media would have us believe. Those who voted for Trump believed his policies with respect to religious rights protected their values. They therefore voted for him regardless of his persoonal character or other polices of his with which they might have disagreed or even abhorred. Religious values are a strong motivating factor for religious people. That should be obvious. And could very well be one reason - perhaps THE reason - Trump got so many votes.
Rabbi Avi Shafran makes this point in his latest Forward article. And he is no fan of the President. Religious people saw the direction of a country seeming to embrace a culture of liberalism that has increasingly been veering away from religious values in favor of secular ones. It was not lost on them that the Supreme Court was going in that direction too - until it was reversed by the President. By adding three socially conservative justices, religious values will certainly get a fairer hearing. This also might help explain why Democrats lost some seats in the house and may very well retain the senate.
The media’s strong liberal bias has apparently not had the impact on the public they thought it did. Nor did the entertainment industry. About half the country has rejects it. Not everyone thinks the way they do. There are a lot more social conservatives than they thought. And they came out in droves to be heard. As far as Orthodox Jews are concerned, that is a good thing. The country may not going to hell in a handbasket after all. At least not yet.
My hope is that Joe Biden and the Democratic Party take note of this and put the brakes on their liberal tilt. I join Rabbi Shafran in noting that if President elect Joe Biden really wants to unite the country as he says he does, he will have to reckon with this. And select at least a few people to serve in his administration that have conservative principles. That would be a good start towards unifying the nation.