As a writer who is also a bullying prevention educator, I feel compelled to remind everyone that the notion that human gender falls on a spectrum is based on science. It’s a fact. In other words, it’s reality. The idea that gender is binary is not a fact. It’s not reality. It’s based on ideology or religion. Ideologies and religions that deny the reality of the gender spectrum include a few conservative Christian branches including Eastern Orthodox, Catholicism, and the SBC; the Salafi and Wahhabi Movements of Islam; Orthodox and Haredi Jews; and a few right-wing populist political parties, including the Republican Party in the USA, the Fidesz Party in Hungary, and the Law and Justice Party in Poland. The rest of the world accepts reality.

The history of the acceptance of differences in humans is filled with similar examples. Stuttering was once thought to be a sign of low intelligence or nervousness until science revealed that it was simply a speech disorder with genetic and neurological underpinnings. Children with dyslexia were once thought to be “slow” or “unintelligent” until science determined that it was due to a learning difference affecting language processing. Down syndrome was once thought to be a punishment for parental sin or a curse until science revealed that it is a difference caused by an extra chromosome 21. Black people were once thought to be the children of Ham, cursed by God, until science revealed that skin color is determined by variations in the levels of the chemical melanin, which all humans have.

If you feel the need to reject what science has confirmed about the gender spectrum being simply another difference in humans, ask yourself why you care about how another person identifies in terms of their gender. How that person identifies has no effect on you. However, your refusal to accept the reality of a whole segment of the human population and reject who they are has a negative effect on them. Those of us over the age of ten were taught as children that gender is binary, so the resistance to accepting this reality is understandable. But not accepting it causes harm to adults and children alike.

Try to remember the Golden Rule. Show a little empathy. If you believe in God, consider that you are rejecting part of His creation. The rest of the world is moving forward. We hope you’ll join us.