{"id":42377,"date":"2013-02-23T00:14:18","date_gmt":"2013-02-23T07:14:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/?p=42377"},"modified":"2014-12-30T00:54:04","modified_gmt":"2014-12-30T07:54:04","slug":"hey-maryland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2013\/02\/hey-maryland.html","title":{"rendered":"Hey Maryland!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

A Marylander writes:<\/p>\n

I live in the nutty state of Maryland, and since we already deconstructed marriage last year, this year some members of our senate propose that everyone gets to choose their own gender, as you can see below (I choose butter pecan!).<\/p>\n

I have been very interested in the whole women in combat proposition and am trying to take this proposal to the logical conclusions. I guess this would mean that any man who decides he\u2019s a woman would not have to sign up for Selective Service (I would be cool with that, actually), and now any woman could declare her manhood and join the infantry\u2013at least in the Maryland National Guard. Right?!<\/p>\n

Our (\u201cCatholic\u201d) Governor, Martin O\u2019Malley, who had also been the mediocre mayor of Baltimore, is likely being groomed for a shot at the Presidency someday. Like any good Maryland progressive, he has signed on to everything morally twisted that has reached his desk. We are praying that he and our legislators will consider some of the points below (transgendered men changing openly in public bathrooms\u2013a friend of mine has already experienced this, and the manager did NOTHING) and that the desires of a few will not override the rights of Marylanders to raise their children safely in an increasingly coarse environment.<\/p>\n

Please ask your readers to call, or at least to pray for our state.<\/p>\n

PS I fully expect to be able to declare pets as \u201cpersons\u201d \u2014 dependents on my Maryland tax bills in the next several years. Why not?! I just have a gut feeling. (In that case, our kids just might get a dog\u2026.)<\/p>\n

****<\/p>\n

Senate Bill 449 would remove male and female as the two forms of being human and replace that with a self-determined gender identity. According to the bill: \u201cGENDER IDENTITY\u201d MEANS A GENDER\u2013RELATED IDENTITY, APPEARANCE, EXPRESSION, OR BEHAVIOR OF AN INDIVIDUAL REGARDLESS OF THE INDIVIDUAL\u2019S ASSIGNED SEX AT BIRTH. <\/strong>In other words, under this bill, men can claim a female identity and must be allowed into women\u2019s restrooms and locker rooms. <\/strong>Businesses cannot prevent employees from dressing as another gender at work.<\/p>\n

For an inside picture of transgenderism, read<\/a> this story of a former transgender person<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

This bill, SB 449, deceptively titled \u201cFairness for All Marylanders<\/a>\u201dLink<\/a>, would make it illegal to discriminate based on \u201cGender Identity\u201c. Gender Identity Disorder, also known as Transgenderism and historically considered a mental disorder, is being recategorized in the new manual on mental health. . Link<\/a> and Link<\/a>. While individuals who suffer from gender confusion should be treated with compassion, their confusion should not be codified into law as normal.<\/p>\n

This bill<\/p>\n