In the midst of our dangerous, steady descent into cultural madness, there are signs of encouragement as well. The morally-based, rationally-grounded resistance is rising. More and more people are saying enough is enough. Even the liberal media is giving voice to this dissent.

But this is what many of us have been expecting for years, knowing that the cultural radicals would overplay their hand. A push-back has been inevitable, as witnessed by these recent examples.

First, consider this op-ed published May 24 in USA Today by Chelsea Mitchell, titled, “I was the fastest girl in Connecticut. But transgender athletes made it an unfair fight.”

She explains that, despite being ranked the fastest 55-meter female runner in her state, time after time, she has been losing big races. Why? It’s because she is now racing against biological males.

As she wrote, “I’ve lost four women’s state championship titles, two all-New England awards, and numerous other spots on the podium to transgender runners. I was bumped to third place in the 55-meter dash in 2019, behind two transgender runners. With every loss, it gets harder and harder to try again.”

This is as outrageous as it is unfair, and soon enough, it will reach the breaking point as the world’s best female athletes lose to mediocre male athletes who identify as female.

Will the next Olympic games (if they’re held soon, despite the COVID outbreak in Japan) mark that breaking point? Either way, it is coming.

Second, there are now so many young adults regretting their decision to become transgender that the last episode of Sixty Minutes devoted time to the subject of “detransitioning.”

In response to this powerful segment, one which goes against the normal, trans-celebratory mood of the liberal media, Keira Bell tweeted, “I stand behind you all, I could see how difficult that was for you all to speak on. Honest, raw and powerful. I can only hope that viewers will pay attention and read between the lines. Stop the lies.” (For Bell’s own moving story of detransitioning, see here.)

Naturally, trans-activists and their allies are upset with Sixty Minutes for airing these stories. But you can be sure of this: if there were not a lot of young people regretting the tragic, life-altering decisions they made, Sixty Minutes would not have offered such a sympathetic treatment.

In February of this year, Newsweek printed the gut-wrenching story of Scott Newgent, herself a female to male  (FTM) transgender. The op-ed was titled, “We Need Balance When It Comes To Gender Dysphoric Kids. I Would Know.”

Newgent ended the article with this powerful plea: “I am currently building a bipartisan army to protect our children, hold the medical industry accountable and educate our president and the rest of society about the dangers of transgender extremism. We must throw our differences aside for a moment; I promise you, once children are safe, we can resume fighting. But until children are safe, nothing else matters.”

Newgent and I have since interacted several times, since she is totally serious about working together across ideological lines for the good of these children. The diverse coalition is growing.

What is tragic, though, is that it took two years for Newgent to find a major, secular publication willing to carry her well-documented article. What is positive is that Newsweek did decide to publish it. These stories must be told and will be told. As a result, the push-back will only intensify.

Fourth, a retired professor has been removed from an American Psychological Association email discussion group after challenging the idea that there are more than two biological sexes.

As reported by College Fix, “John Staddon, an emeritus professor of psychology and neuroscience at Duke University, was taken off the Society for Behavioral Neuroscience and Comparative Psychology Division 6 listserv overseen by the APA. (This group is devoted to “studying the biology of behavior. Their focus is on behavior and its relation to perception, learning, memory, cognition, motivation, and emotion.”)

As Staddon explained, “This incident just illustrates the current inability of some scientific communities to tolerate dissent about issues related to sex and race. Psychology and sociology seem to be especially flawed in this respect.”

According to Staddon, what likely got him taken off was this post: “Hmm… Binary view of sex false? What is the evidence? Is there a Z chromosome?”

What? Only two biological sexes? Heresy! Ban him!

You can read Staddon’s actual exchange with the APA oversight for yourself and draw your own conclusions. The evidence is fairly straightforward, and the extreme bias against rational thinking is on full display.

But, as Ben Shapiro has often reminded us, facts don’t care about your feelings. And as Ryan Anderson and others have pointed out, biology is not bigotry. Reality cannot be denied for long.

Soon enough, more and more fair-minded Americans will say, “I did not sign up for this,” realizing that the slippery slope we warned about is much steeper than they realized.

They wanted to see equality and tolerance. Instead, they ended up with the destruction of the very foundations of our society, not to mention a new, oppressive Big Brother ruling the day.

So, the hour is urgent, and the sooner this cultural shift happens, the better. This is not a game we can afford to play for long.

At the same time, as our nation begins to regain its sanity, with God’s help, let it be with greater compassion for those who do struggle. Standing for what is right and true and best does not mean hating those who perceive things differently.

Let us, then, commit to doing the right thing, and at the same time, let us commit to showing mercy on those who are hurting. On with the truth-based, love-empowered cultural revolution.

This article was originally published at AskDrBrown.org.

As the social media giants continue to crack down on those who violate their trans-activist talking points (see here and here), another perspective has been raised from an unexpected source. I’m talking about a powerful, deeply moving article posted in Newsweek and titled, “We Need Balance When It Comes To Gender Dysphoric Kids. I Would Know.”

The author of the op-ed is Scott Newgent, self-described as “a 48-year-old transgender man.” What Newgent has written is courageous, deeply revealing, poignant, and accurate.

Perhaps others will now heed these urgent warnings, since those of us on the conservative Christian side who have been presenting similar cases have been largely ignored to this day.

Six years ago, Newgent was told by the medical community that she could turn from a woman into a man. But, Newgent adds, “all the negatives were glossed over.”

As a result, “I have suffered tremendously, including seven surgeries, a pulmonary embolism, an induced stress heart attack, sepsis, a 17-month recurring infection, 16 rounds of antibiotics, three weeks of daily IV antibiotics, arm reconstructive surgery, lung, heart and bladder damage, insomnia, hallucinations, PTSD, $1 million in medical expenses, and loss of home, car, career and marriage. All this, and yet I cannot sue the surgeon responsible—in part because there is no structured, tested or widely accepted baseline for transgender health care.”

Most of us cannot imagine this kind of trauma, let alone imagine telling a story like this to the whole world.

Yet, because it comes from the mouth of a biological female who now identifies as a male, the author can hardly be called transphobic. Plus, this op-ed was published in Newsweek rather than in a Focus on the Family magazine.

Unfortunately, when Christian conservatives have stated these same facts, we have been branded hateful and bigoted and transphobic. Not only so, but when former transgenders like Walt Heyer or Laura Perry tell their own, agonizing (yet redemptive) stories, they too are branded hateful and bigoted. (To see their stories for yourself, watch this free documentary. You won’t regret taking the time. You can also visit the SexChangeRegret website for more.)

But it is love and truth that caused Newgent to write, not hate. As Newgent states, “It is not transphobic or discriminatory to discuss this—we as a society need to fully understand what we are encouraging our children to do to their bodies.”

That’s why Abigail Shrier wrote her important book Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters, named a book of the year by The Economist and one of the best books of 2021 by The Times and The Sunday Times.

The alarm must be sounded. The warning must be issued. Not only are adults destroying their bodies and their lives, but our children are doing so as well. Doesn’t love compel us to speak?

Consequently, when Amazon refused to allow Shrier’s publisher to advertise the book on their site (sell it, yes, but advertise it, no), wasn’t it Amazon, not the publisher, that displayed dangerous bias?

Newgent, who previously identified as a lesbian, experienced many doubts about the transitioning process. But rather than the professionals slowing down the transition process, they all encouraged her to keep going. This is just what you need!

To the contrary, the surgeries and drugs took a terrible toll on Newgent, who found no real help in the medical world that was so quick to recommend her transition.

“During my post-operation 17 months of sheer survival,” Newgent writes, “I discovered that transgender health care is experimental and that large swaths of the medical industry encourage minors to transition due, at least in part, to fat profit margins.”

Yet those of us who seek to raise a cautionary flag, those of us who say, “Slow down! Let’s see if you can be helped from the inside out,” are branded the haters and the transphobes. How can this be?

I urge everyone reading this article to take the time to read every word of Newgent’s op-ed. A summary cannot begin to do justice to her journey, from the physical pain to the emotional agony to the devastating losses to the list of negative consequences.

In fact, everyone considering “transitioning” should memorize this list of 13 potential consequences. It begins with “decreased life expectancy” and includes “no improved mental health outcomes.” To call it sobering would be a gross understatement. Remarkably, after citing examples from other countries which are rethinking their approach to sex-change surgery and treatments, Newgent writes,

“We now have the obligation to work together to slow trans medicalization of minors until they are adults and have the capacity to truly understand the lifelong consequences of transitioning. As a former lesbian and current trans man, I maintain this is not transphobic. It is actually sensitive and caring to recognize that not just one treatment or pathway is right for all kids.”

But of course. It is love that has motivated many of us to call for this very slow down – in particular, love for the children. (You can see for yourself how my call for this on Tyra Banks was received over 10 years ago.)

Newgent closes with this:

“So, endocrinologists and pediatricians, moderate Democrats and moderate Republicans, radical feminists and evangelicals, lawyers and psychologists, parents and teachers: My hand is out. I will grab yours and turn down no one. Together, we can build a circle around our most precious resource: our children. Help me fulfill the promise I made on the night I almost gave up, to be here for my children—and now yours. Who’s with me?”

As a conservative evangelical, I say to Scott Newgent: for this cause, I am with you. Let’s do something to stop the madness. Let’s put the children first. And if I can be of help to you in any personal level as you work through your own journey, count me in.

This article was originally published at AskDrBrown.org.