Fox Business reported that Elon Musk quietly reinstated the misgendering policy at X (Twitter), saying it was only for “repeated, targeted harassment.” The policy says it will “reduce the visibility of posts that purposefully use different pronouns to address someone other than what that person uses for themselves, or that use a previous name that someone no longer goes by as part of their transition.”
Musk’s decision is a small but significant step towards normalizing transgender protections that put Christians and others who refuse to comply at risk. While X’s policy protects transgender persons from repeated, targeted harassment, it’s open to interpretation. As it stands, Christians who consistently live their faith by compassionately engaging the transgender community according to a Biblical concept of binary gender would be guilty of repeated violations.
The transgender community created a series of novel pronouns to identify a person’s gender identity. They believe gender is a concept society creates that people adopt based on their feelings and preferences. Since gender isn’t defined by biology, people transition between male, female, or a combination without changing their appearance, which makes it impossible to identify a person’s gender based on the way they look.
The community created specific pronouns to help people recognize a person’s place on the gender spectrum, and they expect the world to use them without exception. Misgendering occurs when someone fails to use a person’s preferred pronouns. The transgender community claims this causes significant harm and violence against the transgender individual.
Federal, State, and local governments, corporations, school districts, and organizations developed laws and guidelines requiring people to use preferred pronouns, including increasing fines for repeat offenders and even jail time for failure to pay. The legal cost to fight any infraction can be staggering, bankrupting families and businesses in protracted fights that last for years.
Preferred pronouns are a severe challenge to Christians. Using preferred pronouns validates a movement that defies religious truth and the overwhelming facts of biology, placing women at risk by providing men access to women’s protected spaces. It’s a significant acceptance of policies that overturn our Biblical understanding of gender and family that’s been the foundation of Western civilization. Even small acts of capitulation establish transgenderism as the paradigm for gender and sexuality in America.
Preferred pronoun laws set a dangerous precedent establishing compelled speech that forces Christians and others to speak words that violate their religious beliefs. They would be guilty of misgendering every time they compassionately engage people consistent with Biblical truth using pronouns that align with a person’s biology.
Musk’s policy has a “feel-good” veneer as it serves to protect the transgender community from “repeated, targeted harassment.” It is well-intentioned on one level; no one should be mocked or harassed. But the policy, taken on its merit, frames Christians and conservatives as guilty of misgendering when they live by their convictions.
Since Musk’s rule makes no distinctions between individuals who intentionally target transgenders from Christians who live by faith using Biblically appropriate pronouns. It’s a matter of interpretation for X’s elites.
@LibsOfTikTok’s Chaya Raichik hammered Musk on this point by asking if she would be suspended or shadow banned for her continued refusal to use preferred pronouns. Musk responded, “This is just about repeated, targeted harassment of a particular person.” Since X is a privately held company, one can assume it will follow Musk’s interpretation at any given moment.
Progressives and Leftists adopted a strategy of slow incremental change called the “long march” (is this an actual movement or something you made up?) through major institutions to transform America. The revolutionaries of yesterday are now judges, school superintendents and board members, college presidents, and corporate board members who made small, seemingly insignificant changes to our laws, policies, and curriculums. They quietly established social justice initiatives and Marxist principles throughout society. These changes have accumulated over time to become a potent force for social change that has profoundly shifted American culture. Judging by the acceptance of kindergarten drag queen story hours and now penalties for misgendering, it’s been a highly effective strategy.
Musk’s policy reversal is one more small step. It reveals a growing sentiment that is sympathetic to policies that protect transgenderism, and effectively criminalizes those who live by their religious principles. Misgendering policies are a small step in establishing gender identity as a human right that deserves protection equal to race or disability. The consequences are massive if they achieve their goal.
If transgenderism becomes a fundamental human right, churches, Christian ministries, businesses, and other faith organizations could not refuse to hire transgender people based on religious objections. It would be considered the same as refusing to hire someone simply because they were black. Christians would be required to use preferred pronouns and provide unlimited access to bathrooms and other protected spaces for the transgender community. Religious exemptions will not apply.
It’s not as far off as many might think. Transgender protections are emerging across many state, local, and federal agencies.
Currently, the Federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recommends that preferred pronouns be used in every workplace in America, and misgendering creates a harmful work environment subject to fines and legal action. Most federal agencies enforce the same policy as states, cities, and local municipalities adopt similar guidelines.
Indiana State Child Services recently removed a transgender child from a Catholic couple’s home because they did not affirm their son’s gender identity, choosing to raise him according to his biblical gender. Indiana CPS prioritized “gender-affirming care” over personal religious convictions when evaluating parent fitness. Policies that were unthinkable before COVID-19 are now a reality.
Christians and conservatives must understand that small victories add to revolutionary transformations that make it impossible to have the freedom of religion our country enjoyed for 200 years. We must never again underestimate the power of incremental change.
