Roy Eappen
Dr Roy Eappen is a practicing endocrinologist and senior fellow at Do No Harm.
Here’s a story you probably haven’t heard about the Nov 3 election results: Radical gender ideology lost. Badly.
This reality has been overlooked in virtually all the coverage of the Republican bloodbath in House, Senate, and gubernatorial races. It’s true that Democrats romped to victory across the board, including in many races where their chances looked slim as recently as a few weeks ago. It’s also true that the new crop of elected Democrats still broadly embraces the most extreme gender ideology, especially when it comes to children.
Yet in three blue and purple states, gender ideology was explicitly on the ballot, and voters sided with common sense and protecting children. This story deserves more attention because it shows that Democrats are out of touch with a large percentage of their own voters.
Take the bluest state with a ballot measure based on common sense – Washington state.
Initiative 638 sought to prohibit biological boys from competing in girls’ sports at the K-12 level. It also aimed to require documentation from healthcare providers about athletes’ sex. The Democratic Party broadly opposes these protections, but voters in Washington came out in support. While the final tally hasn’t been released, the current result is that 56 per cent of voters approved the ballot measure. Only 43 per cent voted against it.
It’s a similar story in Arizona – a purple state that’s been trending bluer in recent elections.
In the Grand Canyon State, Proposition 318 would restrict school bathrooms and locker rooms based on a person’s biological sex. It would also limit children to playing on the right school sports teams. Lo and behold, nearly 60 per cent of Arizona voters sent gender ideology down to defeat.
Then there’s Colorado, a blue state where voters weighed in on two separate ballot measures.
The first – Proposition 134 – was also about limiting children to sports teams based on biological sex. It would also require schools and athletic associations to designate sports teams as male, female, or co-ed. As of this writing, the ballot measure is on track to pass with 52 per cent support.
The second ballot measure – Proposition 135 – would prohibit all sex-change surgeries for children. The goal was to protect children from invasive and irreversible procedures while their minds and bodies are still developing. The current results show that about 52 per cent of Colorado voters voted to keep these vulnerable kids safe.
These three blue-to-purple states weren’t the only ones to vote on child gender ideology. So did Nebraska, where a school sports ballot measure passed overwhelmingly, with close to 70 per cent support. Missouri voters also had the chance to prohibit sex-change procedures for children, but Amendment 3 fell short of passing. Yet the amendment also dealt with abortion access – an issue that probably motivated more people to vote against it. Had Missouri voters weighed in solely on banning child sex-change procedures, it’s highly likely they would have come down in favor.
The widespread victory of common sense is worth celebrating. Yet it should also spur people on both sides of the aisle to demand that more Democrat politicians reflect the public’s will. The liberal candidates who swept so many House and Senate races are, broadly speaking, out of step with the American people on this pivotal issue. In all likelihood, when they take office in January, they’ll even try to pass legislation that subjects more children to the demands of radical gender ideology.
Few things would be more foolish. Democrats were swept into power on Nov. 3 by voter dissatisfaction with many things. Yet if they prioritize gender ideology, they’ll surely provoke a public backlash from across the political spectrum. That’s a crucial, if unreported, takeaway from the election results. Now it’s even more crucial that our elected leaders rally behind the bipartisan and common-sense cause of protecting children.
This article was originally published by RealClearPolitics and made available via RealClearWire.
