Gender is more than just what we think

Since when has the obvious not been obvious anymore? Recently, we have seen in the news and in popular culture the notion that gender is somehow decided by individuals based on how they identify themselves. The Fox television series “Glee” featured a character who thought of himself as a woman and was encouraged by other characters on the show to live as such. “Gender identity” has been equated with other nondiscriminatory factors such as sexual orientation, religion, ethnic background, etc.

My question is when can we start to make race a personal opinion? If men or women can identify themselves as the opposite sex, what is to stop a black person from identifying himself or herself as white, or vice versa? Or maybe we can claim what our hair color, weight or height is based on our own preferences? A person may literally be a 5-foot-6, 120-pound Hispanic female, but could claim to be a 6-foot-2 black male weighing, well ... you get the idea.

My point is the line has to be drawn somewhere. The idea that such an overtly obvious thing such as gender can be altered to whatever someone thinks they should have been born as is completely ludicrous and sets a very dangerous precedent, while diminishing the very real value of men and women have in society.

Steve Howard

Schaumburg