Geographically, Australia is the smallest and flattest continent on Earth. Being a continent, as long as we maintain a strong naval force, Australia is quite defensible militarily. But although the Australian Government has committed billions of dollars to protecting this land from military conquest, the same cannot be said for the efforts of the Australian people to fortify themselves from the woke ideological mind virus which has now conquered many Western nations. Although many may claim that the symptoms of this mind virus are asymptomatic, the truth is that our society has suffered immeasurably from its infection. Intolerance, violent activism, antisemitism, restrictions on free speech and radical gender ideology are just some of its symptoms. In short, wokeism has now morphed into the modern-day outworking of Marxist ideologies that attempt to destroy the foundational systems and beliefs of Western society.
In the case of radical gender ideology, a recent Australian case proves that we are a long way from erasing wokeism from our society. The case in question is the somewhat humorously named Federal Court of Australia case of Tickle v Giggle. That name is derived from the parties to the case. Roxanne Tickle is a transgender woman. Tickle was born male but after transitioning, was recognised as female under the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 2003 in my home state of Queensland. The defendant is Giggle for Girls Pty Ltd, a privately run company.
In 2021, Tickle downloaded the Giggle for Girls App. The app was designed as a safe place for women to connect, whether it was to find a rental partner, a job, some counselling or just somebody to talk to. As part of the app registration process, all new members were required to provide a digital photograph (“selfie”). The app developers utilised third-party artificial intelligence software designed to distinguish between men and women. The software was deliberately set to err on the side of caution – meaning it was more likely to approve users who self-identified as women during the registration process rather than excluding users that it may identify as men based on their selfie. Tickle was approved and had access to the app for a period of around 8 months. However, in late 2021 Tickle was suddenly blocked and could no longer use some of the app’s functions, such as post content, or read comments on posts made by other users. Cue lawsuit.
Tickle v Giggle is significant because it was the first case where the Court had been asked to decide if a transgender person can be protected from discrimination under the Sex Discrimination Act (SDA). The SDA includes terms for sex and gender identity but does not define either. The Federal government (under former Prime Minister Julia Gillard) removed the definition of sex (as being male and female) in 2013. Therefore, the very legislation that was originally enacted to protect men and women from discrimination was amended to remove men and women!
Social and political commentators were quick to catch on to this anomaly, rightfully asking how Tickle could possibly win a federal case by claiming to identify as a woman when women no longer exist in the law!? The answer came during a tense exchange in a Senate Estimates hearing when Australian Senator Malcolm Roberts went toe to toe with Sex Discrimination Commissioner Dr Anna Cody. Other than embarrassing herself through contradictory and nonsensical ramblings, Dr Cody revealed the nature of the woke academia’s thought process went it comes to gender identity - there are no longer any protections for males or females according to biological sex. Protection is only afforded to people identifying as male or female.
Robert Clarke, Director of Advocacy for Alliance Defending Freedom International commented on the case by saying: “In ruling that Tickle, a biological male, was a victim of discrimination when prevented from joining a woman’s app, the court has delivered an egregiously flawed judgment that removes protections for women. Contrary to what the judge held, sex is never changeable. The judgment is a severe setback for women and girls, failing to uphold the basic truth of biological reality - that men cannot become women. Tickle did not experience unjust discrimination, but was simply disqualified from membership on the Giggle app because he is not a woman.”
How do we address this Biblically? Firstly, we must hold true to Genesis 1:27. No desire, wish, courtroom judge, legislator or woke mind can alter God’s Word on this matter. As we know, our manhood or womanhood is not incidental - it has been given to us by God as a gift. How we use that gift is vitally important, because we are made for His glory. However, for those who hold a radical view when it comes to gender ideology, they see their body as a blank slate upon which they may draw any identity or self-expression. Use it, abuse it, tattoo it, massacre it – do whatever you want with it. That is the message of our society. Some would argue it is progressive. In actual fact, it is neo-pagan. As the pre-eminent scholar of British paganism professor Ronald Hutton put it, paganism is “a religion in which deities don’t make rules for humans or monitor their behaviour – humans are encouraged to develop their full potential”. However, mankind is not able to restore its full potential outside of a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. We pray that those who continue to push radical gender ideologies will come to know that.
Opmerkingen