How far is this madness going to go? It started with the increasingly common assumption that newborn babies are “assigned” a gender at birth, as if doing so were an arbitrary bureaucratic process that could often be erroneous. Now the Pennsylvania state Office of Child Development and Early Learning is going even farther, requiring social workers to report on the gender identity of newborns: forms now ask whether the baby is Male, Female, or “Gender Non-Binary.” How on God’s weary earth is a social worker supposed to be able to tell whether or not a tiny just-born baby is a budding Rachel Levine? The Pennsylvania Office of Child Development and Early Learning did not deign to explain that little detail.
This outrageously woke nest of Leftist bureaucrats, which, according to a Friday report in the Washington Free Beacon, “funds health and social programs for young children,” has scrapped that tired old male/female sex distinction. Among the information it now requires on its data collection forms about newborn babies and their “caregivers” is the “gender” of both the caregivers and the child, and it offers the possibility of marking the child as “Gender Non-Binary.”
Asking about this for those who are taking care of the child is one thing, but for the infant himself or herself or itself? That is indeed the requirement, as one Pennsylvania social worker explained: “I have to ask clients, ‘Is your 10-day-old male, female, or nonbinary?'” Residually recognizing how ridiculous this woke fantasy must appear to still-normal people, Ali Fogarty, the communications director for Pennsylvania’s Department of Human Services, of which the Office of Child Development is a part, denied what is as plain as the nose on your face: “This is a field for data collection,” Fogarty insisted. “There is no directive or expectation that parents be verbally or explicitly asked if their children are nonbinary.”
Fogarty was being a bit Bidenesque here, that is, not exactly honest, for the form itself, which is headed “Office of Child Development and Early Learning/Family Supports/Family Support Program Data System/Data Collection Forms,” couldn’t be clearer. Under the heading “Child’s Gender,” it offers three choices, and three choices only: Male, Female, and “Gender Non-Binary (includes enrolled participants who do not identify as either male or female, which may include participants who identify as gender non-binary and/or genderqueer).”
How does one tell if a newborn infant is “Gender Non-Binary”? Is the hapless newborn supposed to reach out and grasp the rainbow flag, or that weird blue-and-pink trans one? Are females (yes) supposed to show a predilection for cigar-smoking and bowling night out with the boys? Are baby boys (again, no apologies) supposed to express a desire to become champion swimmers even if their abilities in the pool are only mediocre? How is all this supposed to be communicated?
This form makes it abundantly clear that this whole gender madness is based on superstition and hysteria, and not on “The Science” that the Left professes to revere. In addition to that, the form is also nothing less than a recruitment tool. The Pennsylvania social worker observed that “these questions plant the seed in parents,” and that is likely what they’re intended to do. Then the most woke among them can start their toddler on the path to “gender dysphoria” and trans madness. The parents can preen about how open-minded and forward-thinking they are, and the child, having grown up with the idea that he or she was “trans,” will have no ability to refuse what is being done to his or her body.
Related: Experts: There Is No Biological Evidence for ‘Gender Identity’
Through it all, the Office of Child Development will be there to help. It has, says the Free Beacon, “gone all in on that project of legitimization. Its data collection guide lists several ‘resources’ that home visitors can use to familiarize themselves with gender identity—including the now-infamous ‘gender unicorn’ diagram, which describes ‘agender,’ ‘bigender,’ and ‘two-spirit’ as examples of ‘the many genders.’” As if all that weren’t enough, “the list also includes a guide to ‘being an ally’ to ‘nonbinary young people,’ as well as the website pronouns.org, which warns against making ‘assumptions about the gender of another person’ based on the person’s ‘appearance or name.’”
Why, yes, heavens to Betsy, we must avoid that at all costs. Destroying children physically and emotionally, mutilating their bodies, and making adolescent confusion about their identity into a lifelong affliction — all that is not only fine, it’s cutting-edge wokeness. But “misgendering” the hacked-to-pieces and stitched-together victims of this monstrous lie and deception? That’s the real evil, according to Pennsylvania’s monstrous Office of Child Development.
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