Yet again, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has proven it cares more about its agenda of social engineering than carrying out its role as an impartial arbiter of justice according to the rule of law.
With all the media coverage, there’s little chance you’ve missed the story: Mason “Adree” Edmo must be provided sex reassignment surgery by Idaho Department of Corrections, a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit ruled last week.
The panel agreed with a district judge who had previously ruled that the state’s refusal to provide the surgery amounts to “cruel and unusual punishment” under the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Edmo was sentenced to ten years in state prison for sexually assaulting a child under 16 years old.
Thankfully, Governor Brad Little has publicized his intention to appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. He argues that hardworking Idaho taxpayers shouldn’t be forced to pay for a convicted child molester’s sex-change operation.
But one overlooked part of this story is even more troubling than the surgery’s price tag: If Edmo undergoes sex reassignment surgery, he will be transferred to a state women’s prison.
This move would echo the disturbing trend of other attempts to allow – or, some might argue, force – biological men into spaces created to keep women safe.
Take, for instance, the Hope Center, a Christian shelter in Anchorage that provides, among other services, overnight accommodations to women victimized by rape, domestic violence, and sex trafficking.
When a drunk and injured biological man identifying as a woman attempted to obtain overnight shelter with the women, the Hope Center paid for the man’s taxi ride to a local hospital. As the lawyer for Hope Center later pointed out, abused women “shouldn’t be forced to sleep or disrobe in the same room as a man.”
Shortly thereafter, the Anchorage Equal Rights Commission filed complaints against the Hope Center. They allege the shelter discriminated against the man based on his gender identity, thereby violating the local SOGI (sexual orientation/gender identity) nondiscrimination ordinance.
Although the final decision for the discrimination complaints will not come until next year, a federal judge ruled earlier this month that the Hope Center could continue offering overnight shelter services to women as the lawsuit moves forward.
Sadly, sex-segregated spaces designed for the benefit, protection, and privacy of women are under attack. Whether it’s dressing rooms at retail stores, public restrooms, high school locker rooms, state prisons, or women’s shelters, radical activists are demanding that biological men be granted access to women’s facilities.
It’s an easily observable truth that there are only two genders, determined by biology. This conception of sex and gender serves as the only factual and just basis for public policy. Moreover, we must protect the rights of women and girls to be safe and secure in spaces designed for their protection and comfort.
As the Idaho corrections case shows, these truths must be defended, even in Idaho. And Family Policy Alliance of Idaho will keep standing strong, doing just that.
