Republican state Senator David Clemens has taken a stand against the systemic embrace and imposition of LGBT speech conventions in North Dakota, enraging activists.
Clemens, a Vietnam War veteran and father of four, introduced Senate Bill 2199 on Jan. 10 with fellow Republican Sens. Shawn Vedaa and Kent Weston, as well as Reps. Karen Anderson, Austen Schauer, and Bill Tveit.
The bill would require “any entity receiving state funding, including a public school, an institution under the control of the state board of higher education, and a state agency or office,” to use the pronouns referencing a given person’s biological sex.
Accordingly, words referring to “an individual, person, employer, employee, contestant, participant, member, student, or juvenile must be used in the context of that person’s sex as determined at birth.”
If there is some confusion about a person’s so-called “gender identity,” determination will be made on the basis of the individual’s DNA.
This reality-affirming requirement would apply to the communications, policies, procedures, training, and records of state-funded institutions.
The penalty for using reality-denying pronouns in such documentation or policies is $1,500.
Clemens provided some clarity around the bill, stating, “Say they’re a boy, but they come to school and say they’re a girl. As far as that school is concerned in this bill, that person is still a boy. If it becomes contested, the burden will be on the girl, the so-called girl, or the boy, to prove that he is a girl.”
The senator stressed that the bill would not “outlaw an individual’s personal expression, but it does outlaw the use of public funds to promote or support anything that is contrary to a person’s biological sex at birth,” to preclude state-funded organizations from “promoting transgenderism.”
Republican Rep. Brandon Prichard intimated that this amounted to a defense of children’s innocence, reported the Bismarck Tribune.
“There is a broader assault on children’s innocence in this country, and if somebody — if I don’t step up to it, I’m worried that no one else will,” said Prichard.
KFYR reported that the bill did not pass the Republican-led state Senate Judiciary Committee, but since the committee lacks veto power, it will nevertheless advance to the Senate floor.
Activists keen on continuing to foist ideologically loaded neologisms on others are beside themselves.
Transsexual activist Katrina Koesterman of Tristate Transgender said the bill “the general atmosphere of hostility and hatred towards the transgender community.”
Christina Sambor of the so-called ND Human Rights Coalition told KFYR, “Respectfully, I see no way this law would pass any sort of legal challenge based on basic legal construction principles. It’s vague, fails to advance any legitimate state interests, and not only would cause impermissible, gender-based discrimination, its very purpose is gender-based discrimination.”
Some have taken to launching personal attacks, suggesting that Clemens looks like Captain Kangaroo, the titular character of a children’s show that reportedly aired on CBS from 1955 to 1984.
The Bismarck Tribune noted that if this legislation fails, as many anticipate it will, there is hope yet with Republican Sen. Larry Luick’s Senate Bill 2231.
Luick’s bill — introduced at the request of the executive director of the state’s Catholic Conference — would prohibit a government entity from requiring an employee to “use an individual’s preferred pronoun when addressing or mentioning the individual in work-related communications.”
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