Free Republic

Some 24 years ago, Diana Bianchi peered into a microscope at a piece of human thyroid and saw something that instantly gave her goosebumps. The sample had come from a woman who was chromosomally XX. But through the lens, Bianchi saw the unmistakable glimmer of Y chromosomes—dozens and dozens of them. “Clearly,” Bianchi told me, “part of her thyroid was entirely male.” The reason, Bianchi suspected, was pregnancy. Years ago, the patient had carried a male embryo, whose cells had at some point wandered out of the womb. They’d ended up in his mother’s thyroid—and, almost certainly, a bunch of...

COBB COUNTY, Ga. — The Cobb County School Board voted to terminate a teacher after she read a book about gender norms to her fifth-grade class. In a board meeting Thursday evening, the board voted 4-3 to fire Katie Rinderle. Rinderle, a longtime educator in the Cobb County School District, read a book called “My Shadow is Purple,” a book about gender norms. The termination comes a week after a tribunal proceeding was held to decide if she would keep, or lose, her job. The tribunal determined that she did violate part of Georgia’s new divisive concepts law, but they...

Former President Barack Obama said the U.S. needs to "reimagine" how law enforcement works following the death of Daunte Wright, who was shot by a police officer in a Minneapolis suburb on Sunday. Wright's death occurred at the same time and in the same area as the trial of former officer Derek Chauvin, who is charged with murdering George Floyd, whose death sparked protests and riots across the country. .....

Zoë Saldana and her husband are raising their three boys in a gender-neutral household with things like 'female and male toys' in order to discourage their kids from buying into gender stereotypes. The Guardian's of the Galaxy actress, 40, opened up about what exactly it means to create a gender-neutral household when speaking to US Weekly this week. But she admitted it has its challenges when raising young boys. 'I'm always gonna be honest and that is always the best way to welcome healthy and truthful discourse, especially around parenthood. … [The twins] made a comment two weeks ago like,...

Bishop Michael Curry is using the attention he received while presiding over the Royal Wedding to lead a new anti-Trump protest. According to sources, Curry and other Chrisitan leaders will host a candlelight vigil to protest the “dangerous crisis of moral and political leadership at the highest levels of our government and in our churches” — crises that put “the soul of the nation and the integrity of faith” at stake. The event will kick off with a church service beforehand right in front of Lafayette Square, which is across the street from the White House. Who’s going?

Those in the newspaper business do what it takes to sell papers, even if that means claiming that the God of the Bible is “transgender,” like the pagan gods of old. Such is the theory of a New York Times article by Rabbi Mark Sameth, “Is God Transgender?” (Aug 12, 2016). Sameth claims that the Hebrew Bible, “when read in its original language, offers a highly elastic view of gender….In Genesis 3:12, Eve is referred to as ‘he.’ In Genesis 9:21, after the flood, Noah repairs to ‘her’ tent. Genesis 1:27 refers to Adam as ‘them.’” These minor textual oddities...

Mister Rogers: American icon or hate criminal? by Daniel Clark "Boys are boys from the beginning, and girls are girls right from the start." This bit of political heresy was brought to you by PBS. Or at least, it used to be. Fred Rogers sang those lyrics frequently on Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, which aired from 1968 all the way until 2001, yet nobody ever seemed to find anything wrong with it. What small-minded bigots we all must have been. In this new, enlightened age of ours, you can't just go around saying that one's sex is an immutable fact of...

There was plenty to marvel at during the New York City Pride March on Sunday, but one precocious 8-year-old boy stood out from the crowd: Desmond Napoles, of Brooklyn, who joyously strutted and vogued his way down Fifth Avenue in a rainbow tutu and gold sequined cap. And when critics reared their heads on social media Monday, suggesting his participation was inappropriate, mom Wendylou Napoles shut them down with grace and pride. “If you are offended, don’t look,” Napoles wrote, in part, in a lengthy post on the Facebook page of LGBT website NewNowNext. That’s where a photo of...

The year was 2081, and everybody was finally equal. They weren’t only equal before God and the law. They were equal every which way. Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else.”— Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. One of the nation’s largest, sharpest, and wealthiest school systems, Fairfax County, has announced a bright, new idea (to take effect in 2016) that will directly influence district students in grades seven through twelve. It’s not a faster way to learn math, a more creative way to write stories, or a better...

One of the nation’s largest public school systems is preparing to include gender identity to its classroom curriculum, including lessons on sexual fluidity and spectrum – the idea that there’s no such thing as 100 percent boys or 100 percent girls. Fairfax County Public Schools released a report recommending changes to their family life curriculum for grades 7 through 12. The changes, which critics call radical gender ideology, will be formally introduced next week. “The larger picture is this is really an attack on nature itself – the created order,” said Peter Sprigg of the Family Research Council. “Human beings...

(Gender bending, expressing non-traditional gender identities, isn't new, but it's increasing.) Like many female UW- Madison students, Dite Bray and her friends walk past the fraternity houses on Langdon Street wondering if the men inside will notice them. Unlike most of the other students, it's not because they're looking for dates. "I've walked around town in drag before," Bray said. "I'm frightened, because I'm walking down Langdon Street and we have fake facial hair stuck to our faces. I wouldn't do that by myself, but in a group it's OK." Bray, 24, is one of the growing number of young...