J. Kennerly Davis

Many of the serious threats posed and damage done by the radical ideology of transgenderism are now widely recognized and openly discussed: The emotional and physical assaults on girls and women in spaces that should be safely reserved for their private use. The abject unfairness, indeed, the illegality, of boys and men competing in sporting events reserved by custom and law for girls and women. The destructive steps taken by politicized public school officials to alienate students from their parents and destroy the institution of the family. The severe medical mistreatment of confused minors by licensed professionals who supposedly have sworn to “do no harm.”

Even worse than these is the threat posed and damage done by radical transgenderism to reason itself, our ability to think, understand, and form rational conclusions about the objective reality of the world around us.

It is by reason, using words that have objective meanings, that we form concepts, convey information, ask questions, and construct arguments to persuade others. And it is only by empirical reasoning firmly anchored in reality that we can hope to truly understand the world around us, master its challenges, and grasp its opportunities. Without such reasoning, we cannot develop as individuals or advance as a society.

And, without an ability to reason and a rational grasp of objective reality, we cannot hope to govern ourselves effectively as responsible citizens in a constitutional republic. For it is only by reason anchored in reality that we can accurately assess our needs, evaluate alternatives, constructively debate our differences, and select those leaders and policies most likely to meet our needs while respecting and protecting our God-given rights. It is only by reason that we can keep our freedom.

Science is based on empirical reasoning. It relies on observation, experimentation, and measurable data to build knowledge of the world around us. It rejects authoritarian dogma and abstract ideology unmoored
from reality. Richard Dawkins, world-renowned Oxford University biologist
and author of the recently published book, “The War on Science,” has
denounced transgenderism as a dangerous political movement to
undermine scientific truth, specifically the scientific truth that sex is binary
and a person is either a man or a woman.

The ideology of transgenderism demands that we reject this scientific
truth. It demands that we accept, internalize, and validate the patent
falsehood that men can become women and women can become men. It
demands that we separate our actions, our speech, indeed our thoughts
from reality. That is the proto-totalitarian essence of transgenderism, and its
most dangerous threat. It is an assault on reason, the freedom of thought
and speech that distinguishes us from animals and protects us from
tyrants.

If we can be made to accept, internalize, and actively validate – if we can be made to believe — the lie that men can become women and women can become men simply by saying it is so, then the powerful can force us
to believe anything they wish. Anything.

In 1984, George Orwell dramatically conveys the full frightening force
of the totalitarian process used to enslave people by separating their thoughts from external reality and, by that, to destroy their ability to reason
and to think independently. During the torturous re-education of protagonist
Winston Smith, the Party official in charge explained:

You believe that reality is something objective, external, existing in its own
right… But I tell you, Winston, that reality is not external. Reality
exists … only in the mind of the Party, which is collective and immortal.
Whatever the Party holds to be truth is truth. It is impossible to see reality
except by looking through the eyes of the Party. That is the fact that you
have got to relearn, Winston. It needs an act of self-destruction. … You must
get rid of those … ideas about the laws of nature. We make the laws of
nature.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Vaclav Havel, and other Cold War dissidents
repeatedly explained that totalitarianism cannot succeed if the people
refuse to live the lies of the regime and, instead, remain faithful to truth. The radical ideology of transgenderism is in retreat, thanks to an increasing
number of people like Professor Dawkins who reject its lie and speak the
truth.

The election is fast upon us. The preservation of liberty is an ongoing
responsibility of citizenship that falls to each and all of us. As we assess the
competing candidates, we should remember Winston Smith and insist that
a clear grasp of objective reality, and a steadfast commitment to truth, is
the first and most fundamental requirement to be met by any candidate
seeking any public office.

J. Kennerly Davis is a former Deputy Attorney General for the
Commonwealth of Virginia