Recently the State of Arkansas has been debating Senate Bill 199 which would establish a statute of limitations for the civil liability of doctors who provide gender transition services to minors. This would include puberty suppression, hormone therapy, and gender-reassignment surgeries, which we used to call vivisection but have lately redefined as compassionate, gender affirming healthcare. The effect of the bill would be to allow persons receiving such services as a minor to later sue the healthcare provider for damages many years later. The hope is that establishing financial liability for doctors engaged in these practices at the same time that a growing number of de-transitioners are coming forward to tell their personal horror stories will put an end to this madness and the social contagion of transgenderism.
During a Judiciary Committee hearing last week the Arkansas Senate heard from Gwendolyn Herzig, a pharmacist in Little Rock who showed up in woman-face to testify against the proposed bill. After Gwen’s opening statement, State Senator Matt McKee asked whether the witness was aware of “the large body of medical evidence of the harm that has come upon people who have gone through these processes.” Dr. Herzig replied, “I am familiar with the large body of evidence showing that providing good affirming care saves lives.” Senator McKee asked the same question again, and then again, and each time the witness responded by saying, “I will repeat what I just said.” For those of you keeping score at home, that’s called not answering the question and is characteristic of a hostile witness. That’s when Senator McKee transgressed the current blasphemy laws in our secular, tolerant, and pluralistic society.
McKee: “You said that you’re a transwoman.”
Herzig: “A trans-female, yes sir.”
McKee: “Do you have a penis?”
After practicing a “shocked and offended face,” Dr. Herzig replied, “That’s horrible.”
I couldn’t agree more. It is horrible that the State Senate would allow a dude dressed in woman-face to come and testify against a bill designed to protect children. It’s horrible that they took this charade seriously. It’s horrible that now we have to hear from wincing and winsome Christians who winsomely wince at the shocking language of Senator McKee. Doesn’t he know that Gwendolyn, and his penis, is an image-bearer of God?
No doubt many of you think Senator McKee’s question was rude and not very Christlike, but the Senator was only pursuing a line of conversation that the good doctor had already begun. Less than two weeks before Gwen’s appearance before the Judiciary Committee, he discussed his penis and desire to have it cut off on season 2, episode 13 of a national podcast, The Transgender Show. Dr. Herzig characterized Senator McKee’s inquiry as “the most insulting, dehumanizing, egregious question,” but only days earlier Gwen and the podcast host publicly lamented the inability to wear a cute bathing suit or tight leggings because of that inconvenient bulge.
Senator McKee’s error was in publicly observing that the emperor has no clothes, or more specifically, that he is unsuccessfully trying to stuff a penis into a pair of bikini bottoms. You might think that is rude, but that is only because many of us have grown accustomed to the ever shifting rules of etiquette in clownworld. McKee did not walk up to Dr. Herzig on the sidewalk and publicly accost him. He did not mock him at the pharmacy where he works. He did not suggest Gwen’s fetish is “insulting, dehumanizing, egregious” and “horrible.” He simply asked whether the witness in woman-face wearing a wig and dress had a penis hidden under there too.
This madness will not end by affirming a demonic delusion. We can treat individuals with love and respect while treating insanity, rebellion, and lies with the righteous scorn and irreverence they deserve. Repentance is our only hope for salvation, and repentance is the result of confrontation and conviction leading to contrition. As an individual, Gwen Herzig should be treated with compassion and respect and called to faith and repentance in Jesus Christ. As a witness testifying against SB 199, Dr. Herzig should be treated as a deceiver and threat to children and exposed and discredited accordingly.
The cross does not allow us to retain our delusions. God’s Law identifies, reproves, and corrects our errors and calls us to turn from them. We must repent not only of what we have done but also of the lies we have told ourselves about ourselves. Jesus did not die for good, moral people but for sinners like you and me, for people like Gwen Herzig and Matt McKee, and none of us can remain as we are. The Church must not ooh and aah over the emperor’s new clothes. Truth is found in the mouth of babes and state Senators from Arkansas. There is a bulge under the skirt, and it appears the king has been in the queen’s closet. –JME
