Shouldn’t be forced to ‘participate’ in ‘increasingly bizarre’ ideas of sex and gender

During Mike Pence’s visit to Cedar Rapids he said, "Every day we are told that not only do we have to tolerate the left's increasingly bizarre idea of race, sex, and gender, but that we have to enthusiastically participate." I cannot disagree with Mr. Pence. If I were to go into a bank claiming to identify as a rich man, without any cash to back my claim, I’d be thrown out and charged with fraud. But if I claim to be some gender other than my own, I’d be celebrated, encouraged and treated as a protected class. While I never want a person to be persecuted, neither should I be forced to agree with their behaviors or be forced to use self-declared pronouns. If I claim to be a god and insist my pronouns are “your highness” or “your worshipful majesty” I’d be ignored at best or placed in an institution.

For schools to accommodate (or encourage?) minor students to express themselves in any manner with no communication or input from their parents is wrong. Is it me or have schools become more concerned (obsessed?) with students’ sexuality than with reading, writing or math? I might be old fashioned, but in my 13 years as a minor student, I never once heard a teacher, educator or an administrator refer to their own sexual behavior or identity or that of students. (Except to say that if you have sex, someone is probably going to be pregnant, most likely the female).

Steve Harvey

Cedar Rapids