March 31, 2016

Are we witnessing a rise of the Cult of the Chromosome?

I was wondering about this when I see some of these religious conscience laws.

Take Mississippi for example:

Male (man) or female (woman) refer to an individual’s immutable biological sex as objectively determined by anatomy and genetics at time of birth.
-HB 1523

And there's more...

Linking religious beliefs to believing an "individual's immutable biological sex as objectively determined by anatomy and genetics of the individual at the time of birth"
-HB 773 in Virginia

"The terms male or man and female or woman refer to distinct and immutable biological sexes that are determined by anatomy and genetics by the time of birth."
-HB 1107 in North Dakota

"For the purposes of this section “biological sex” means the physical condition of being male or female, which is determined by a person’s chromosomes, and is identified at birth by a person’s anatomy and indicated on their birth certificate."
-SB 720 in Missouri

Taking a look at these bills, I don't know about anyone else, but I am seeing something start to stick out.

Items of interest:
* Dichotomies (Often seen in religious fundamentalism. God and Satan. Believer and unbeliever. Heaven and Hell. Faithful and heretic. And in this case... Male and female.)
* "At birth" and "immutable", more and more it sounds like one's genetic code is not just that, but actually something on par with scripture, something divinely inspired and set in stone
* The fact that these bills share the space with religious accommodation merits mention as well.
* These bills make it seem like gender is purely ascribed, that it's 'your place' and not conforming to your gender role as assigned by your birth and your 'sacred and unchanging genetics' is heresy

Now is it bad enough to call it all an establishment of religion? I don't think so, but with the right crazy enough to give Trump the nomination, you can never know for sure just far they will jump off the deep end.