Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - April 23, 2024


Ep 990 | Taylor Swift’s Blasphemy & Title IX Betrayal | Guest: Kristen Waggoner


Episode Stats

Length

1 hour and 10 minutes

Words per Minute

165.21333

Word Count

11,690

Sentence Count

716

Misogynist Sentences

44

Hate Speech Sentences

38


Summary

On today's episode of Relatable, Allie and Allie discuss the Biden administration's decision to change the law regarding Title IX, Taylor Swift's new album, and much more! Relatable is a podcast that Allie hosts and hosts on a weekly basis. This episode is brought to you by Good Ranchers.


Transcript

00:00:00.480 The Biden administration has announced changes to Title IX that puts women and girls at risk.
00:00:06.520 It is even worse than we originally thought.
00:00:10.340 Also, Taylor Swift has released a new album, and many of her lyrics are especially sacrilegious
00:00:17.960 and problematic.
00:00:18.940 We are getting into all of that on today's episode of Relatable.
00:00:22.700 It's brought to you by our friends at Good Ranchers.
00:00:24.180 Go to goodranchers.com.
00:00:25.580 Use code Allie at checkout.
00:00:26.800 That's goodranchers.com.
00:00:28.220 Code Allie.
00:00:30.000 Hey, guys.
00:00:39.260 Welcome to Relatable.
00:00:40.740 Happy Tuesday.
00:00:42.120 Hope everyone is having a wonderful week so far.
00:00:44.700 All right.
00:00:44.960 Before we get into everything, I have a couple of things to say.
00:00:48.100 One, we've got some new merch just in time for Mother's Day.
00:00:52.180 And so Relatable, don't worry.
00:00:54.120 Your time is coming because Father's Day is coming up in June, and we are going to put
00:00:57.940 some Relatable merch out.
00:00:59.160 Do not forget to send me some stuff out there, hats, t-shirts, and stuff that you like out
00:01:04.820 there in the wild because we're still deciding on the Relatable design.
00:01:08.300 But first, we've got Mother's Day stuff, a cute kind of mini release of merchandise.
00:01:15.360 We've got t-shirts.
00:01:16.560 As you can see, if you're watching on YouTube, my In My Mom era, it's supposed to be a little
00:01:23.180 smiley face.
00:01:24.440 It's cute.
00:01:25.100 It's cute.
00:01:25.580 And then we've got little trucker hats, which I'm personally really excited about that say
00:01:29.600 In My Mom era.
00:01:30.440 But my favorite part of this is the matching onesie in my baby era.
00:01:37.420 In my baby era.
00:01:39.100 So cute.
00:01:39.900 I can't wait to get that myself.
00:01:42.280 Not for me, but for my baby.
00:01:45.160 And on the sleeve, it's got Relatable on there.
00:01:48.380 So y'all know it's from moi.
00:01:50.800 And then, so you can go to AllieMerch.com.
00:01:53.220 AllieMerch.com.
00:01:54.180 We'll link it in the description of this episode.
00:01:56.760 Two more things before we get started.
00:01:58.520 One, I know yesterday's episode was wonky.
00:02:01.720 I'm sorry about that.
00:02:03.060 I saw that after it came out like an hour later.
00:02:05.440 I was like, what the heck?
00:02:06.220 Why is it cutting off at 52 minutes?
00:02:08.260 I know that it wasn't only 52 minutes long.
00:02:11.300 And so I'm not really sure.
00:02:12.580 We're not totally sure exactly what happened.
00:02:15.000 I don't think that's ever happened to us before.
00:02:17.380 And so I apologize.
00:02:18.420 I got a ton of messages about it yesterday, and I'm sure that was super annoying to be
00:02:22.520 listening.
00:02:23.020 And then all of a sudden, it cuts off mid-sentence.
00:02:25.300 But the good news is we're still, well, we're still figuring it out.
00:02:28.740 But it is up on YouTube, like the full audio visuals all up on YouTube.
00:02:34.340 And so if you need to finish watching or listening, you can go to YouTube and you can finish the
00:02:40.400 episode.
00:02:40.700 But I'm sorry about that.
00:02:42.240 We will get that figured out.
00:02:43.180 And hopefully, it will never happen again.
00:02:46.280 Third thing, please like and subscribe if you are watching on YouTube.
00:02:50.660 So like this video, then subscribe to the channel, and then put the notifications on.
00:02:56.720 Make sure that you tap that little bell.
00:02:58.780 Is it a bell?
00:03:00.320 Is it a bell that they tap and then they turn the notifications on?
00:03:04.880 All right.
00:03:05.260 I wouldn't have known that.
00:03:06.380 Make sure you tap the bell.
00:03:09.220 Notifications are on so you always know when we are uploading something because we don't
00:03:12.760 just upload these episodes every day.
00:03:15.380 We also have shorter segments that we put out.
00:03:17.660 And then we've got our short videos that we put out that really aren't anywhere else except
00:03:21.500 for on YouTube shorts.
00:03:23.200 And so make sure that you have the notifications on.
00:03:25.660 Also, it just really helps our show.
00:03:27.080 It helps our show a lot.
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00:03:34.960 subscribed and also are getting those notifications.
00:03:38.840 All right.
00:03:39.520 That's all the introduction that I have.
00:03:41.340 Now we actually got it, got to get, we've got to get into, we've got to get into what
00:03:47.600 we are actually talking about today because we have a lot to discuss since it was announced
00:03:54.560 that Title IX is being changed by the Biden administration.
00:03:58.980 I have been gunning to talk to you guys about it.
00:04:01.920 As you can imagine, I've got a lot to say.
00:04:04.000 So I'm going to give you a little summary of what's going on.
00:04:07.040 And then we're going to talk to the expert from Alliance Defending Freedom, Kristen Wagner,
00:04:12.780 how they're pushing back against this.
00:04:14.320 She's going to break it down for us in layman's terms, what all of these regulations and what
00:04:19.380 the changes actually say and actually mean.
00:04:22.720 And then I am going to give my response and just my reaction to this and what I have to
00:04:27.780 say specifically to Christians and influential Christians who just cannot find it within themselves
00:04:34.600 to talk about this subject publicly.
00:04:38.200 And so after that, we will get into the much awaited Taylor Swift lyrics analysis, but we've
00:04:45.860 got to address this first.
00:04:47.960 Before we get to Kristen Wagner, let me just give you a brief summary of what's happened.
00:04:54.180 So this was last week, April 19th, when this was announced.
00:04:59.060 It was Friday.
00:05:00.120 The Department of Education released its long-delayed Title IX rule, rewriting the more than 50-year-old
00:05:06.920 civil rights law that prohibited discrimination on the basis of sex to now include so-called gender
00:05:14.100 identity as Heritage Foundation senior legal fellow Sarah Parshall Perry put it.
00:05:19.480 This change promises to turn Title IX's guarantee of sex equality and education completely upside
00:05:26.620 down.
00:05:27.760 You probably saw on social media people saying on the right and the left, oh, conservatives
00:05:33.660 are just fear mongering.
00:05:35.180 This change doesn't really mean anything.
00:05:37.020 It just protects kids from harassment and just makes sure that they are being treated with
00:05:44.660 respect.
00:05:45.740 Of course, that is absolutely what the Biden administration would like you would like you
00:05:51.960 to believe.
00:05:52.840 How they framed it is this.
00:05:56.500 The final regulations promote their press release reads educational equity, an opportunity for students
00:06:04.500 across the country, as well as accountability and fairness while empowering and supporting
00:06:10.840 students and families.
00:06:12.460 Let us count the euphemisms.
00:06:14.560 I would say that educational is a euphemism in this case, because as we will hear from Kristen,
00:06:20.740 it's not just about education.
00:06:22.700 Equity is a euphemism, which is supposed to mean fairness, but it doesn't.
00:06:27.600 It means trying to force equal opportunities and denying all differences, such as biological
00:06:34.760 differences.
00:06:36.300 An opportunity, I would say that's another euphemism there.
00:06:40.040 So already in the first few words, we've got three euphemisms for students across the
00:06:44.480 country, as well as accountability.
00:06:46.840 Here's another euphemism.
00:06:48.180 And fairness, another euphemism.
00:06:50.300 We've got five euphemisms so far in their press release just at the very beginning, empowering
00:06:55.840 that six euphemisms, supporting, and that is seven.
00:06:59.660 You could even say students and families is coded language to mean boys who identify as girls.
00:07:06.920 And what I mean by these are euphemisms is that these are universally positive words that
00:07:12.460 actually mean something very harmful and scary, as we will get into.
00:07:17.020 The Secretary of Education, Miguel Cardona, said these final regulations build on the
00:07:22.560 legacy of Title IX.
00:07:23.740 Build on the legacy of Title IX.
00:07:25.320 What a euphemism.
00:07:26.860 I mean, that's right on par with reproductive rights or reproductive freedom being a euphemism
00:07:32.360 for abortion.
00:07:33.740 Build on the legacy of Title IX by clarifying.
00:07:36.820 So what they're trying to communicate to you is that nothing is really changing, that all
00:07:41.140 our nation's students can access schools that are safe, welcoming, and respect their rights.
00:07:46.740 So they present it very brilliantly, I will say, in a way that makes it seem like you can't
00:07:51.560 possibly disagree with it without being against safety or against equal rights or against equity
00:07:58.660 or against being welcoming or being respectful.
00:08:03.440 But of course, that is not what these changes to Title IX actually mean.
00:08:09.880 It puts our girls, it puts women in danger.
00:08:15.400 And this is an absolutely demonic and evil change to Title IX that will end in absolute chaos for females.
00:08:27.640 And Kristen Wagner of Alliance Defending Freedom is going to explain that to us and tell us exactly
00:08:35.000 what it means, but also give us some encouragement and empowerment as we wrap our heads around what
00:08:42.820 we can do to push back against this and also what institutions like Alliance Defending Freedom
00:08:49.080 is going to do to make sure that these changes do not stick around forever.
00:08:55.480 So we're going to get into that conversation, which is going to teach you a lot.
00:08:59.960 It did for me.
00:09:12.860 Kristen of Alliance Defending Freedom, thank you so much for taking the time to join us.
00:09:18.640 Well, thanks for having me.
00:09:19.540 Yes.
00:09:20.400 OK, you tweeted, April 19th, the Biden admin can't redefine quote unquote sex in Title IX
00:09:27.820 without affecting women's opportunities, including women's sports.
00:09:31.600 Under these rule changes, privacy, safety, parental rights, free speech, and yes, women's sports
00:09:37.640 are at risk.
00:09:39.040 This is an abuse of federal power that is anti-women, anti-science, and anti-logic.
00:09:45.300 See you in court at POTUS.
00:09:48.140 And it was that last sentence that really in the midst of just a lot of discouragement,
00:09:53.700 seeing this rule change and as a mom of daughters, just kind of feeling this moment of fear that
00:10:01.320 I thought, OK, but we've got people on our side and in our corner that are going to fight
00:10:09.300 this.
00:10:09.940 You are one of those people.
00:10:12.120 Before we get to the fight aspect of this, though, how you guys are going to push back,
00:10:16.540 give us a little bit of an explainer.
00:10:19.540 Like, what is Title IX, for those who may not know?
00:10:22.600 And then what does this rule change really mean?
00:10:25.840 Because we've seen some conflicting reports on that.
00:10:29.640 Right.
00:10:30.220 Well, I mean, it's over 1,500 pages of regulations.
00:10:33.100 So to take us back to Title IX and what it is, Title IX is a law that was put in place in 1972.
00:10:40.180 It was passed by Congress, and it was designed to ensure women have equal opportunities.
00:10:45.500 So it prohibits sex discrimination and ensures that women have equal opportunities in educational
00:10:52.940 institutions that are receiving federal funding.
00:10:55.180 So obviously, that applies to sports.
00:10:58.360 And we know in the 70s, women didn't have equal opportunities in terms of scholarships and
00:11:04.880 just the ability to be able to have comparable programs in women's sports like the men did.
00:11:10.940 But it also plays out in other areas of educational institutions, including even being admitted into
00:11:16.580 some of these institutions.
00:11:18.040 And so Title IX has had a significant impact on ensuring that women have equal access and
00:11:25.200 equal opportunities.
00:11:26.820 And predominantly, it has involved women's sports.
00:11:30.080 In addition to that, it carves out essentially that in a number of different instances, sex-based
00:11:37.120 distinctions are appropriate under the law because the law recognizes the truth that we are all
00:11:43.160 created equal and in God's image, but we are created differently.
00:11:46.700 There are differences between the two sexes.
00:11:50.460 And so the law prohibits sex discrimination.
00:11:54.940 In terms of what's happened in more recent years, we have seen progressively left administrations
00:12:01.260 try to twist Title IX to take away those benefits and those opportunities from women and instead
00:12:07.140 say it's no longer about sex-based discrimination, but it's about gender identity.
00:12:12.380 And that completely turns Title IX on its head.
00:12:15.540 And we can talk about all the ways it does that.
00:12:18.180 But it started in the Obama administration, actually, where we started to see guidelines
00:12:23.220 come out.
00:12:23.880 And you may remember bathroom talk and boys being admitted into girls.
00:12:28.460 So that's when it started.
00:12:29.400 And that was through a guideline process.
00:12:31.300 Then the Trump administration essentially shored up the rule and interpreted the rule consistent
00:12:37.440 with what Congress intended in the way it had always been interpreted.
00:12:40.380 And now we're in the Biden administration, which has radically redefined sex and gutted those
00:12:45.900 protections once again for women.
00:12:48.260 How does the Bostock decision play into this from 2020?
00:12:52.120 And if I remember correctly, it was Gorsuch, who, of course, was a Trump appointee who went
00:12:57.560 the direction that we conservatives, constitutionalists, would not have liked him to go and saying that
00:13:03.940 sex can be interpreted to also mean so-called gender identity.
00:13:08.680 That's a part of all of this, too, right?
00:13:11.460 It is.
00:13:12.380 And it's so disturbing to see the results of Bostock.
00:13:16.640 Alliance Defending Freedom has had the privilege of representing parties in a number of different
00:13:21.980 Supreme Court cases in the last 12 years and have had 15 victories.
00:13:25.760 Our one loss was Bostock, to be candid, and it was a heartbreaking loss, and it was unprecedented
00:13:31.380 in terms of how the court interpreted a statute that said sex discrimination to suddenly include
00:13:37.900 gender identity as well as sexual orientation.
00:13:41.360 Now, however, I think when Justice Gorsuch wrote that decision, which was a shock to conservatives
00:13:47.520 that he would take that position, he also, I think, thought that potentially the court could
00:13:53.180 limit the impact of that and in the decision itself suggest that sex-based distinctions
00:13:59.260 may be appropriate in the law as well as protecting the rights of First Amendment rights, religious
00:14:04.940 freedom rights in this context.
00:14:06.660 And so since that decision, we have had to litigate all around the edges of that Bostock decision.
00:14:13.200 And to be clear, Bostock was under Title VII, which is applying to employers.
00:14:18.180 It doesn't apply outside of the employment context, and the court's decision said that.
00:14:24.920 It also has slightly different language than Title IX has, and in addition to the slightly
00:14:31.180 different language, a difference between because of sex and on the basis of sex, Title IX, as
00:14:37.200 I referenced, specifically calls out that there are reasons that are legitimate reasons to make
00:14:43.120 biological distinctions in the context of educational institutions.
00:14:47.720 So there are some very clear differences between Bostock, a Title VII statute, and a Title IX
00:14:53.560 statute that applies to educational institutions.
00:14:56.220 But Bostock is a terrible decision, and we're hoping that the court will reverse it.
00:15:00.580 Right.
00:15:01.080 Okay.
00:15:01.620 And so this is, even though they are two different things, they still correlate in that we are seeing
00:15:09.940 this trend that you said started in the Obama era to redefine sex.
00:15:14.820 And so we are seeing this in a variety of ways, and now this redefinition has come specifically
00:15:20.180 for Title IX.
00:15:21.380 This is something that has been debated and discussed, at least I've seen for the past maybe
00:15:25.480 couple of years.
00:15:26.220 You've probably been privy to that conversation a lot longer than I have.
00:15:31.140 And we kind of anticipated that this was about to happen, that they were going to make this
00:15:35.980 announcement that they have now changed Title IX, correct?
00:15:39.100 Right.
00:15:40.440 Correct.
00:15:41.020 Yes, we have been anticipating it.
00:15:42.940 And actually, the first lawsuit that we filed was all the way back in 2019.
00:15:48.200 And we continue to represent these athletes.
00:15:51.740 Three Connecticut, well, now four Connecticut high school athletes at the time that were
00:15:56.680 running track.
00:15:57.460 And two boys came in and transitioned from competing in the boys category and three weeks later moved
00:16:04.080 into the girls category.
00:16:05.280 And in just a period of a couple seasons, took 15 state championships, took opportunities to
00:16:11.480 advance, 85 opportunities to advance from different girls, and four state championships
00:16:15.980 from one of our clients.
00:16:17.080 So that's when we first got involved in this issue, and we have continued to see it escalate.
00:16:22.720 And there are a number of cases that are being filed right now, including another one of our
00:16:26.460 cases called BPJ, which comes out of the Four Circuit.
00:16:30.340 And we can certainly talk about that, but I think you can expect that case to go to the
00:16:34.600 Supreme Court as well.
00:16:36.520 How I have seen this change interpreted by many on the left and in what you would call
00:16:43.360 the mainstream media is that this change really doesn't affect women's privacy rights, their
00:16:50.800 ability to compete against one another, that it's really just protecting what they would
00:16:56.080 call, I don't know, gender nonconforming, transgender students, whatever, from harassment.
00:17:00.540 That's all it's about.
00:17:01.520 It's limited.
00:17:02.380 I was told even by some conservatives when I originally posted about this, that this is
00:17:07.580 fear mongering, that this is blowing things out of proportion, that this change is not a
00:17:11.900 big deal, it's not that controversial.
00:17:14.720 I know it's 1,500 pages of regulations, as you said, but break it down for us.
00:17:19.700 What is this change, actually?
00:17:24.420 Well, having practiced in these areas for many years now in the areas of constitutional law,
00:17:29.720 there aren't very many things that really make me angry.
00:17:33.420 This is one of them.
00:17:35.220 Because as a parent, the implications of this rule are staggering on our children.
00:17:40.680 As a woman, it denies us of equal opportunities and says that a man's feelings can trump our
00:17:47.560 rights as to be equally treated under the law and to have privacy.
00:17:51.840 And it shames women for saying we are different and we are equal and tells us to go and sit
00:17:57.280 down and shut up and stop complaining about this.
00:17:59.980 It is immoral and it is unconstitutional.
00:18:02.340 The way that it plays out in terms of these particular rules is it tells us that if you
00:18:08.720 have your children in any institution from kindergarten through 12th grade all the way
00:18:13.700 through college and that institution receives any federal aid whatsoever, that these institutions
00:18:19.380 now have to open up their locker rooms to boys who identify as girls.
00:18:24.220 And we've had real cases where this has happened and girls have suffered as a result.
00:18:28.520 It tells your kids that they have to use the wrong pronouns, that their speech is mandated
00:18:33.800 in different ways.
00:18:35.060 It now means there's no longer a boy's PE class and a girl's PE class, which increases
00:18:39.980 the risk of harm and injury.
00:18:42.540 There are so many different ways that it clearly applies in these instances that the suggestion
00:18:47.760 of fear mongering is, again, it's just an effort to try to force people to be quiet
00:18:52.720 and to not say the quiet part out loud, which is you're defying biological reality and you
00:18:58.140 are crushing women and girls in the process.
00:19:01.340 So there's no fear mongering.
00:19:02.720 You're spot on to be calling this out.
00:19:04.600 It also is likely going to impact women's sports.
00:19:07.220 And this suggestion, you know, I think maybe what you're hearing as well, the guidelines or
00:19:12.080 the regulations don't explicitly say that they apply to sports right now.
00:19:16.000 Well, who cares?
00:19:17.500 I mean, that's just political pandering because the Biden administration has already said
00:19:21.360 very clearly that this redefinition does apply to sports.
00:19:25.680 That's the BPJ case that I just referenced.
00:19:27.980 Right now, we are litigating a case that is going to be heading up likely to the U.S.
00:19:32.760 Supreme Court soon.
00:19:34.320 And the Department of Justice has taken the position that a boy who decided that he was
00:19:40.360 going to identify as a girl has now displaced a number of kids in that particular school in
00:19:47.900 the track and field competitions.
00:19:49.220 And the DOJ, the Department of Justice, has said that's just fine because sex includes
00:19:54.140 gender identity and women no longer have the right to be able to participate in their own
00:19:58.180 sports.
00:19:58.640 They get to be sidelined.
00:20:00.600 Sorry.
00:20:01.020 I just get it.
00:20:01.740 I it is.
00:20:02.660 Do not apologize.
00:20:04.900 We got to have people stand up on this because it just there are so much implications.
00:20:08.620 One more thing, Ali, that I need to mention that is so concerning about this is the guide,
00:20:14.800 the regulations themselves actually embrace secret transition policies.
00:20:21.140 I'm sure you've seen the cases that are going on.
00:20:23.820 We're litigating a host of cases right now where school districts are adopting these policies
00:20:28.080 and they're secretly transitioning kids and lying to the parents.
00:20:31.420 The Biden administration regulation endorses that in the regulation itself.
00:20:37.620 Oh, my goodness.
00:20:38.960 I just want to give people an example of what you're talking about, the danger of what you're
00:20:44.100 talking about, because, again, you hear this rhetoric that says, well, we're just blowing
00:20:50.380 things out of proportion.
00:20:51.720 This is not happening.
00:20:53.040 This is just allowing people to be comfortable, whatever excuse they give.
00:20:57.200 This is just one recent story of many that I've seen over the years.
00:21:01.760 If you don't know the examples of what's happening in women's and girls' private facilities
00:21:07.440 and on their teams, it's because you don't want to know at this point.
00:21:11.200 It's very easy to find all the examples of what you're talking about.
00:21:14.460 But this was reported by The Blaze April 22nd.
00:21:17.800 A 13-year-old boy who identified as a girl violently attacked a 12-year-old girl in a
00:21:22.160 Montgomery County Middle School cafeteria, sending her to the hospital with head trauma
00:21:27.120 just last Wednesday.
00:21:29.460 And one of the girl's friends, her name is Emily, Brave Girl, she gave a testimony to
00:21:36.120 the local community saying, look, I warned teachers that this was going to happen.
00:21:43.600 Teachers had the ability to stop this from happening, and they didn't.
00:21:48.000 Let's play Sop 1.
00:21:49.220 And we had to sit in there and watch them clean up her blood off those tables and ground.
00:21:55.600 And we had to watch them take her out with blood dripping down her face, and I will never
00:22:00.280 forget that.
00:22:01.520 And laying in bed last night, I just kept repeating it in my head, and we shouldn't
00:22:05.060 have had to sit there and just watch that, like, watch them clean up her blood with the
00:22:10.780 mom.
00:22:11.320 Watch her repeatedly yelling that I'm going to murder you and just hitting her with a Stanley.
00:22:15.360 And I don't get how, like, you couldn't have stopped it.
00:22:20.040 It was five hours from when I told you it was going to happen, and when it happened, it
00:22:22.540 was five whole hours.
00:22:23.580 I don't get how you couldn't have stopped that.
00:22:26.320 And how Ms. Fattori said, don't worry, it's not going to happen.
00:22:29.120 We have her under control.
00:22:30.080 But clearly you didn't.
00:22:31.000 Oh, Kristen, I'm trying not to cry because that little girl is so, she's so brave with
00:22:37.120 her voice shaking, and yet she is so bold in defending her friend.
00:22:40.800 So just to give people a little bit of clarity of what happened, this boy, who identified as
00:22:47.140 the opposite sex, of course, was allowed to go into female facilities and had threatened
00:22:51.640 that he was going to beat this other, this young girl with a Stanley cup.
00:22:57.180 People know what that is.
00:22:58.380 It's a stainless steel big drink vessel, so it obviously would hurt, do a lot of damage.
00:23:05.020 And this young girl that gave that testimony, Emily, she said, I warned teachers about this.
00:23:10.140 I said that it was going to happen.
00:23:11.380 The teachers did nothing.
00:23:12.740 And then this young girl was beat mercilessly by this boy.
00:23:17.740 And I'm sorry to say that this is a pattern that we see over and over again.
00:23:22.800 Am I saying that all boys who try to identify as the opposite sex are doing this?
00:23:27.540 No, but if it happens once, it's happened one too many times.
00:23:31.920 As you said, there is a biological reason for sex, separate places, spaces, and it is
00:23:38.960 for the protection of women and girls because boys and girls are different.
00:23:43.480 So here's an example of exactly what you're talking about and what we will now see more
00:23:48.900 of.
00:23:49.180 Yes, that's very true.
00:23:52.180 And I think that we, in this process, we want to, as those who are people of faith and just
00:23:58.620 people who are kind to others, express compassion towards those who are suffering.
00:24:02.600 But expressing compassion doesn't come at the expense of individuals' rights to also be
00:24:08.400 safe and to have private spaces and to not share our bathrooms and our locker rooms and
00:24:13.980 our sports and not to be compelled to say things that we believe are false.
00:24:17.360 And the Biden administration regulation does all of these things.
00:24:21.180 It's moving us to this path where we are having to express a lie and to live a lie.
00:24:27.900 And I think it's important to point out that it's causing not just great harm to those of
00:24:32.800 us who believe in these biological realities, but it's leading children and others to great
00:24:37.980 harm themselves.
00:24:38.760 We know that this idea that we should transition minors as minors into a different sex or identifying
00:24:48.420 as a different sex isn't supported by science.
00:24:50.820 In fact, the data is becoming clear that biological realities are important to reflect and that
00:24:57.040 90% of all kids who receive counseling and work through these issues of the uncomfortableness
00:25:03.620 with their bodies.
00:25:04.280 They live healthy lives in the end, whereas when a student is pumped with hormones or puberty
00:25:10.400 blockers, there are lifelong ramifications to this.
00:25:13.880 And that's one reason why we see Europe right now retreating from the gender identity movement
00:25:19.180 and the studies that they're publishing say this is wrong to do this.
00:25:22.980 It's experimental and it's going to cause great harm to a generation.
00:25:26.120 So, again, I don't think it just affects the students that believe in biological reality,
00:25:31.580 but it's affecting a whole host of families that are being deceived.
00:25:35.220 And that deception is going to cause great, not just injustice, but harm to them on a permanent
00:25:39.780 basis.
00:25:40.300 People have asked me since this change was announced, okay, but what do we do?
00:25:56.760 What do we do?
00:25:57.240 It's a very helpless feeling, which is why I appreciated your tweet, see you in court, POTUS.
00:26:01.720 So, I know what ADF and how you guys will be fighting against this, although I would love
00:26:08.580 to hear more about that.
00:26:10.780 But also, for those of us who aren't lawyers, I mean, what do we do?
00:26:16.060 How can we push back against this?
00:26:17.680 Are we just completely powerless?
00:26:20.360 We are not powerless.
00:26:22.060 And I think it's important to remember that.
00:26:24.380 In some ways, we think we get a free pass if we're not a lawyer or a politician.
00:26:28.380 But what we have to remember is God has called each of us into different areas, and He expects
00:26:34.500 us to live a faithful witness to Him in those areas.
00:26:38.420 So, I love seeing the podcasts that you're putting out, as well as even your own tweets
00:26:43.800 about, again and again, reinforcing biblical truth.
00:26:46.920 Because in the church, there's even a temptation, whether it's how we use pronouns or what we think
00:26:53.160 is loving.
00:26:53.600 We never see in Scripture compromising your biblical witness.
00:26:57.060 It's loving to tell the truth.
00:26:59.260 What matters is how you tell it.
00:27:01.360 And so, I think, again, as Christians committing to, God's Word is true, and it promotes human
00:27:07.400 flourishing, and biological realities matter to all of us.
00:27:11.040 So, looking for those spaces to speak out, not complying when we have these mandates to
00:27:16.900 live by lies.
00:27:17.980 That's the only way that we will get ourselves out of this, is to insist that we will live
00:27:22.580 the truth, and as that young girl did at that public school board meeting, standing up, and
00:27:29.160 as many other parents did, to say, this is wrong, and we will not allow this in our communities.
00:27:35.200 Because these policies aren't just playing out at the federal level, which is a result
00:27:39.220 of who we vote for.
00:27:41.040 But they're also playing out at the local level, in our local communities.
00:27:44.840 And it's not going to be resolved just by litigation.
00:27:48.260 It's not going to be resolved just by state legislation.
00:27:51.860 It's going to be resolved by our witness and what we do in our own local communities.
00:27:57.120 But on the local level, if schools are saying, if institutions who take federal funding are
00:28:02.680 saying, look, you're not going to get this federal funding if you don't comply with this,
00:28:07.080 if you don't expand the definition of sex to mean gender identity, what can the members
00:28:12.600 of that community really do?
00:28:15.000 Like, I mean, do they have the ability to push their local public institutions to say,
00:28:20.480 do not comply with this?
00:28:22.260 What practically does that look like?
00:28:25.900 I think they do have the ability to stress that the school policies need to be protective
00:28:33.580 of biological sex and particularly protective of women and girls, because it's the women and
00:28:38.700 girls that suffer the most under these policies.
00:28:40.640 And I think if enough public schools stand up, the administration will have to back off.
00:28:45.180 And let me give you a case in point right now.
00:28:47.080 We know that the Biden administration takes the position that men should and boys should
00:28:52.840 be able to identify as girls and compete in girls' sports, because we've seen that in
00:28:57.220 the litigation.
00:28:58.280 But they did not.
00:28:59.580 They tried to obscure that in the regulations that have just passed.
00:29:03.080 And why did they try to obscure it?
00:29:05.200 Well, one, they're seeking to chill the speech and try to force these public schools into doing
00:29:09.640 it without necessarily explicitly saying it in the rule.
00:29:13.080 But the reason they're trying to do that is because they know that there will be a backlash
00:29:16.600 by the people.
00:29:17.960 And it's important that they feel that backlash, that we continue to stand up, particularly in
00:29:23.760 this moment and say, our girls are not going to compete against boys.
00:29:27.800 And that's not fair to the women and the girls that have to stand up.
00:29:30.960 But you're seeing more and more people say, no, this is not happening.
00:29:34.280 We're also seeing a number of parents who are standing up.
00:29:37.740 We have a client who one of their daughters was supposed to sleep in a bed in a hotel room
00:29:44.060 with a boy who identifies as a girl without the school telling the parents.
00:29:48.100 And the parents are standing up and saying, no, this is not acceptable.
00:29:52.020 And they're taking action.
00:29:53.120 We have a couple of other parents where their children have been secretly transitioned and
00:29:57.900 they are standing up and saying, we want to change in the school policy.
00:30:01.800 We're going to demand it.
00:30:02.920 And they are filing lawsuits.
00:30:05.040 So I think we have to hold the line on this.
00:30:07.660 And sometimes it's really uncomfortable to do that.
00:30:10.540 But there's too much at stake to not do it.
00:30:13.080 Yes, absolutely.
00:30:14.380 Absolutely.
00:30:14.880 I always think about the story of Yaley Martinez, the young woman from California whose mother
00:30:19.740 was an immigrant.
00:30:20.420 She was transitioned, so-called, against her will at public school.
00:30:24.640 She was taken out of the home because her mom didn't affirm that, that her daughter could
00:30:30.660 become a boy.
00:30:31.800 And so she went into foster care and she went into group homes.
00:30:35.520 And of course, without any support, without the people who really loved her, she was abused.
00:30:39.360 She ended up committing suicide.
00:30:41.200 And that's one of many stories of young women who are taken out of the home.
00:30:45.680 They end up being trafficked, exploited, because, of course, they are now around people who don't
00:30:50.980 have a vested interest in their well-being and their long-term health.
00:30:54.340 Their parents did.
00:30:56.120 And so it's just a very evil pipeline.
00:30:59.060 And you're absolutely right.
00:31:00.180 Parents do have to speak up against it.
00:31:02.460 And it's going to take courage.
00:31:04.180 Like, it's going to take sacrifice.
00:31:06.440 But unfortunately, that's where we are.
00:31:08.040 And as you said, this has happened because of who people voted for in 2020.
00:31:14.680 And we have the opportunity to vote again in November.
00:31:17.800 And we remember that these kinds of things happen because of who is in office, happen
00:31:24.100 because of who is in charge.
00:31:25.540 And so this November, obviously, a lot is at stake there.
00:31:29.180 But tell us how the ADF is involved in pushing back against this.
00:31:33.520 Well, and I would also add that I think another reason that this happened isn't just because
00:31:39.120 of the political process.
00:31:40.260 Because we've got to get past the point of one administration using its executive power.
00:31:47.580 Frankly, with the Biden administration, it's an abuse of power because it goes beyond what
00:31:51.500 the statute says.
00:31:52.500 But our laws and policies shouldn't be so affected by who's in office in the moment.
00:31:57.900 And it really comes down to what we're teaching our own children at our kitchen tables, what we're
00:32:02.260 allowing them to be taught in the schools, and taking back the educational institutions to ensure
00:32:08.220 that our children understand why biology is important.
00:32:12.440 In terms of what ADF's role has been, we work both on the litigation side and the public policy,
00:32:18.620 and also with churches and ministries and Christians to help educate them and provide
00:32:22.920 resources to navigate these issues.
00:32:25.500 So you referenced children that have been put in the foster care system or potentially up for
00:32:32.160 adoption.
00:32:32.760 And I would just mention, I mean, we see this issue as the civil rights issue of our time,
00:32:36.820 of our generation.
00:32:37.580 It has to be one, because in our view, Western civilization depends on it.
00:32:41.720 We cannot ignore reality and have that mandated and have any rights, including parental rights
00:32:48.520 left.
00:32:48.800 But we are also seeing a massive trend in Christians or others who believe in biology and human sexuality,
00:32:57.160 that men are men and women are women being boxed out of being able to provide foster and
00:33:02.660 adoption care.
00:33:03.740 So there are a number of cases right now where we're litigating the fact that you should not
00:33:09.320 be excluded from being able to serve as a foster care parent simply because you are not going
00:33:16.140 to be taking a child to have a puberty blocker injection or take hormones.
00:33:21.880 And yet that is happening again and again.
00:33:24.160 And I just want to reinforce for those who are watching, you know, God has put on our
00:33:29.140 hearts and He's called us to serve those who are in need.
00:33:32.900 And it's wrong for you to step out of that space completely and not challenge what is obviously
00:33:39.740 an obstacle to the Great Commission and to the Cultural Commission.
00:33:43.600 So again, we need more people to stand up and say and expose this and bring light into
00:33:47.940 darkness.
00:33:48.360 Yes, and amen.
00:33:50.220 Absolutely.
00:33:51.000 Well, I'm thankful for ADF and how you guys hopefully are going to be taking this all the
00:33:58.720 way and pushing back as successfully and as effectively as you possibly can.
00:34:04.140 And I'm just so thankful for organizations like yours that are in it.
00:34:09.860 I mean, you really are on the front lines.
00:34:11.960 People talk about commentators being on the front lines and we all have our part to play,
00:34:15.700 but you guys really are and making a tangible difference.
00:34:19.140 And I'm just so thankful for how God has called you and equipped you and thankful for
00:34:23.480 your courage.
00:34:24.860 So I appreciate that.
00:34:26.340 How can people either follow you, support you, but also understand everything that ADF
00:34:32.900 is doing and fighting for?
00:34:36.020 Well, they can keep up.
00:34:37.480 We're on Instagrams at Alliance Defending Freedom.
00:34:40.400 I certainly am on Twitter, as is ADF.
00:34:42.800 We have a website, ADFlegal.org.
00:34:45.240 All of our services are provided free of charge and they can pray for us.
00:34:50.040 But I also just want to highlight that it's our clients that are our heroes.
00:34:54.600 And these are just counselors who are seeking to live faithful to the gospel, women athletes
00:34:59.760 who are seeking to live out biological truth.
00:35:02.760 These are just ordinary people that God has given them a moment to stand.
00:35:06.600 And again, it might be just a stance that you take in explaining to your daughter why it
00:35:11.400 matters, why she's created fearfully and wonderfully made, and why she might feel awkward in the
00:35:18.120 moment.
00:35:18.720 Or it is a doctor who needs to stand and says, no, I'm not going to perform this surgery
00:35:23.600 because it brings harm to my patient.
00:35:25.980 So nobody gets a free pass in this moment.
00:35:28.260 And I believe, and I have seen again and again, that when we take those moments that we know
00:35:33.780 God has called us and we speak truth and we do it in love, that's when we hear that still
00:35:38.720 small voice that says, this is why I made you.
00:35:41.220 So it's tremendously fulfilling.
00:35:43.640 The cost of disobedience is much higher than the cost of obedience in this moment.
00:35:48.220 Yes, and amen.
00:35:49.460 Well, thank you so much, Kristen.
00:35:50.740 I really appreciate you taking the time.
00:35:53.400 Thank you.
00:35:54.480 Thank you.
00:35:54.980 Thank you.
00:35:58.260 All right.
00:36:07.940 So I gave you just one example of the consequences of saying that there are really no differences
00:36:14.040 between the sexes, that if you declare that you are a girl, even though you are a boy, your
00:36:21.860 biology tells you that you are a boy, that you are just as valid in your femininity.
00:36:28.260 In your femaleness, as anyone who is actually biologically a girl, we can see the danger
00:36:35.520 of that, not just when it comes to their physical safety, because of course, that's a huge part
00:36:42.580 of this, whether or not all people who identify, all men who identify as the opposite sex are
00:36:49.740 predators.
00:36:50.260 The fact of the matter is their presence in private facilities is a danger to women because
00:36:57.160 they are bigger than us, because they are stronger than us.
00:37:00.520 Even a guy who is shorter and skinnier is still stronger than the average female because God
00:37:07.960 made men that way.
00:37:09.160 Even if they have been on hormones, even if they're wearing lipstick, even if they have a
00:37:13.460 small stature, they still have bigger bones, they have a greater lung capacity than we
00:37:19.380 do, they have a greater wingspan than we do, they are on average much faster and stronger
00:37:25.180 than we are.
00:37:27.300 And so this puts women and girls at risk.
00:37:31.660 And of course, it also stymies competition.
00:37:35.480 It makes it unfair for women.
00:37:36.880 You heard Kristen talk about those young women who are racing in track, and unfortunately,
00:37:43.260 they have had opportunities, they have had titles, they have had scholarships taken from
00:37:48.320 them because these boys who were okay, they were mediocre runners before when they were
00:37:54.700 competing against other male athletes.
00:37:56.820 Now they have become all-stars, they have become champions because of course, they are still men.
00:38:02.900 After you go through male puberty, it's done.
00:38:06.320 You've got all of the benefits of testosterone.
00:38:09.440 Even if you try to go back on those benefits by injecting your body with estrogen, what has
00:38:15.720 been done to your body, to your muscle mass, to your heart, to your lungs during puberty,
00:38:20.860 it really is irreversible.
00:38:23.260 And girls who do not, cannot go through male puberty, even if they are injected with cross-sex
00:38:29.060 hormones during their preteen years, they are just not receiving those benefits.
00:38:34.600 Men and women are different, really from the point of conception.
00:38:38.440 This is biologically true.
00:38:40.420 I actually have the biggest debate that I have done, the longest debate that I've done on
00:38:45.180 this subject coming out next month, Ellen Fisher's podcast.
00:38:49.760 I flew to California to film this, and I am actually debating someone who identifies himself
00:38:55.960 as non-binary, and we went back and forth on this for almost three hours.
00:39:01.360 Really interesting and good conversation.
00:39:03.600 Very civil, by the way, extremely respectful.
00:39:06.720 But at the end of the day, biology wins.
00:39:09.240 At the end of the day, I didn't have to be some skilled debater to present my side.
00:39:14.160 It is just so obvious and true that there are male-female differences from the point of
00:39:19.820 conception onward that really cannot be changed.
00:39:22.940 And that is why we have had Title IX.
00:39:25.200 That is why we have sex separate spaces.
00:39:28.140 That is why we have different gender roles, different roles in society.
00:39:33.100 Those gender roles don't prove to be as important when it comes to non-physical roles.
00:39:40.340 But because men and women's bodies are different, we need sex separate spaces.
00:39:46.260 We need sex separate teams.
00:39:48.560 And we are going to see the worst and the most gut-wrenching and disturbing consequences because of this.
00:40:00.380 Let me give you a few more examples of what this looks like when we decide that boys who want to
00:40:06.540 become girls get to share spaces with girls.
00:40:10.100 This is also reported by The Blaze.
00:40:12.160 September 29th of last year, a viral cell phone video shows an Oregon middle school girl getting
00:40:17.600 beaten up by an attacker who everyone at the school is claiming is actually a male who identifies
00:40:23.620 as a female.
00:40:25.200 The school district won't say whether or not this person has that so-called gender identity.
00:40:32.540 Redux also reported last year, June 1st, 2023, an Oklahoma school is being sued by a mother
00:40:41.180 of a female student who was assaulted by a trans-identifying male in the women's bathroom.
00:40:47.760 Of course, when your policy is that men can go into these bathrooms, you are going to get
00:40:54.160 men, whether they identify as the opposite sex or not, exploiting that rule so that they
00:40:59.900 can beat up on women.
00:41:01.300 Ask yourself, I've seen this question posed before, but ask yourself what kind of boy wants
00:41:08.080 to enter a space in which they know there are going to be naked girls, vulnerable girls,
00:41:16.140 girls who are uncomfortable with a male presence.
00:41:18.420 That's not a sane or stable man.
00:41:20.680 I don't think that's even a man who truly has, or a boy who truly has what's called gender
00:41:26.160 dysphoria.
00:41:26.820 These stories that we see in locker rooms, in Planet Fitness, in spas, in bathrooms, in
00:41:34.760 locker rooms of these basically exhibitionist men, flashing women, flashing girls, getting
00:41:43.340 off on doing that.
00:41:44.940 This is not an example of gender dysphoria.
00:41:48.800 Gender dysphoria means you have a consistent, persistent, insistent discomfort in your own
00:41:54.720 body from a young age that you feel like you just want to escape your skin.
00:42:00.500 This almost exclusively happens in boys, by the way, and has throughout history.
00:42:06.900 And it has also historically been a tiny, tiny sampling of boys who just feel like they are
00:42:13.740 in the wrong body.
00:42:15.160 It typically manifests itself in a lot of hiding and a lot of covering up and a lot of insecurity
00:42:21.600 and a lot of just of trying to isolate yourself away from the public.
00:42:30.980 And so these boys that we see going into girls' bathrooms and going into women's facilities
00:42:36.460 who want to show off their male body parts, who are beating up on and sexually assaulting
00:42:42.380 these women, they don't have gender dysphoria.
00:42:45.540 We don't have to have compassion for the idea that they think that they're the opposite
00:42:51.140 sex.
00:42:51.540 They don't.
00:42:52.880 Now, they might have some abuse in their past.
00:42:55.760 They might have things that we should feel compassion for.
00:42:58.780 And of course, they're still made in the image of God.
00:43:01.020 And so we think that they have innate worth.
00:43:02.700 But we really need to rack in with the fact that these boys and men infiltrating these
00:43:09.320 spaces and flaunting their bodies to intimidate and humiliate women are actually just porn-addled
00:43:16.960 perverts.
00:43:18.500 Period.
00:43:18.900 When you see it from that perspective, which I truly believe from the many interviews that
00:43:24.980 I've done, from the journalists that I've talked to, from the activists that I've talked
00:43:28.260 to, from the detransitioners that I've talked to, all of the reading and all of the research
00:43:32.860 that I have done over the past five or so years, I truly believe that that is what is driving
00:43:40.160 this ideology is pornography and perversion and sexual immorality and sexual depravity.
00:43:47.360 And when you see it from that perspective, at least when I'm talking about boys and men
00:43:53.960 trying to be the opposite sex, when you see it from that perspective, you can stop being
00:44:00.080 so crippled by this, what I call toxic empathy that preempts you from being bold in the truth,
00:44:10.500 that prohibits you from seeing and saying things as they actually are.
00:44:17.060 When you see that you don't have to have this crippling feeling of compassion for these
00:44:24.780 boys and men who are going into women's spaces, when you can actually see them as what many
00:44:31.500 of them, I can't say all, but what many of them are, these sexually depraved people that
00:44:36.800 actually get off on making women uncomfortable, then maybe you will find the gumption and find
00:44:42.540 the strength to stand up for your daughters, maybe then you will be able to stand at the
00:44:49.480 pulpit and use the platform that God has given you and say, enough, enough.
00:44:56.000 And what really just makes me so angry and makes me so upset is that so many of the evangelical
00:45:04.340 leaders that I saw stand up in the summer of 2020 and bravely, using scare quotes because
00:45:14.120 I have my problems with this, but they use their voices to speak out against things like so-called
00:45:21.260 white supremacy and systemic and institutionalist and institutional and structural racism and white
00:45:29.700 privilege and speak up on behalf of Black Lives Matter and anti-racism and speak out against
00:45:38.560 white fragility.
00:45:40.500 They were so quick to post the black square to make sure that they had the round tables and
00:45:46.200 the sermons at their church talking about the big problem of systemic racism and social injustice
00:45:54.120 even pushed and perpetuated by the church.
00:45:58.980 And now the reason why I say that with just a tinge of sarcasm is because the connections
00:46:05.060 that were made during that time between slavery and historic racism to any disparities or injustices
00:46:14.760 today is extremely dubious.
00:46:17.620 Those connections are extremely dubious.
00:46:19.520 They're fraught with a lot of logical inconsistencies and just ahistorical analysis.
00:46:26.880 Obviously, I am not saying that racism shouldn't be talked about or that injustice against people
00:46:33.020 for any reason shouldn't be discussed.
00:46:35.580 I'm not saying that those conversations shouldn't be had, but those conversations and the activism
00:46:41.420 that I saw from the evangelical church largely pushed unbiblical principles when it came to
00:46:49.200 justice and when it came to the relations between white people and Black people, white Christians
00:46:56.680 and Black Christians, this language that was employed by them was extremely worldly, extremely
00:47:03.480 divisive, extremely secular, saying things like white privilege, basically putting the onus
00:47:09.780 all on white people, taking the agency away from Black people, preaching two different messages,
00:47:15.540 almost two different gospels to white and Black people in the name of so-called racial reconciliation.
00:47:23.040 I mean, I had a lot of problems with all of that, but I say all that to say that evangelicals
00:47:28.180 were willing to stand up for a so-called social injustice that they didn't even really have a
00:47:34.080 biblical response to four years ago.
00:47:36.420 But now they won't stand up against this real, true, clear, objective injustice that the Bible
00:47:43.680 very clearly speaks to in the first chapter of the first book of the Bible.
00:47:48.980 Like, there's a lot in debate, a lot of debate and discussion around what it looks like to
00:47:53.900 have a biblical and Christian response to a police officer's interaction with a Black person,
00:47:59.660 like what justice actually looks like, which we've talked about exhaustively on this podcast.
00:48:04.300 Justice, according to the Bible, and social justice, according to secular society, are not the same
00:48:10.340 things. And yet when it comes to this, this issue of the denial of the gender binary and the risk
00:48:21.140 that that places, especially on women and girls, but really on all people and all children in
00:48:26.620 particular, we all of a sudden have those same evangelicals unwilling to say what the Bible
00:48:35.480 says is true. It's so clear in scripture. It's in the first chapter of the first book of the Bible,
00:48:42.600 Genesis 127, God made them in his image, in his image. He created them male and female. He created
00:48:50.260 them, boom, right there. Jesus repeats that in Matthew 19, 4 through 5. In responding to a question
00:48:57.620 about divorce, he did not have to bring it all the way back to creation and its explicit
00:49:04.820 distinctions, definitions of male and female, but he did because that mattered to him. Have you not read,
00:49:11.420 Jesus said that in the beginning, God made them male and female? He's talking about marriage,
00:49:18.240 but he is clearly defining marriage and the importance of marriage by the reality of the
00:49:24.460 gender binary, by the biological reality of the gender binary, male and female. We see that definition
00:49:31.300 of male and female, the definition of gender all throughout scripture from the beginning of creation
00:49:39.180 in the first chapter all the way to Revelation 22 and the marriage supper between Christ and the church
00:49:46.060 where Christ is called the groom and the church is called the bride. That is a gender distinction
00:49:53.380 that shows that the gender definitions of marriage on earth actually have an eternal and profound and
00:50:00.840 spiritual meaning as we read in Ephesians 5. We've got it all right there. It's not confusing.
00:50:08.400 It's not nuanced. It's not gray. It's actually very black and white all throughout scripture that God has
00:50:16.480 made us male and female, that these are distinctions that actually matter, that manifest themselves in the
00:50:23.300 world in important ways. And yet, so few pastors, so few Christian teachers, so few Christian influencers
00:50:35.160 who were all about being social justice activists four years ago will speak up about this now.
00:50:43.500 Why? Why? Because many of these people who fancy themselves brave,
00:50:50.740 they're really very cowardly. Because see, you got a lot of applause by the secular world
00:50:57.780 and by progressives four years ago if you were willing to just repeat their mantras and maybe
00:51:02.180 put Micah 6-8 in front of it when you were talking about racism and discrimination back in 2020.
00:51:09.020 That was popular. That was mainstream popular. You got written about positively by the New York Times
00:51:15.580 and by the Atlantic. But now, if you say, I can't get on board with that and I am going to speak out
00:51:24.080 vehemently against this gender confusion and gender deception, you're not going to get positive press.
00:51:34.360 All those people that were clapping for you, all those people in the secular world,
00:51:38.100 all those progressives that were on your side back in 2020 when you were posting the black square,
00:51:42.620 they're going to turn their back against you. And if you have not counted the cost, you might not
00:51:48.700 think it's worth it. A lot of that activism back in 2020, while much of it might have been sincere
00:51:56.340 and might have been from a true motivation of thinking that you are doing good, a lot of it
00:52:05.040 was selfish, I think. I think. I don't know. I can't say. But when I look at the inconsistencies
00:52:12.880 and what that batch of evangelical Christians is actually willing to stand up for, sometimes
00:52:18.600 they'll give abortion a mention every now and then. Sometimes they'll talk about, I don't know,
00:52:26.760 maybe some other things that they know the Bible speaks against and traditionally fall into the
00:52:34.660 conservative definitions of what's important. Sometimes they'll do that, but very few of them
00:52:41.580 will talk about the definition of marriage anymore. Very few of them will talk about the reality of
00:52:48.000 gender. Very few of them will be public on their Instagram stories and in their Instagram feeds about
00:52:54.220 this because for some reason, for some reason, they're so scared to offend people when it comes to this
00:53:01.840 subject. They weren't scared. They weren't scared of offending white evangelicals when they were
00:53:06.660 talking about white fragility and white privilege. They weren't scared of offending Trump supporters.
00:53:13.040 They weren't scared of offending Republican voters four years ago. Now, that offense was worth it to
00:53:18.380 them. But now they say, well, they are scared to offend the man who identifies as the opposite sex.
00:53:26.180 They are scared to offend the two men who threw surrogacy by a baby. They're too scared to offend those
00:53:33.420 people. They weren't scared to offend their legitimate brothers and sisters in Christ who were white Trump
00:53:39.940 voting evangelicals four years ago, who many of them categorized and cascaded as racist just because of who
00:53:47.520 they voted for and because of the absence of a black square. That just goes to show that the activism of some
00:53:54.660 of these people is purely selfishly motivated. It's not about care for the marginalized. It's not about
00:54:02.460 care for the vulnerable. You know who's marginalized and vulnerable? These kids who are being put on
00:54:07.740 puberty blockers. These girls who are losing opportunities because men are now competing against
00:54:15.160 them. Women in prison who are forced to share spaces, to share prison cells with male rapists who now
00:54:27.860 identify as women. This is happening in this country. And how many pastors, how many Christians do you know
00:54:36.080 are speaking up about it? This is a civil rights issue. Don't you spout off about Micah 6-8 if all you
00:54:45.320 talk about is the issue that the secular world disagrees with you on. That America is some systemically
00:54:54.340 racist country that needs to be gutted and basically rebuilt in the image of DEI. That's not
00:55:05.740 courage. That's not courage. You sound just like the world. You're defining justice as they do. If you
00:55:13.080 want to be courageous and if you want to be loving as God defines loving because love rejoices with the
00:55:20.180 truth, as 1 Corinthians 13-6 tells us, if you want to be loving as God defines loving and God gets to
00:55:27.560 define loving because he is love, 1 John 4-8, then you will simply agree with Genesis 1-27. You will
00:55:35.020 represent that to the world because if you believe that God is in charge of all things because he
00:55:40.240 created all things, if you believe that his ways are better, then you will be loud and proud about
00:55:48.580 those things. That doesn't mean that you have to be purposely offensive. That doesn't mean that you
00:55:52.640 have to be spiteful. That doesn't mean that you have to be sarcastic. That doesn't mean those things.
00:55:57.320 Just understand that truth will offend the world and it matters, pastor. It matters. If you're a girl dad
00:56:04.540 and you're not speaking up about this, shame on you. Shame on you. You don't have to have a public
00:56:12.780 platform. I'm not saying that. You don't have to run for office. But with whatever sphere of influence
00:56:18.240 God has given you, whether it's five people or 5,000 people, you need to be speaking up about this.
00:56:23.040 This matters. This is an assault on creation. And because of that, it's making vulnerable girls
00:56:31.360 even more vulnerable. Okay. I promised y'all that we would talk about Taylor Swift and we really don't
00:56:38.900 have time. So maybe we'll do a little bit of Taylor Swift. And then if we have time and a future
00:56:45.600 episode, we'll break it down. We'll break it down some more. But I promised you guys that we would.
00:56:52.020 All right. All right, Brie. Your girl, Taylor Swift, has released an album. She released an album
00:57:14.560 on Friday. This is her 11th studio album, The Tortured Poets Department. Two hours after
00:57:22.500 releasing the album, Swift announced that the album was a surprise double album, dropping 15
00:57:28.020 additional songs to complete this album. And the four days since its release, the album has become
00:57:33.300 Spotify's most streamed album in a single day, exceeding 200 million streams. While the album's
00:57:38.020 title single, Fortnite, featuring Post Malone, became the streaming platform's most streamed song
00:57:43.520 in a single day. Wow. Now some Christians are pointing to problematic lyrics from Taylor Swift's
00:57:49.300 latest album, The Tortured Poets Department. All right. Before we get into some of those lyrics,
00:57:54.960 I want to set this up a little bit for those of you who are maybe new here and who don't know.
00:58:01.440 So we've talked about Taylor Swift a few times. Obviously, I and Brie too. We disagree with her
00:58:06.860 politically. And I would not call myself a Swifty. But I have enjoyed many of her albums and many of
00:58:13.460 her songs. I've kind of been just like agnostic about her. I do listen to like if she puts a new
00:58:19.240 album out, I like typically listen to a couple songs. Of course, I think they're catchy. Of course,
00:58:23.960 I understand why people like her. I don't like when people are like, I have no idea why people like
00:58:29.260 Taylor Swift. Like she is not talented. That's obviously not true. I mean, you cannot like her.
00:58:35.640 And you can even think that she's unimpressive, like her songwriting abilities or whatever,
00:58:39.800 because it's subjective. But I can see why she is impressive. I can see why tens of millions of
00:58:45.780 girls flock to her. I can see why she is appealing. And of course, I've liked some of her music.
00:58:52.680 However, some of the lyrics in this particular album are just extremely blasphemous.
00:58:59.880 Extremely sacrilegious. And I do find it. I do find them disturbing. So I'm going to go through
00:59:05.480 some of those lyrics. We're going to get Bree's take because she does consider herself a Swifty.
00:59:11.980 I laughed at Bree's story. She said that like people text you, like you said that people text
00:59:17.420 you when she puts an album out like you did it, like congratulating you. They congratulate me.
00:59:21.720 They're like, happy release day. Congratulations. And I'm like, thanks.
00:59:25.120 Like everyone's thinking of you when Taylor Swift puts out an album. So I'll get Bree's take on this
00:59:31.980 because Bree is not, let me just say, Bree is not like an unhinged Swifty, okay? I would say some
00:59:38.100 Swifties as well as some of the Beehive and Ariana Grande fans and K-pop fans are truly like detached
00:59:45.120 from reality and they cannot even like ever criticize the person that they are a fan of.
00:59:50.360 That's not Bree. So we're going to get her take in just a second. But let me tell you some of these,
00:59:56.120 I think, really disturbing lyrics in some of these songs on this new album.
01:00:00.780 So one of the songs is called Guilty as Sin. And it says,
01:00:05.820 what if I roll the stone away? They're going to crucify me anyway. What if the way you hold me
01:00:10.840 is actually what's holy? If long-suffering propriety is what they want from me, they don't
01:00:16.640 know how you've haunted me so stunningly. I choose you and me religiously. The Berean millennial, Katie,
01:00:24.040 she released or she posted some of these lyrics on Axe and she said that almost half of the songs on
01:00:30.840 her newest album. I don't know. I haven't listened to all the songs. Either make fun of Christians or
01:00:36.520 blaspheme him. The smallest man who ever lived, one of the lines is, because it wasn't sexy once
01:00:43.240 it wasn't forbidden. I would have died for your sins. Instead, I just died inside. And then there is,
01:00:51.300 but daddy, I love him. And we've got a researcher note. The song is not a response to Christians,
01:00:56.100 despite her using the small town metaphor throughout its response to fans who cried out to
01:01:00.700 cancel her when she was dating Maddie Healy, who has made jokes and said things in the past that
01:01:04.980 people deem offensive. When her album Speak Now Taylor version came out, she was dating Maddie.
01:01:11.700 A group of fans created the Speak Up Now campaign requesting that Taylor give more than a simple
01:01:18.240 apology for the bigoted remarks that Maddie Healy has made. Okay, I didn't know any of that.
01:01:22.460 So this response is apparently in response to those people. So she says, for example,
01:01:29.040 clutching their pearls, sighing, what a mess. I just learned these people try and save you
01:01:33.660 because they hate you. Too high a horse for a simple girl to rise above it. Blah, blah, blah.
01:01:39.440 God saved the most judgmental creeps who say they want what's best for me. Sanctimoniously
01:01:45.020 performing soliloquies. I'll never see yada, yada, yada. I don't really know why we even included that
01:01:51.060 song in this, but I don't know. I guess it's just people thought that it was a response to Christians
01:01:55.820 and it wasn't actually a response to Christians, but people were kind of understandably upset about
01:02:02.200 that. She also had this song in 2019 from her album Lover. False God, I guess, is the song,
01:02:08.880 but we might just get away with it. Religion's in your lips. Even if it's a false God, we'd still
01:02:13.160 worship. We might just get away with it. The altar is my hips. Even if it's a false God, we'd still
01:02:18.480 worship this love. We still worship this love. Blah. But we can patch it up good, make confessions,
01:02:23.860 and we're begging for forgiveness. Got the wine for you. Yikes. Okay, Brie. She's got some
01:02:31.620 sacrilegious and some blasphemous stuff up in here. What was your thought? As a Christian who
01:02:39.160 likes Taylor Swift, as you were listening to this, what were you thinking? Yeah, I think
01:02:44.700 there's a little bit more in this album than there has been in the past, but I included that
01:02:48.680 from her 2019 album because I remember hearing that song and thinking, okay, this is
01:02:53.860 pretty sacrilegious at that time, too. So it's not exactly new for her. And at that time,
01:03:00.060 I couldn't find the exact interview, but I remember her saying something about how she
01:03:04.780 is just fascinated by religious themes. She was like, I've never been religious, but I'm
01:03:09.900 interested in the themes. And I was like, I don't know what that means. So she just kind
01:03:14.980 of said that she's never been religious. Yeah, she said that. I think that was maybe in 2018
01:03:19.580 when she said that. Yeah. Because remember in that when she was talking about Marsha Blackburn
01:03:24.180 and that she said that she was a Christian. She was like, as a Christian. And I think people
01:03:30.040 have kind of assumed that she's like at least a Christian in name. So that's interesting.
01:03:34.720 Yeah. And she apparently is because that documentary was after she said this thing about like, I've
01:03:40.980 never really been religious. So yes, obviously it's like all nominal. But yeah, no, I mean,
01:03:46.820 there are a lot of songs that I don't condemn or that I don't condone from Taylor Swift. And
01:03:54.300 some of these are some of them. I still think the album's really good. I also think there are a lot
01:03:58.820 of themes in it that are actually really good. So I don't know. It's kind of like every Taylor Swift
01:04:05.620 album. Some things I think are really not worth listening to and some are. Yeah. So I go back and
01:04:11.660 forth on this myself as someone who is like not a Swifty, but does, you know, like and can appreciate
01:04:16.740 some of her songs. Like some of her songs I just, I can't listen to. And again, I haven't listened to
01:04:21.820 this album. I maybe have listened to one song, but there are some songs like on her last album,
01:04:27.260 she had a song called Karma that I just thought was really sad. And I'm sure that's how she thinks.
01:04:32.400 And I think that's how a lot of women think that karma is something that's real. It's basically
01:04:36.660 like a works based religion, but it's also a very like vindictive way to think. And I think from the
01:04:42.600 songs that she has, that she is a very vindictive, she does seem to have a vindictive streak. And to
01:04:48.760 me, she also dons this kind of humility that not real humility, or maybe it is real humility,
01:04:56.540 but it makes it seem like she is a victim and that she has always, you know, kept her side of the
01:05:02.380 street clean. And she has always kind of been the good girl and people have come after her totally
01:05:07.760 unprovoked. And because of that, I have to get back at them. Maybe you should be afraid of me
01:05:13.100 kind of thing. And that persona is probably charming. I think it speaks. It seems sad to me.
01:05:19.580 It seems sad. It seems a little bit unstable to me. It's not something that is like appealing when I
01:05:24.620 listen, when I really think about like all of her songs and the kind of persona that she builds.
01:05:29.680 I'm like, I don't know if this is something that I would ever want to be friends with and
01:05:34.440 definitely needs Jesus for sure. But I go back and forth between like, okay, do people hold her to
01:05:40.500 too high of a standard? Do we, for some reason, hold her to a standard that we don't hold any other
01:05:47.480 artist? Like no one has these, like all these tweets and all of this, like these op-eds about like
01:05:53.740 Ariana Grande and the things that she sings about or some of the other artists that are similar to
01:06:01.960 Taylor Swift. Like people just don't talk about them as much. But then I also go back and I think,
01:06:09.140 well, I think the reason why people point this out about Taylor Swift, even though she's not
01:06:14.400 religious, so none of this stuff should really be surprising at all, is because so many Christian
01:06:20.720 women listen to her and do kind of give her a pass. Like they wouldn't listen to hip hop or they
01:06:26.980 wouldn't listen to like Lil Nas X because he's blasphemous, but they will jam out to Taylor Swift.
01:06:34.340 They will go to her concert. They will take their 13 year old daughters to their concert while she's,
01:06:40.200 you know, dancing in a leotard on a chair. And because it's Taylor Swift and she has a wholesome
01:06:45.540 image, they kind of excuse her blasphemy and sacrilege in a way that maybe they wouldn't for
01:06:54.000 another artist. So I don't know. I go back and forth on that a lot. I don't know what you think.
01:06:58.740 No, I think that's a fair point. I do take issue with people exaggerating some of these things. Like
01:07:05.200 I would disagree. I don't think half the album references things like this, like negative things
01:07:11.880 like this. But I also don't think that most of her fans are under 15, which a lot of people claim.
01:07:17.440 That's just not true. A lot of her fans are like my age. They've grown with her. Yeah,
01:07:21.100 they've grown with her. So yes, people are taking their daughters to her concerts for sure. I think
01:07:25.880 that's a fair point. But I think that a lot of people get a lot wrong about it as well when they
01:07:31.460 criticize her. So yeah, I think people need to be a little bit more even handed with it. In my opinion,
01:07:36.600 I think what's fair is to say that I think we should if anyone thinks like, for some reason
01:07:43.220 that she is like, that these are wholesome lyrics and a wholesome example. And like someone that you
01:07:50.780 want, like as a Christian, your daughters to look up to, or that this is someone that you can let your
01:07:56.240 daughters listen to without you first assessing the lyrics. Then you need to just get that out of
01:08:02.040 your head because that's not true. Like in the same way that it, you know, my parents were like,
01:08:06.840 what is Christina Aguilera? And what are Britney Spears? What are they talking about? How did we go
01:08:13.140 from the first album to slave for you? Like big difference. Of course, my at first it was like,
01:08:20.440 oh, Britney Spears is a Christian. She's from Louisiana. The same thing I think about, I don't know,
01:08:26.100 Mandy Moore and those people. And then you kind of see, okay, as they grow up, the image is different.
01:08:31.540 The lyrics are different. And you have to start paying attention to those things. For some reason,
01:08:36.160 I do think that, I don't know, simultaneously, I see on one hand that it seems like Taylor Swift
01:08:41.500 is held to like a Christian standard, even though she is not a Christian and is really not really
01:08:47.520 said that she has. Maybe she's gone back and forth on that. But, and then on the other hand,
01:08:51.800 I feel like she just gets like a total free pass from Christians who should know better and to think
01:08:58.320 that she is like some Christian example and she's just not. So I think if you just see her how she
01:09:03.400 is, she's a secular artist who has sexual, well, yeah, secular sexual values and a secular sexual
01:09:11.160 ethic. And she is going to play into this theme that is really popular right now, which is playing
01:09:16.980 upon religious themes as, you know, Madonna did 40 years ago. And like a prayer, like, I think that you
01:09:23.400 can see it clear-eyed. That doesn't mean that you should approve of it. That doesn't mean that your
01:09:26.620 daughter should be listening to it. Maybe you shouldn't even be listening to it. But I also
01:09:31.400 think that when people view her as like, I don't know, some sort of like witch that is putting people
01:09:37.720 in a trance, I'm not so sure I would go that far. I don't think she's necessarily unique in that way.
01:09:43.220 I don't know. Is there anything else you want to add?
01:09:46.180 No, I think you covered it.
01:09:47.960 Yeah.
01:09:48.340 I'm not offended by people who really, really dislike her for these reasons. I just think there's a
01:09:56.140 little bit of nuance, personally. So, yeah.
01:09:59.760 Yeah. Got it. Got it. Resident Swifty has weighed in. All right. That's what I think. And you know
01:10:05.460 what we all have to do to make sure that what we are imbibing is lovely and pure and excellent and
01:10:13.460 praiseworthy. And that is the call of the Christian. I certainly don't get that right all the time.
01:10:20.400 And I still regret watching The Sopranos all the way through like five years ago. I'm haunted by
01:10:25.660 that. I should have listened to Philippians 4 and I shouldn't have watched that because it wasn't
01:10:32.840 pure excellent and I still have those scenes in my head. So, I've learned my lesson. I've learned
01:10:37.400 my lesson. All right. That's all we've got time for. For today, we will be back here tomorrow with
01:10:42.760 an awesome guest. I'm so excited. See you guys then.