“Lament” became a thing when Black Lives Matter took center stage. White guys everywhere lamented their whiteness and their innate racism. We were confused by prominent white leaders (many of them evangelical pastors) confessing their unrepentant racism. That was a new thing. One well-known evangelical pastor said with a straight face, “I’m a racist. I’ll always be a racist.”

And here, I’ve always thought racism was a sin. This guy talked like racism was a skin condition. It didn’t make sense until I learned that, according to Critical Race Theory, “whiteness” means racist. Racism isn’t a sin; it is privilege – that invisible knapsack the system gave us. We aren’t supposed to repent of the racism but use our privilege to end the system. We must lament (i.e., signal that we know our privilege and wish not to have it anymore).

“Lament” has become a posture for some in Utah. I’m old enough to remember when our current Governor, preparing for his bid for the governorship, wept and cried over his previous anti-homosexual stance. We in Utah push back against the LGBTQ agenda. We recapture the ground they claimed – like the women’s locker room, women’s bathroom, and women’s sports – and then lament our victory. We feel this craven need to extend an olive branch. The dragon roars, and we deliver a fair maiden. Lament is the gutless way people express their inner conflict when they prevail.

But we aren’t playing football, Beulah. This isn’t a game. We are in a war for the heart and soul of our culture. Transgenderism is a bald-faced attempt to overthrow God’s image in man. It undermines everything good and wholesome and natural about our society. It denies one of humanity’s most glorious features – the distinctions between men and women. When we lock men out of the women’s bathroom, we’re saying, “This isn’t for you; you can’t have it.” Any decent society would protect their women this way.

The Utah Legislature passed a transgender sports bill in the 2023 session. They passed a transgender bathroom bill this session. They kicked DEI out of the universities. This is commendable and right. But of course, Equality Utah is at the losing end of the blowout as the Utah Legislature runs up the score.

Once upon a time, I was coaching a high school basketball game. We were at the business end of an absolute blowout, up by twenty at the half. I put our starters in for the first two minutes of the second half. Within thirty seconds of the second-half tip, I turned to find the opposing coach in my face, yelling about my unsportsmanlike conduct.

Perhaps this explains the Natalie Cline issue of the past couple of weeks. My blog isn’t generally Utah-focused. So, writing about a Utah-focused issue might be a bit risky. But the Natalie Cline case made national news. She sparked a firestorm, and our dispute is relevant on a national level.

Continue reading “White Knights, the Cult of Nice, and Natalie Cline” →