Have your say: How to submit an opinion column or letter to the editor

"Memo from the Middle" is an opinion column written by RGJ columnist Pat Hickey, a member of the Nevada Legislature from 1996 to 2016. 

It’s as American as mom and apple pie. Or so says the classic idiom, even if it’s not entirely true. In spite of how much Americans crave our iconic dessert, neither apples nor pie actually came from America. Go ahead and remove it from the pedestal of American gastronomical delights. It won’t bother me, or rattle the foundations of Western civilization.

But when it comes to dispensing with the second half of that great colloquialism —motherhood — that’s a whole different story. Let me explain why.

A seemingly innocuous piece of legislation — Assembly Bill 287, which deals with the licensing of birthing centers and the practice of midwifery — passed both houses of the Nevada Legislature last week. Both are a good thing.

The problem most Nevadans will have with this bill is that way it deals with the status of the terms "mother" and "father." The proposed legislation changes Chapter 440 of the Nevada Revised Statutes by calling for birth certificates to heretofore replace the term “mother,” with a new description: “the person giving birth.” The term “father” also would be changed to “the parent who did not give birth.”

Why in the world would we throw out terms that seem so fundamentally biological, emotional, and serve as such a familial reality to so many?

It’s complicated. Which is probably the reason why sponsors of the bill quietly inserted the language in a last-minute floor amendment during deadline time when bills are rushed through with little or no notice. No such opportunity to discuss was afforded the public in the case of this eyebrow-raising legislation. Why?

I said it’s complicated. It’s also a sensitive issue, especially for those pushing for the change in terminology. It has to do with the way gender identities are evolving and the advent of individual’s transitioning from one sex to another.

An example that sponsors of the bill are no doubt aware of is a Reno couple who gave birth 11 months ago to a new addition to their family. The unique difference being the birth “mother” was in the process of transitioning to identifying as a male. The birth “father” now identifies as a female. Both were uncomfortable with filling out the vital statistics forms that become a part of a child’s birth certificate.

In interviewing the parent (who I’ve known for years), who gave birth to the baby I heard crying in the background, it was easy to feel sympathetic about the challenges both parents are facing. I’m happy for their child, who has two loving parents caring for her needs.

My question is — why should their unique situation, and that of an arguably minuscule minority of parents nationwide and in Nevada, result in changing the terminology for the overwhelming majority of other birth parents? Other parents, who may one day treasure placing a copy of their child’s birth certificate in a baby scrapbook showing them as the mother and father.

One wonders if there is a political agenda at play here. Dr. Debra Soh, a Ph.D sexologist and neuroscientist, thinks so. In an opinion column in the Los Angles Times, she argues that novel transgender activists' views are in conflict with widely accepted scientific views of human evolution. Soh writes about new “gender ideology” that proposes; “Sex differences are caused by a socialization process that begins at birth ... we are born as blank slates and it is parents and society at large that produce the differences we see between women and men in adulthood.”

In interviewing Ethan Clift, the “person giving birth” previously mentioned, he acknowledges that “99 percent of Nevadans are going to identify in the usual sense as mothers or fathers.” Ethan thinks it would “have been fairer and more inclusive to make the different designation optional.” That would at least represent a compromise — rather than throwing out the term "mothers," so to speak, with the proverbial political bathwater.

I understand the reasons for activists wanting to see Nevada become more inclusive. Still, you don’t make matters more inclusive for a minority by excluding the desires of the majority. Hurting people’s feelings (and their traditions) doesn’t help create tolerance towards those that are different.

Then what should we do with moms and apple pie? Go ahead and get rid of the calorie producer. But let’s keep including the life-producing ones — mothers and fathers — the way we always have on our birth certificates.

"Memo from the Middle" is an opinion column written by RGJ columnist Pat Hickey, a member of the Nevada Legislature from 1996 to 2016. 

Have your say: How to submit an opinion column or letter to the editor

Read or Share this story: https://ift.tt/3frEvpS