CITIZEN: A time for conviction: what the election should tell social conservatives about policy priorities

In the closing days of the 2024 presidential campaign, now President-elect Trump and his team ran advertisements with the refrain “Kamala is for they/them, President Trump is for you.” The goal of this media campaign was seemingly to highlight Vice President Harris’ record on social issues pertaining specifically to transgenderism. Attention was given to Harris’ views on men being able to participate in women’s sports, giving taxpayer-funded gender surgeries to prisoners, and her general ideological alignment with the forms, they connect equality of persons with a subjective reality—degrees of accomplishment—rather than an objective quality of the image of God displayed in each human being. As a result, men who are told that their masculinity is evil and oppressive seek to escape it by acting and “becoming” feminine. Further, women who are told that the only way for them to be valued in society is through jettisoning their femininity have been pursuing harmful behaviors and medical treatments designed to “make” them more masculine. The well-being of society, and the promotion of good with which governing authorities are charged by God, begins with protecting and promoting proper visions of male and female, masculine and feminine as designed by extremely progressive leadership of the LGBTQ moral revolution.

Only now, after the results have come in, is the sizable impact of that ad—and of socially conservative messaging in general—truly able to be measured. The result? The 2024 election cycle will stand as one of the clearest signals from the American electorate pushing back against cultural wokeness since the rise of the Moral Majority in the 1980s. Doing so in a strong, unambiguous manner is clearly desired by voters. More importantly, resolving to fight fiercely for cultural renewal according to biblical principles is the duty of every follower of Christ, especially those called to be God’s servants in Frankfort and in Washington (Rom. 13:4).

In their Voter Analysis of the 2024 electorate, Fox News asked voters, “Do you think support for transgender rights in government and society has gone too far, not gone far enough, or been about right?” In reply, a full 55% of respondents indicated that support for transgenderism by governing authorities had gone too far. Further, 83% of respondents indicated that the country ought to experience at least substantial change. Taking these two numbers together, it would be reasonable to conclude that the electorate’s views on social issues are trending in a more conservative direction. Whether this is attributable to COVID exposing the anti-Christian ideological indoctrination happening in government- run schools around the country, the Biden/Harris administration’s embrace of sexual revolutionaries that deny the goodness of God’s design for his image- bearers, or the invasion of DEI and other neo-Marxist thought into institutions of varying shape and size, governing authorities in the Commonwealth and the nation’s capital have been elected for the purpose of change. In seeking to enact that change, legislators and other officials need to look no further than Genesis 1:27 to find their first policy priority: recognize and defend the reality of gender’s immutable character and the goodness therein.

For countless decades, the sexual revolution’s message on gender has centered around two false and contradictory statements: masculinity in its true form is oppressive to women, and women must be permitted and encouraged to accomplish traditionally masculine tasks in order to be truly equal with men. Not only do these messages deny the inherent goodness of masculine and feminine the one who created those realities himself.

Turning these foundational principles into practical legislative realities will take conviction, perseverance, and prayer, but it is the duty of those in authority to pursue these things not only in alignment with basic reason, but in recognition of the transcendent authority who has delegated his power for a short time for the general flourishing of his image-bearers.

The first step in that mission of promoting the common good of all within this state can only be to recognize that which God in his good providence has designed as a fixed reality: male and female. Without a proper understanding of these previously-obvious distinctions, we cannot possibly hope to leave our children and grandchildren a better society than the one we inherited from our parents and grandparents.

Below you will see a few of the key pro-family policies that The Family Foundation believes the Commonwealth can move forward in this mission during the upcoming legislative session. As we quickly approach the start of the 2025 General Assembly on January 7, we encourage you to reach out to your legislators and local officials and express your desire that they stand for these important policies. Above all, keep standing strong for truth, and keep fighting the good fight!

PRO-FAMILY POLICIES FOR 2025:

1. Kentucky Women’s Bill of Rights – defining male & female accurately in state law.
2. Strengthening Kentucky’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act
3. Reverse Beshear’s Executive Order Targeting Biblical Counseling on Sexuality