CFC Testifies Against Gender Change Bill, But More Opposition Needed

The following testimony was given in the California Senate Transportation and Housing Committee by our Director of Capitol Engagement, Greg Burt, on April 4 against SB 179, a bill that lets anyone change their gender on driver’s licenses and birth certificates to male, female, or non-binary. No questions asked. No physical proof necessary. Only one other person, Awake America California President Pastor John Evertson, was at the hearing opposing this bill in a state with 38 million people. The lack of opposition sends a message to legislators, that the public supports this bill. More people need to speak up.

The bill was approved by the Senate Transportion and Housing Committee. One on Senator voted against it: Mike Morrell, a Republican from San Bernardino County.  Democrat Senators Allen, Atkins, Beall, McGuire, Mendoza, Roth, Skinner, Wieckowski, and Wiener voted yes. Republican Senator Bates, Gaines, and Cannella were in the hearing, but did not cast a vote. 

My name is Greg Burt and I’m speaking on behalf of the California Family Council.

The bill before you today marks a profound change in the way human beings have defined themselves since the beginning of recorded history. Previously, human beings by their very nature have been thought of as binary, either physically male or physically female.  This bill attempts to completely change this understanding.

Today you are being asked to make a momentous decision regarding how our government will define sex and gender. There are only two real choices. Either one’s sexual identity or gender is a based on self identification or feelings, as the proponents of this bill believe, or it is based on biological facts. What is a male? What is a female? That is the question before you.

It is our contention that the words  “male” and “female” describe biological reality and this reality should be listed on state identification documents.  “Male and female, He created them,” as the Scriptures say. But to be male or female is not simply a religious belief, it is a description of the human race that has been integrated in to the very definitions of the words.

Look up the words “male” and “female” in the Dictionary and ALL you will find are physical descriptions. Our state driver’s licenses have always recognized this truth. Pull out your driver’s license and you will see that all the identification characteristics listed are physical descriptions.

Eye color, hair color, height, weight, and Sex: These are all listed on a driver’s license because these physical characteristics can be independently verified by physical evidence, even if a person is unconscious.

If you allow someone who is physically male to list themselves on a government document as a female, or vice a versa, then the government will be legalizing a lie. That’s assuming we are still using the dictionary to define what a male and a female is.

As state senators, I know you think you are powerful, but you do not have the authority to simply change the meaning of words just because you want to.

If you are trying to resolve the identity document difficulties of those who identify as transsexual, you would be better off removing sex as part of a person’s physical description on a driver’s license or a birth certificate. Otherwise you are knowingly letting citizens put false information on these documents.

Senators, think about your own children. What did you tell them about their gender after they were born? Did you base what you told them on their physical characteristics or did you encourage your children to choose their gender based on how they felt? This is a rhetorical question, because I know what most, if not all of you, did. You exclaimed to the whole world with joy the moment your child was born, that you had a “boy” or a “girl.” And you did this completely and without hesitation based on the child’s physical characteristics.

In closing, the California Family Council believes government documents need to reflect biological facts for identification and medical purposes. Secondly, we believe this bill advances a falsehood; that being male or female, or no gender at all is a choice each person must make, not a fact to celebrate and accept. Laws like this will simply erase any meaningful gender definitions, if being male or female is completely divorced from biological facts.

We respectfully ask you vote no on SB 179. Thank you.

Call the members of the Senate Transportation Committee and tell them what you thought of their vote!
Voting yes: Senator Beall (916) 651-4015, Senator Allen (916) 651-4026, Senator Atkins (916) 651-4039, Senator McGuire (916) 651-4002, Senator Mendoza (916) 651-4032, Senator Roth (916) 651-4031, Senator Skinner (916) 651-4009, Senator Wieckowski (916) 651-4010, and Senator Wiener 11.

Voting no: Senator Morrell (916) 651-4023.

At the hearing, but didn’t vote: Senator Bates (916) 651-4036, Senator Cannella (916) 651-4012, and Senator Gaines (916) 651-4001.

SB 179 now goes to the Senate Judiciary Committee. The hearing date is tentatively set for April 25th.