United Families International was privileged to have university students accompany us to the Commission on the Status of Women. Andy Gongora shares what he learned while at the United Nations.
My main purpose for coming to the UN was to learn about and become more exposed to the ideologies that are threatening the family. As a father of a five-year-old girl, I was particularly interested in the threats that are targeting young girls. In the boxing world, and in combat sports in general, it’s often said that the ones you don’t see coming are the ones that hurt the most. I want to see what’s coming so that I can be prepared.
I was exposed to one particular way of thinking that I had not previously considered. It’s that even the concept of transgender is restrictive and discriminatory because it assumes that gender is binary, meaning composed of only two parts. The concept of gender being binary assumes that gender can only be expressed in in terms of male or female, or a combination of both. The fact that someone has to label themselves as man or women, or something composed of only those two beginning options, is what some are saying is restrictive and discriminatory to some people. Their solution is to completely do away with the concept of gender.
I have known for some time that there has been a great push to make gender more fluid, meaning that one should have the ‘right’ to choose what one wants to be (man, women, or any combination of both). However, this was the first time that I have been exposed to the push to completely do away with the concept of gender.
While I have not had sufficient time to truly consider the ramifications of such an outcome the thought that came to my mind is that if we do away with gender completely then we also lose other forms of self-identity that are built around gender identity. Identities such as: daughter, son, mother, father, grandmother, grandfather, aunt, uncle, brother, sister, etc.
Our identities are the foundations upon which relationships are established. It is the basis from which we interact with one another. Our identities give meaning to our lives. I wonder, what would happen if such basic identities where done away with as a result of doing away with the concept of gender?