Religious Right Is Wrong on Amanda Simpson: She Deserves U.S. Job

Members of the Religious Right are protesting the appointment of Amanda Simpson as senior technical adviser to the U.S. Commerce Department. They're protesting because the new appointee was born Mitchell Simpson.

Simpson is transgendered. She was so unhappy as a man that she went through the horrific process of changing her gender. Most of us can't begin to imagine what would cause a person to do something so strange. Thinking about it gives us the queasy feeling that the world is changing too quickly, in the wrong direction.

Christian conservatives know that if the Amanda Simpsons of the world get government appointments, one more step has been taken toward normalization. It is just this kind of day-by-day acceptance that causes societies to shift radically. That's why conservative evangelicals oppose hate-crime legislation. It will put their moral objections into the category of hate. Gays, lesbians and transgendered people will be the accepted people, and they will be the objectionable ones – by law.

Conservative evangelicals are saying that the Simpson appointment is part of Obama's plan to radicalize America. They're saying the president has caved to gay and lesbian pressure. They're saying this appointment is a step toward a gay and lesbian quota. They're claiming that transgendered people are mentally ill and need treatment, not government appointments.

(The American Psychological Association doesn't agree. It has called upon its members to treat transgendered people without discrimination and to support their desire to change gender.)

I don't know what's going on with transgendered people. Many medical authorities believe some mix-up occurred with the timing and delivery of hormones while they were in the womb. So their bodies developed as one sex, but their brains were influenced toward the opposite direction by hormones released at the wrong time.

I do know where conservative evangelicals get their unyielding position in this matter. As a Christianity Today article made clear, if it isn't in the Bible, it's wrong.

Fundamentalists do not claim that Simpson is unqualified. She's been a test pilot, has degrees in physics, engineering, business administration, and has years of experience in the aerospace industry.

So where should the rest of us come down on this issue?

If Amanda Simpson is qualified for the job, she ought to get it – even if the rest of us think she's weird or don't even think she is a she. To oppose her appointment favors one religious view over all other others.

And that is not how America ought to operate.