My wife and I recently attended a theater-adapted version of George Orwell’s novel 1984. Many readers will recall reading 1984 in high school. Orwell wrote this masterpiece in 1948. The fictional story transpires in England during Orwell’s imagined future year of 1984. England has fallen under the control of a brutal, totalitarian state led by a dictator known as Big Brother. Big Brother controls every aspect of life. Absolutely no criticism of the government is tolerated. The regime employs the Thought Police to surveil people’s secret attitudes and opinions. Those unfortunate souls who fail to adequately support the regime are purged – they disappear and are never heard from again. Moreover, all evidence of their previous existence is destroyed.
Orwell’s central character is a man named Winston Smith. Smith works at the Ministry of Truth, where he is tasked with maintaining the regime’s approved version of history. Any record of persons or events which contradicts the government’s official account of history are stuffed into “memory holes.” These holes lead to a furnace where such inconvenient records are incinerated. Meanwhile, Winston Smith and his co-workers carefully craft revised versions of history amenable to the regime. Yet unbeknownst to his comrades at the Ministry of Truth, Winston Smith surreptitiously hates the government. He longs for the day when the people rise up to overthrow the tyranny of Big Brother and restore freedom.
Later in the story, Winston Smith’s dreams of freedom are dashed when he is betrayed and captured by the Thought Police. Incarcerated at the Ministry of Love, Smith is starved and tortured until he submits to the requirements of the government. Smith’s antagonist- an evil figure named O’Brien – demands that he fully capitulate to the “truth” of the regime no matter how absurd their claims. Memorably, O’Brien repeatedly insists that Smith must agree that two plus two equals five. George Orwell’s meaning is quite clear: if the regime can force Winston Smith to agree that absurdities such as 2 + 2 = 5 are true, they will have achieved complete control over him. There is nothing more that they cannot make him say or do. Under extreme suffering, Winston Smith’s mind is broken. The novel ends with Smith returning to society as a brain-washed supporter of Big Brother.
George Orwell and 1984 comes to mind often these days. Not long ago, a young man who goes by the feminine name Lia Thomas competed on behalf of Penn University in the NCAA national championships for women’s swimming. In the 500 yard freestyle event, Thomas touched the wall in first place, securing the national title. Virginia freshman Emma Weyant took second place, followed by Texas freshman Erica Sullivan in third and Stanford swimmer Brooke Forde in fourth. Not incidentally, all three of these women earned silver medals during the Olympic games in Tokyo this past summer: Weyant in the 400m individual medley, Sullivan in the 1500m freestyle (just behind gold medalist superstar Katie Ledecky), and Forde on the 4 x 200m freestyle relay team. They are some of the fastest women’s swimmers on the planet.
For most of his life, Lia Thomas went by his given, masculine name Will. He grew up in Austin, Texas where he competed for Westlake High School. Will attended the University of Pennsylvania in 2017-2018 where he was a solid competitor on the men’s swim team. But just as Will Thomas transitioned from high school to college, so he began to question his gender identity. Following his freshman year at Penn, Will informed his family that he would heretofore be pursuing life as a transgender female.
During his junior year at Penn (2019-2020), Will went a step further by announced his decision to identify as a transgender woman to his coaches and teammates. Thomas continued to compete for the men’s swim team while undergoing hormone suppression. Following a year off due to COVID disruption, Thomas became eligible to swim for the Penn women’s team during the 2021-2022 season. He began to use his new, feminine name of Lia in 2020. In a recent interview, Thomas declared, “In a way, it was a sort of rebirth, for the first time in my life, feeling fully connected to my name and who I am and living who I am. I am Lia.”
Thomas’ participation on the Penn women’s swim team has received national attention. Competing against the women, Thomas has mostly crushed the competition. During one meet, Thomas won the 1650 yard freestyle event by an astounding 38 seconds over the second place finisher – Penn teammate Anna Kalandaze. Such a margin of victory is unheard of in competitive collegiate swimming. We shall indeed address the spectacle of a biological male swimmer trouncing female competitors. But before we can even begin that discussion, the thorny nettle of pronouns needs to be grasped.
Transgender activists and those on the political left now demand that society use feminine pronouns when referring to biological men who identify as female. Unsurprisingly, this practice has quickly become the rigid orthodoxy of the Democratic Party and the liberal media, who refer to such individuals such as transgender women. Those who refuse to capitulate are accused of “misgendering” these individuals. Misgendering, or failing to affirm a person’s desired gender, is now portrayed as an ugly act of hatred and discrimination.
So we find ourselves back at the Ministry of Love with Winston Smith, tortured until we enthusiastically agree that 2 + 2 = 5. The objective reality of biological sex has been utterly cast aside, ironically by those who often claim to have science on their side. Transgender activists falsely preach that our biology and our gender can be simply and cleanly be separated from one another without consequences. Tragically, this is a deep and dark lie. God has created human beings such that our biology and our gender are inextricably intertwined. Those who attempt to pull the two apart invariably afflict themselves with serious psychological harm – and often physical harm as well. The result is a mess – for individuals, for their families, and for society.
Will Thomas is a man. 2 + 2 = 4. On the basis of this objective reality, I will refer to him using the appropriate masculine pronouns. Now it is true that Will has undergone more than a year of testosterone suppression in order to fulfill the paltry NCAA requirements allowing biological men to compete on the women’s swim team. The suppression of Thomas’ testosterone has caused him to lose some muscle mass, which has in turn slightly limited his ability to swim as fast as he once was able. Yet these interventions do not in any way change the fact that Will Thomas is a man.
Just ask Thomas’ female teammates and competitors. Thomas has not yet chosen the more radical path of surgically removing his male genitalia. We should all be thankful that he has not elected to mutilate himself in this way. However, Thomas’ full male anatomy has very naturally created deep discomfort and distress for the young women who are forced to share the female dressing and shower facilities with him.
Yet even if Thomas did surgically castrate himself, it would still not alter the basic fact that he is a man. After all, those who have had their male organs surgically removed because of cancer are still men. And even those who have fully lost their male organs due to trauma are still men. Human beings simply cannot reject the gender which God has gifted to us at birth. Again, our maleness or femaleness pervades every aspect of our being. Those who attempt to separate themselves from their God-given gender inflict great harm upon their humanity.
Therefore, I completely reject those misguided voices in our society who would claim that I am “misgendering” Thomas and those like him. Thomas is a man and I will refer to him as such. 2 + 2 =4. We still live a (mostly) free country where each and every one of us – including Will Thomas – has the right to pursue life in their own way. But no one has the right to demand that others participate in their delusions. No one can force me to maintain that Will Thomas is a woman when he manifestly is not. No one has the right to demand that I affirm that 2 + 2 = 5. If Will would like to choose another masculine name for himself, I would happily address him in that way. But I will not address him by any feminine form, because that would be a lie. As George Orwell made clear, if any regime can force people to embrace such falsehoods, it will be a sure sign that our freedom – and our humanity – has been obliterated.
Finally, I would like to emphasize that my position towards Will Thomas is fundamentally a matter of love. Those who choose to refer to Will Thomas as a transgender women or by female pronouns or by a feminine name are colluding with the dark and deceptive forces which seek to destroy this young man. They are harming him by encouraging him to embrace a lie. It should go without saying that no human being can hope to truly flourish unless they have solid grasp of reality. And the reality is this: God has created us male and female. Our gendered existence is not a mistake, it is a gift. In order for Will Thomas to thrive, he must learn to recognize his maleness as a gift from God and embrace it. I pray that he is able to do that.
