Defined

The twisting of biology in our culture has led to some errant, even harmful, ideas with regard to gender.  Now, you have those who believe that a person can have a biological sex that was "assigned," presumably based on parents' or a doctors choice, and a different gender that is based on opinion, or feeling.  This leads to confusion and despair.  Jesus taught on gender, the definition of marriage, and the sanctity of it in Mark chapter 10 (ESV):
6 But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ 
7 ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife,
8 and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh.
9 What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”

The words of Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn have rung out throughout the last few years, since she asked prospective U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson to define the word, woman.  As USA Today reported at the time:

Jackson, appearing confused, responded, "I’m not a biologist.”

Blackburn chided Jackson, claiming that "the fact that you can’t give me a straight answer about something as fundamental as what a woman is underscores the dangers of the kind of progressive education that we are hearing about."

This type of progressive mindset that was identified by Sen. Blackburn in that Senate confirmation hearing continues to flourish today.   The Daily Citizen of Focus on the Family spotlighted a controversy in the state of Florida, the fire of which was lit by a contestant in the Miss America pageant, Miss North Florida Kayleigh Bush.  The article relates:

On their respective websites, Miss America and Miss Florida require participants to be “female.” No additional language or imagery suggests “female” might refer to anything other than biological sex.

So thought Kayleigh Bush when she competed in — and won — the Miss North Florida pageant in late 2024. But when she leafed through her participation contract for the next stage of competition, the Miss Florida pageant, she found the agreement defined “female” to include castrated boys.

The Daily Citizen reported, "Bush, with Liberty Counsel’s help, tried to negotiate, arguing the contract’s definition of 'female' violated her religious belief that sex is binary and immutable."  But Miss America held fast to that definition, and Kayleigh withdrew rather than 'agree to compete against boys and promote sex rejecting surgeries.'"

Florida's Attorney General has written a letter to the Miss America Organization, in which he stated: "These organizations cannot operate under the false and misleading title of ‘Miss’ if indeed they are open to male participants,” adding, "By promoting their competitions as female-only and then surreptitiously allowing certain men to compete, Miss America and Miss Florida are engaging in a wrongful bait-and-switch advertising scheme targeting young women."

Well, CBN.com reports that the Miss America organization has made a revision to its policy; it says that, "This year, the law office for the Miss America Organization updated its definition of 'biological woman' as a person having 'two x chromosomes.'"

The CBN article stated:

Mallory Hudson, communications manager for Miss America HQ, confirmed the change to the Washington Times, saying, “The current eligibility policy as to gender was formally updated in the second half of 2024 and was revised again in 2026 to ensure consistency, transparency, and respect for all individuals who meet the qualifications to compete."

But, the attorney for the organization decided to take potshots at Kayleigh Bush and Liberty Counsel, basically saying that Miss America didn't do what it plainly did - Stuart Moskovitz stated, "To be clear, we have not altered our policy as the result of Kayleigh Bush's claims. We have merely clarified the language so there can be no doubt as to the intent of the provision. Both the original language and the clarification were designed to prevent men from participating in the competition..."

Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel is quoted regarding their expected endgame of this case, "Miss America should now reinstate the benefits of Bush's crown, including the scholarship that she rightfully deserves."

Beware of gaslighting - that's certainly what seems to be taking place here.  People will attempt to shade the truth by telling you that you did not see what you plainly did.  Or, try to persuade you that you saw something that wasn't there.

I think you could say this whole business of separating the definition of "sex" from "gender" is a form of gaslighting - people are being told their biological sex is different than what their feelings are telling them - now being referred to as "gender."  Feelings can be deceiving - we have to bring our feelings under the submission of the Holy Spirit. Feelings can be confusing, causing people to think they're born in the wrong bodies or that some unnamed someone, "assigned" them a gender.  Well, in a sense that's true, because biology - creation - is evidence of the design of God.  We can be encouraged to tell the truth and to not necessarily believe everything we see - or what we're told that we have seen.