GenderPac is a well-financed public advocacy group that is pressing for radical changes within American culture, changes that include eradicating male-female gender distinctions and normalizing homosexual and other deviant lifestyles within every age group.
Editor's note: This post is the first in a four-part series on GenderPac that will run this week on Gender Blog.
A few weeks ago, Genderblog reported on efforts by numerous colleges and universities to develop gender-neutral restrooms to accommodate transgender students.
We also recently told readers about legislation that will confer a special protected status in the workplace upon those who identify themselves as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered.
These cultural tsunamis are washing upon the shores in different spheres within the culture but both have a common advocate: the Gender Public Advocacy Coalition (GPAC), a well-financed organization that likely flies below the radar of many evangelical Christians.
Based in Washington, D.C., GPAC defines itself as a human rights organization that "promotes an understanding of the connection between discrimination based on gender stereotypes and sex, sexual orientation, age, race, and class." Seeking the end of sinful discrimination based on age, race or class is a worthy goal, but only if it is pursued in a biblical way.
GPAC's website publicly reveals that its agenda is as clear as it is radical: the organization seeks to normalize homosexual and "transgender" lifestyles, while utterly eradicating all male-female gender distinctions. In GPAC's perfect world, it seems there would be neither male nor female. Discrimination would be ended by undoing Genesis 1:27.
GPAC presses-through pro-homosexual/transgender and gender-neutral indoctrination-for gender and sexual identity reform in numerous sectors, both public and private, encompassing homes, major corporations, colleges, universities, and governmental agencies at local, state and national levels.
In 2005, GPAC published its three-year strategic plan with a stated purpose of "ensuring that every American can learn in the classroom, contribute in the workplace, and participate in the community regardless of whether they meet standards for masculinity and femininity" (italics added).
Behind noble language such as "workplace fairness" and positive goals such as eliminating "school bullying," GPAC promotes a pernicious agenda, one which rings with significant clarity in the opening paragraph of its strategic plan: "The truth is, very few of us really fit narrow gender norms. And most of us have experienced ostracism, ridicule, harassment, or even assault simply because we don't fit someone's ideal of masculinity or femininity.
"Gender stereotypes cause real, profound, and pervasive harm…They are deeply implicated in social problems that range from homophobia and sexism to transphobia and school bullying."
At CBMW, we are grieved that anyone would experience the harm of sinful ridicule, harassment, or even assault. The power to change, however, comes from the Gospel of Jesus Christ transforming hearts and not through legislation or education that seeks to eradicate the distinction between manhood and womanhood.
GPAC was founded in 1995 and incorporated in 1999 as a 501c3 non-profit organization that, in 2005 had an annual budget of $800,000. The organization executes its strategic plan through three main programs that target every age group, from children to adults:
Additionally, GPAC sponsors the activities of other groups which seek to eradicate God-endowed gender distinctions and normalize gay and transgender lifestyles, including "Out & Equal in the Workplace Advocates," an organization GPAC calls "the pre-eminent national organization devoted to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community in the workplace." GPAC also supports the National NOW Conference & Youth Feminist Leadership Institute, among others.
Tomorrow, in part two of this series, Genderblog will examine some of GPAC's specific lobbying activities.
You, too, can help support the ministry of CBMW. We are a non-profit organization that is fully-funded by individual gifts and ministry partnerships. Your contribution will go directly toward the production of more gospel-centered, church-equipping resources.