By Jack Wyman

Alba Rueda is a person of courage and activism.

In her native Argentina, she has been a relentless champion of transsexualism.

Born a biological male, Rueda had her name changed when he/she/they became a woman. Then she sued the Archbishop of Salta for refusing to update her baptismal certificate with her new name.

Rueda once argued that heterosexuality must not be included as part of sexual diversity. She became the first openly transgendered politician in Argentina to hold a senior position in government—Undersecretary of Diversity Policies within the Ministry of Women, Genders, and Diversity.

Alba Rueda’s activism got the attention of Washington.

She was recently given an award by First Lady Jill Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken. It was the occasion of the 17th annual International Women of Courage Award Ceremony, held in the East Room of the White House.

It seems that being a woman isn’t what it used to be. Nor being a man.

In the 1980s, when I led the opposition to gay rights legislation as head of the Christian Civic League of Maine, I argued that enacting such a bill would further advance an ambitious agenda which included gay marriage and child adoption.

The Maine press accused me of employing “scare tactics.” Such outlandish things would never happen, they said, especially when a rights bill was just “simple justice.”

Today the new frontier of human sexuality has moved well beyond a historic, Supreme Court-sanctioned redefinition of marriage. It now includes gender identity, sexual transitioning, and New York’s Attorney General hosting a “Drag Story Hour” for children in Manhattan. At taxpayers’ expense.

In no cultural realm is Christian belief put to the test more directly—or post-modern secularism more openly illustrated and advanced—than in matters of human sexuality. The debate over its limits, definitions, rights, and expressions has entered politics because one side is relentless and the other resistant. Candidates have waded in to garner votes from each side because sex has been controversial since Adam and Eve discovered their nakedness.

A conservative libertarian commentator, in a recent op-ed in The New York Times, suggested that the Constitution gives parents the right to have their children sexually transitioned if that is their wish. No law should prevent it. Libertarianism, taken to the extreme, leads to political and moral anarchy. That’s always been its contradiction and ultimate danger. As an ideology, but also as a governing philosophy.

“The people do not exist for the Constitution,” said Theodore Roosevelt, “the Constitution exists for the people.” Leaving children unprotected, even from their parents, in no way advances the Constitution’s goals of establishing justice or promoting the general welfare. It would be a travesty to both.

Were the Constitution intended to be morally neutral in the name of ultimate individual freedom, we would not have abolished slavery, once enshrined as a perceived constitutional right. Nor would women in this country ever have won the right to vote.

These are times that try the souls—the hearts and minds—of sincere followers of Jesus Christ. Every age has challenged the Church. The consequences of man’s declared independence from God have often wreaked heartbreak, division, and disarray in every era, upon every generation.

Today, civic ignorance, self-indulgent narcissism, misunderstanding of freedom, antagonism toward religion, and the redefining of morality have combined to place America’s historic moral consensus in grave danger.

How should Christians respond? What should we do, how should we think, how must we live? But for the grace of God, any one of us could be looking for love in all the wrong places. We need kindness and wisdom in discerning these difficult days.

The Cross of Christ rises triumphant above our moral morass and deepening darkness. It is the great sign of God’s mercy and grace. By it, God proved his love for the world. As Jesus hanged in suffering and ignominy, mocked by the taunting crowd, he asked his heavenly Father to forgive those who didn’t know what they were doing. He died for sinners. He died for us all.

He died for Alba Rueda. Yes, he loves her too.

If God can love and forgive those who crucified his only Son, can we not find a little kindness for those we disagree with? “More than cleverness,” said Charlie Chaplin, “we need kindness and gentleness.”

We must stand for the right, no matter the cost. We must protect innocent children and, when necessary, use the law to do it. We must also love our neighbor, and cross the road to assuage his grief and pain. He may not look, sound, believe or live like you, but he is your neighbor, and you must love him.

We sometimes confuse meekness for weakness. As if the weakest thing we could do is be kind and the kindest thing we could do is agree. But meekness is not weakness. It is power brought under the control of the Holy Spirit. It is our confidence that “though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the Ruler yet.”

His truth shall prevail and we must never forsake its defense. A lie cannot set us free—only the truth can do that. And it has—and it does.

Let’s be reluctant to place our hope in legal and political remedies. The gale force winds of self-righteous condemnation, anger, and political vindication will only lead our adversaries to tighten their coats around them.

The Gospel must never be lost to politics.

Let the light of the Son do its work, for the warmth of love can melt the alien heart ever sooner than the coldness of hate. As my mother often said, “A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still.”

Political threats are hollow weapons against the powers of darkness. The sooner we realize that this is a spiritual and not a legal, political, or even cultural struggle, the sooner we can improve our effectiveness in the public square—and in our communities, neighborhoods, and families.

Patient and enduring love restores the estranged child. Respect and kindness will sooner win a fair hearing than loud denunciations.

Jesus has left us his example of love and forgiveness, and new beginnings in even the unlikeliest lives. Let us dedicate and discipline ourselves to follow in our Savior’s steps. May we never compromise his witness in order to win.

Let us, in his strength, stand firm for what is right. Let us oppose what is wrong.

Let us ask God for the wisdom to know the difference.

And let us love. Especially in these times.

To order Jack Wyman’s book, “Everything Else: Stories of Life, Faith and Our World”, go to amazon.com, Christian Book Distributors or barnesandnoble.com. It is also available on Kindle and eBooks.

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