Yesterday, I got a phone call from a friend in Colville, WA.
She had recently learned that the Colville School Board was quietly pushing through a transgender bathroom policy that would prohibit schools from requiring students to use the bathroom corresponding to their biological gender.
While the public has been essentially unaware, it is scheduled for a vote tonight (Wednesday, November 18th).
If you aren’t familiar with Washington State, Colville is in northeastern Washington. Geographically and politically, it is a long way from Seattle.
The area hasn’t sent a Democrat to the Washington State legislature in generations.
So how is it that their school board is about to enact a policy that the community is strongly opposed to?
Because in policy, the winners are the ones who show up.
While Colville and the surrounding areas are conservative, the school board is controlled by leftists. According to my friend, three of them were elected in the most recent election without an opponent.
School board isn’t a glamorous job, but it matters.
Colville isn’t the only conservative town in America with leftist political leadership. Why is that?
People have a desire to be part of something bigger than themselves. We all want our lives to be significant. We all want to do something to make the world a better place.
Many, particularly those on the right side of the political spectrum, find meaning and significance by giving their time, treasure, and talent to their church and related ministries.
But for those with a secular worldview, they don’t turn to faith to find purpose and meaning.
They turn to government.
For many on the left, government is their church.
It provides community, significance, and something to believe in that can make things better. So they give their time, treasure, and talent to the cause.
That is why, in a deep red town like Colville, WA, the school board is thinking about letting boys into the girls bathroom at school if they’re feeling feminine. This letter from the Alliance Defending Freedom does a good job explaining not only that the law does not require local school districts to make restrooms genderless but that courts have long recognized that people have the right to privacy in a bathroom.
Christian conservatives understand that government is powerless to solve the world’s biggest problems because the world’s biggest problems are not around us but in us.
But as we have seen in Colville, when we neglect entire sectors of the culture because we are busy doing other good things, there can be consequences.
If you’re frustrated with outcomes like this, maybe you’re the solution to the problem.
If you’re in Colville, you should go to the school board meeting tonight and make sure your voice is heard.
If you aren’t in Colville, maybe you should run for school board. If you don’t, someone else will. And then you just might find your daughter sharing a bathroom with a boy.
