In an article titled “How Will We Live in the Time of the Transgendered?” in The Catholic Thing, Prof. Hadley Arkes reflects on the significance of the Harris Funeral Homes v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission case that will come before the Supreme Court this term. Concerning the right of a funeral home employee to dress according to his gender identity, Prof. Arkes notes the potential for the redefinition of the word “sex” as it was used in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Regardless of legislators’ understanding of ‘”sex” at the time, says Arkes, the Supreme Court must now decide if there are objective biological and metaphysical truths about human beings that should be recognized by the law. Finally, Arkes warns against beguiling legal arguments that imply such cases are merely about the respect of individuals’ self-understanding when, in fact, they seek to use the coercive and moral force of the state.

Some quotes from the article:

“No institution has come close to its position as an Engine in remaking what passes as our ‘culture.’ On the matter of race, that remaking has been largely for the good, but on the issues of human life and sexuality – on the way we are understood as ‘human persons’ and the bearers of rights – the Court has been a machine for deep moral inversion.”

“Stephens’s claim, as the writers observe, ‘is not that he has the right to dress as he pleases, but rather that he in fact is a woman and, on that basis, has a right to be treated as such.’”

“As the writers recognize, what is really as stake in this case is a matter ‘inherently philosophical, indeed metaphysical,’ for ‘it concerns truths about the very nature of things.’ Is there an objective truth about one’s body or is the body to be understood ‘according to one’s feelings or choice, rather than organically or naturally’? To make ourselves suggestible to that view would draw into question ‘the reality of men and women, suggesting that what makes them to be such is only their feeling about themselves, or the cultural construction of those feelings.’”

You can read the full article here.