By Andrea Guachalla
“We know that beyond the idea of how men and women
– Anne Hathaway
are different there is a deeper truth:
that love is love and parents are parents.”
The words of Anne Hathaway, who was raised a catholic with “strong values”, became globally known for her acting career, and has now for years been a UN Women Ambassador fighting for gender equality, gay marriage, and gender-inclusive language.
Just as it happened with Emma Watson, the UN did it again. They chose a widely known actress to advocate for gender equality who bases her claims on unifactorial statistical data, subjective reasoning, dismissive feelings, and the pride her family takes in being openly loving and empathetic towards the LGBTQ community. Any “decent human being” would support the LGBTQ community, said she in her Human Rights Campaign speech in 2008, when she received an award for her LGBTQ activism. Only “indecent human beings” would NOT support the LGBTQ community is the idea that remains unsaid.
Her speech at the Human Rights Campaign in 2017 shows that she is deeply concerned about parents not getting paid maternity or paternity leave due to the fact that she became a mother herself in 2016. She claims that parents need to spend more time with their families, and she even states that, factually, the US is the only high-income country that does not provide paid parental leave to workers. It all sounds good and sound until you get to the point where she explains the reason she is so disturbed about men not getting paid parental leave: it prevents women from being fully liberated, and it proves we haven’t reached “full equality”. In her words: “In order to liberate women, we need to liberate men.”
That sounds like a catchy phrase doesn’t it? But let’s analyze it for a second.
We need to liberate men from what? In her speech she elaborates on that: men should be liberated from the stereotype that they should be the providers of their home because they also have a role in the family. Now, on the one hand: why is it considered a bad stereotype that a man is supposed to provide for his family? Does it hurt the wife? Does it hurt the children? In doing so without neglecting quality time with the family, is he hurting society or discriminating against women? No. Why is it considered for people then that it is more valuable to work a full-time job and all the stress it brings than caring for the children at home? That a man goes to work does not mean that he is renouncing his role as a father, though it might happen when parenthood is not understood properly, it only means he is fulfilling his role as a provider.
Now to the second part: According to Anne we need to liberate women… from what? From the “discriminatory” stereotype that they should care for the home and the children. Her words, not mine. Let us ask then to understand her claims better: How is being a mother and a homemaker discriminatory? How are motherhood and hospitality less valuable than working 8-hours shifts? Apparently, all that women see in this scenario is that we are being robbed from chasing our academic dreams… Therefore we are called to fight for women’s right to work full-time jobs and be away from their children. We are called to promote men being stay-at-home-dads, and women being full-time workers. Does it hurt the husband if we don’t work if he is able to provide? It does not. Does it hurt the children? IT DOES NOT. Having a dedicated mother who cares for them is way better than having two parents who are partly absent from the home.
What is then the equality that is being promoted by Hathaway?
If you go and listen to her speeches it actually sounds like she advocates in support of the nuclear family, and having children. But believe me, listening more than a couple of minutes from her speeches will disappoint you. Her focus is not on supporting the family, but on seeking gender equality in a family context. Men and women are no different in her view, so they should both work AND care for the household and children equally. As a logical outcome, in a household where both parents work and have less time for the children, they end up being raised by who? The state and the TV. That is the end goal with all this talking, that the states take the responsibility to care for the parents by providing paid parental leave and the children by providing education. That is not the government’s jurisdiction.
You will also note that her advocacy for paid parental leave for “the good of the family” goes undeniably attached to her LGBTQ activism. She does not support the nuclear family as we know it, precisely because, in her view, there are no differences between men and women. Nuclear family for her means families with two dads, and two moms as well. She prides herself in her speech by announcing that a UN ambassador will offer paid “gender-neutral” parental leave to his employees, in order to benefit LGBTQ parents as well. Though she is a mother she does not understand that a child needs a MALE father, and a FEMALE mother, and of course ignores statistical facts about same-sex couples who decide to raise children.
According to a study carried out by doctor Paul Sullins, up to 90% of teens and adults who have been raised by same-sex parents report to have been abused! Reported child abuse goes up to only 14% in the overall population according to the CDC (Centers of Disease, Control and Prevention). Dr. Sullins explains that the statistical fact was to be expected since there is a “well-documented tendency toward greater levels of intimate violence in same-sex partnerships.” He also reports adults raised by same-sex parents to have two times higher risk of depression, and have higher levels of distress than the overall population. When he compares two sample groups, – one composed of children raised by same-sex parents, and another one of children raised by a mother and a father -, he finds that, though children raised by same-sex parents experience less bullying (statistically), they have higher serious psychological distress, and experience higher learning/intellectual disabilities, and risk of emotional problems.
Does Anne Hathaway or anyone who supports gay marriage and gay adoption care for any of this? They don’t. They are blind to the facts. Why? Because they have been taught that feelings are more important than facts, and in this scenario, all that matters is to make the LGBTQ community feel accepted and cherished. Why? Because “Love is love, and parents are parents.” They refuse to listen when scientists say:
“Same-sex partners cannot conceive a child that is the biological offspring of both partners,
– D. Paul Sullins, PhD. Department of Sociology, Catholic University of America
in the way that every child conceived by opposite-sex partners is such, it is hard to conceive
how same-sex parents could ever replicate the level of benefit for child well-being that is the
case in opposite-sex relationships involving two biological parents.”
Love is suddenly reduced to one’s sexual preference, and being a father or a mother is meaningless. Womanhood and manhood must be redefined for the sake of gender equality, gender inclusion, gender identity, and sexual orientation… Men should stay at home more, and women should be working more and getting positions of power, gay and lesbian couples should be allowed to adopt children, even when that means that the couple, children, and society will suffer and pay the consequences. But what does that all even mean if gender supposedly does not exist? What is this fight for “women’s liberation” if the word “woman” cannot be defined by today’s postmodern world?
The emergence of a new woke, gay, leftist, feminist world. That’s what Hathaway calls for in her speech in the Human Rights Campaign where she received a National Equality Award in 2018.
What are we supposed to do as Christians and conservatives? Are we supposed to passively listen to millionaire actresses like Emma Watson and Anne Hathaway, who were raised by a mother and a father say that “love is love, therefore give that child to that gay couple”? Are we supposed to believe them when they claim to have experienced female oppression while also being the highest-paid actresses in the history of entertainment? Will we be, like them, indoctrinated in universities like New York University, Vassar College, and Brown University where students are encouraged to introduce themselves by sharing their pronouns and asking those of others to avoid “misgendering” people? Will we allow the emergence of a new gay world and the harm it will bring without fighting back? Will we also ignore statistical facts, and scientific analysis and base our claims on unifactorial statistical analysis?
We will not condone any of this. We do have a definition of womanhood (Proverbs 31), and manhood (1 Peter 3:7, Ephesians 5), and we do embrace the role men have as providers, protectors, and spiritual leaders and the role of women as life-givers, child-carers, and homemakers in the family. Far from being discriminatory, those things are good for us, for the children, and the families around us. Our definition of love goes beyond our (sinful) sexual preferences (1 Corinthians 13), and it includes loving even our enemies and seeking the good of others before our own good. Opposed to the postmodern idea that truth is relative, and everything is permissible as long as it makes you feel good (1 Corinthians 10:23), we know that truth is objective and absolute, and it is defined by He who created humanity.
Let us be men and women who abide by God’s truth. Let us be people who care for facts, and not merely feelings because we know feelings can be deceptive. Let us be men and women who do not live passively expecting the emergence of a woke world, but who live in hope, and joy expecting the second coming of Christ, and the emergence of a world ruled by Him who teaches us the ultimate standard of goodness and holiness.
References:
- Badenes-Ribera L., Frias-Navarro D., et. al., 2015. Intimate partner violence in self-identified lesbians: a meta-analysis of its prevalence. Sexuality Research and Social Policy. Vol. 12(1):47–59.
- Centers of Disease, Control and Prevention, 2019. Preventing Child Abuse & Neglect |Violence Prevention|Injury Center.
- D. Paul sullins, 2015. Emotional Problems among Children with Same-Sex Parents: Difference by Definition. British Journal of Education, Society & Behavioral Science. Vol. 7(2): 99-120, 2015.
- D. Paul Sullins, 2016. Invisible Victims: Delayed Onset Depression among Adults with Same-Sex Parents. Depress Res Treat. doi: 10.1155/2016/2410392.
- Human Rights Campaign, 2021. About Page.
- Human Rights Campaign, 2008. Anne Hathaway at 2008 HRC Los Angeles, Dinner, Human Rights Campaign.
- Human Rights Campaign, 2021. Lavender Graduation.
- Messinger A. M., 2011. Invisible victims: same-sex IPV in the national violence against women survey. Journal of Interpersonal Violence. Vol. 26(11):2228–2243. doi: 10.1177/0886260510383023.
- MyPronouns, 2021. MyPronouns.org Resources on Personal Pronouns.
- New York University, 2021. New Yourk University Home.
- New York University, 2021. Home – Gender and Sexuality Studies – Research Guides at New York University.
- New York University, 2021. NYU LGBTQ+ Center.
- New York University, 2021. Name, Gender Marker, and/or Pronoun Updates for Alumni.
- New York University, 2021. NYU Pronouns.
- New York University, 2021. Annual Events.
- United Nations, 2017. Anne Hathaway on International Women’s Day.
- United Nations Women, 2018. Anne Hathaway on Paid Parental Leave.
- Vassar College, 2021. Homepage.
- Vassar College, 2021. Admissions: Apply: Diversity.
- Vassar College, 2021.Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives.
- Vassar College, 2021. Trans and Non-Binary Resources.
- Vassar College, 2021. Trans and Non-Binary Resources: gender pronouns.
- Vassar College, 2021. LGBTQ Center Facebook Page.
- Vassar College, 2021. Trans and Non-Binary Resources: in the classroom.
- Wikipedia Encyclopedia, 2021. Anne Hathaway.
