A tale of 2 governors: Sarah Huckabee Sanders versus Glenn Youngkin

This past week, stalwart conservative Sarah Huckabee Sanders, now Governor of Arkansas, pushed back against the transgender movement she rightly called "nonsense," and thanks to her stature and solid-standing as a follower of Christ, Arkansas residents can function back in the land of reality. This means that when Arkansans fill in forms for state driver’s licenses or identification cards, only male or female will appear as gender options. And that's it. Mind-boggling as it is, "X" had been included as a gender option, and surely to the relief and wishes of most in her state, she has had this removed and cleaned up.

Since becoming governor, Sarah Sanders has been consistent. Last year, she signed an executive order banning gender-neutral terms from state documents, and called the move “common sense.”

Contrast this with Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin of Virginia. On March 8th, Youngkin joined the ranks of most blue Democrat states and signed into law a so-called equality bill that solidifies the definition of marriage in Virginia to include those who engage in same-sex relationships. Homosexual activists are concerned that the Supreme Court will eventually reverse Obergefell v Hodges; a decision made during the Obama era that overrode state rights to recognize marriage as defined for centuries and aligned with the Holy Bible, as between man and woman. Now that Roe v Wade has been overturned as unconstitutional, abortionists are working with Democrat states to codify the premise of Roe v Wade and make killing the unborn baby legal at the state level. The same approach is being taken to tear down traditional marriage to ensure the nation never returns back to our American Christian roots.

Virginia is the first Republican state to mirror the other Democrat states. Even more puzzling is why Youngkin has apparently gone further than other radical states because his new marriage law includes both terms “gender” and “sex,” as an apparent nod to the transgender lifestyle.

It is a real headscratcher as to how in Glenn Youngkin's mind he could justify such an action which goes against the values and beliefs of those who voted for him. After all, the same radical left that fights to tear down traditional marriage shares the same ideology and comes from the same crowd as those who are fighting to include all sorts of made-up gender permutations; something that Governor Sanders has not hesitated to stand against.

Not just that, but the radical leftist ideology that Glenn Youngkin bowed down to by signing a law that further hurts traditional marriage in Virginia is the same ideology that is behind the targeting of young children in schools, something Glenn Youngkin knows first-hand, given how he campaigned on the issue when he ran for governor.

Rewind to 2021, when Republican then-candidate Glenn Youngkin entered the race as a relatively unknown name. Given that it was an off-election year and immediately following President Trump’s departure from the White House, Youngkin's race quickly garnered national prominence. But what may come as a surprise to some, in light of Youngkin’s latest actions against marriage, is that Youngkin’s momentous victory was in large part thanks to one courageous Christian physical education teacher in Loudon County named Mr. Byron Tanner Cross.

In May (about six months before the November election), Tanner made the courageous decision to confront his school board bosses about their pending immoral decision to force teachers like him to support transgender lies. In a Shadrach Meshach and Abednego-type moment, Tanner refused to bow his knee to the kingdom of darkness and spoke out against plans to brainwash children's minds to believe the lie that male and female genders can be changed. His punishment was immediate, and he was suspended from his job.

Yet, as Scripture tells us, what the enemy intends for evil the Lord will use for good. That is exactly what unfolded in Tanner's case. Thanks to his courage, Tanner's story attracted media attention and shed light exposing the transgender agenda that was being implemented then in Loudon County schools, which sparked public outrage. The pandora's box was opened. And while COVID shutdowns no doubt played a significant role in awakening parents in America to the liberal ideology that has been taught in schools, Mr. Cross deserves much credit for how Christian conservatives like me are today now fully engaged in this fight all across the country against left-wing school board officials who seek to pervert young innocent minds, and purposefully show children pornographic lewd images.

Because the timing of when news broke out about the evil school policies in Loudon County happened during Youngkin’s gubernatorial race, the then-candidate Youngkin wisely campaigned for parental rights and spoke out against woke secularism in schools such as CRT and transgender bathrooms, and his poll numbers benefited. In October 19, 2021, Youngkin called for an investigation into Loudoun County’s School Board amid sexual assault allegations, and then on Oct 29, 2021, Fox News reported that Glenn Youngkin was up 8% over his Democrat challenger, Terry McAuliffe.

It can be argued that Youngkin rode the coattails of Tanner Cross – though I am sure that Mr. Youngkin and his consultants would probably take issue with this characterization. However, there can be no argument that parental rights and education played a deciding factor in voters' minds. CBS's exit poll on election day highlighted how parental rights in education dominated the election, with an overwhelming 84% stating that parents should be influencers in their children's education.

Upon his swearing-in, Governor Youngkin rightly did some of the things he promised and tackled woke policies in Virginia's educational system. (Elected Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares has been a key player in this as well.)

While Youngkin has been strong at times and stood for American Christian values, with a stroke of a pen against marriage, he contradicted and undercut his good record. Upholding the sanctity of marriage is fundamental to building and preserving healthy societies and communities. We have plenty of evidence to show that there is a direct correlation between the liberal left's agenda to tear down the nuclear family that has given them access to sexually target young children. That's why there can be no compromise. We must stand against the attack on marriage and the sexual attacks targeting children.

If Mr. Youngkin needs inspiration on how to be unshakeable, he can look to Tanner Cross and Governor Sarah Sanders as examples.

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