A Canadian non-binary transgender person (try saying that three times fast) has made the decision to register her baby as having an unassigned gender.

I consider myself pretty progressive in my views and quite tolerant to those who are different. That said, some of the newer labels that have emerged in recent years confuse me. For instance, I had to do some research on what a “non-binary” individual is. It’s basically a person who feels that he or she is neither male nor female.

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Taking it a step further than simply being transgender, it’s hard for society to understand a person who identifies as neither biological sex.  These people take on pronouns that aren’t traditionally taught and are grammatically incorrect.

While many have made the decision to identify as being gender non-binary, Kori Doty has taken it a step further and decided to raise her baby that way as well. Doty gave birth to the baby, and has cited her own journey to identifying as non-binary as to why she will not “assign” a gender to her child until the baby can speak and let Doty know what he identifies as. Apparently, having a gender identification on a piece of paper will interfere with what goes on inside the home in terms of parenting style.

People are taking the gender debate to unnecessary extremes out of principle to simply challenge the system for a cause.

For certain members of the population — namely those with a religious faith — it’s not possible to play along with the idea that gender is simply a social construct. I am all for people living the life they fit into, as long as others aren’t affected by their decision. However, the fact of the matter is that humans are born into one of two genders.

I can’t recall a time in my life that family members had to sit me down and indoctrinate me in the ways of womanhood. I was given reproduction education, and never once called into question the fact that I am female.

In hindsight, I think that had I been raised to believe I didn’t fall into either gender, it would have seriously caused conflict within myself and pressure to conform to what I was taught by my mother.

Related: Gender-Confused Kids Need Protection, Not Exploitation

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Making decisions for babies is a new frontier I’m not sure I’m comfortable with. Children lack the capacity to comprehend such confusing terminology and complex beliefs. It would be more productive to allow children to keep the sex assigned at birth, while instilling acceptance into conversations that will occur much later in their lives. The effects of these decisions are potentially damaging, especially when it comes time for school or social scenarios.

Related: Look Who’s Bashing Fathers and Proud of It

How can a person raise children without identity and expect them to wake up one day fully knowing who they should be? There are way too many life lessons along the way to not acknowledge or educate children on their assigned gender. As much as I will accept people for who they are, I will not accept forcing that decision on children.

Angelina Newsom is a U.S. Army veteran and an OpsLens contributor. She served 10 years in the military, including a deployment to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. She studies criminal justice and is still active within the military community. This OpsLens article is used by permission.

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