Episode 37: Mike Andrews Testifies

Senator Travis walked back to the defense table, then pivoted to face the judge. “The defense would like to call a final witness to the stand: Dr. Michael Philip Andrews.”

“You may call your witness to the stand, Professor,” the judge confirmed.

Mike took the witness stand and was sworn in by the judge.

“Your name is Dr. Michael Philip Andrews?” Senator Travis asked.

“Yes, sir,” Mike answered.

“What is your employment?”

“Until recently,” Mike replied, “I was a biology teacher at County Central High School. I’m currently on administrative leave from that job.”

“Yes,” Senator Travis nodded. “How did that happen?”

“I was reviewing the biology of sex determination,” Mike explained. “A student we heard from earlier asked me ‘what if my chromosomes say I’m XX, but in my heart, I feel like a male. Am I still female?’ I replied, ‘from the perspective of biological science, yes.’ Next thing I knew, the SWAT team was breaking down my classroom door. They arrested me, and I’ve either been in court or in the jail downstairs since.”

“If I may call upon you to exercise your talents as a teacher, Dr. Andrews,” Senator Travis continued, “what is the value of the science you teach our students? What is the value of biology?”

“It’s the science of life,” Dr. Andrews began. “Biology is the foundational science behind such fields as medicine, agriculture, ecology, and environmental science. It informs how we live, how we can thrive and prosper, who we are as people and as biological organisms, and how we interact with our living world.”

“Seems a pretty important subject,” Senator Travis nodded his confirmation. “Where does the science of how sex determination works come into play?”

“The science of sex is fundamental to biology,” Mike explained. “In my specific branch of science, I try to breed and hybridize plants to make them more useful. In particular, I’m trying to develop a strain of peanuts that will be hypoallergenic – peanuts that people with allergies will be able to come into contact with or eat without triggering dangerous allergic reactions. During gametogenesis, the male pollen and female seed gametophytes form in specialized reproductive tissues of the flower: the anther and ovule. The gametophyte is the sexual phase in the life cycle of plants and algae. The multicellular gametophytes are formed following meiosis…”

“Seems awfully complicated,” Senator Travis cut him off. “So, you’re saying the science of sex determination is critical to you doing things like making peanuts that won’t kill children with allergies?” The senator simplified Mike’s answer to help the jury understand it.

“I couldn’t do what I do,” Mike confirmed, “without understanding how to cross-pollinate plants and transfer male pollen germlines to create new hybrid varieties, and that’s a simple application of the science of sex determination.”

“Well, if you say so, Dr. Andrews,” Senator Travis replied with a genial smile. “Can you give us examples of how sex determination comes into play in other areas?”

“Certainly,” Mike replied. “My work is an example of how the biology of sex determination is critical in making better crops to put food on the table. It’s also of value in animal husbandry – breeding better food animals.

“In medicine, different drugs impact men and women in different ways that are important to understand. For instance, young men are more prone than young women to experience myocarditis as a side effect of COVID vaccination. Different drugs can impact fertility of men and women in different ways. Understanding the biology of sex helps doctors optimize outcomes for their male and female patients.”

“So, is it fair to say,” Senator Travis summarized, “that the biological science you teach helps put food on the table and keep us healthier through better medical care?”

“Definitely,” Mike nodded his agreement.

“Sounds like something mighty important we ought to be teaching our youngsters,” Senator Travis noted for the benefit of the jury.

Senator Travis stepped back, dropped off his pad on the defense table, and approached the witness stand. “You know,” he gestured dismissively toward Senator Castillo, “they’re saying that you ‘denied the gender definition adopted by your student.’ They’re saying you claimed that ‘gender identity has a biological meaning independent of any person's chosen preference.’ We’ve been listening to an awful lot of people talking about it. What do YOU have to say?”

“I absolutely did NOT teach that ‘gender identity has a biological meaning independent of any person’s chosen preference,’” Mike argued. “In fact, I categorically deny that so-called ‘gender identity’ has any particular biological meaning.”

Mike looked out into the audience, and he saw Acey sitting next to her mother, a frightened look on her face, her head trembling back and forth, shaking no.

“What do you mean by that?” Senator Travis requested clarification.

Mike ignored Acey, took a deep breath and focused his attention on Senator Travis. “A biological woman can identify as a man, or as a cat, or as a unicorn,” he explained. “She’s still a biological woman. A biological man can identify as a woman, or… as an attack helicopter for that matter. He’s still a biological man. Gender identity doesn’t HAVE a biological meaning. It’s a linguistic term that has been borrowed to describe some arbitrary internal personal feeling that does not depend upon biology in particular, or upon reality in general.”

“Didn’t you deny the gender definition adopted by your student?” Senator Travis asked. “You have a student who is a biological female and who identifies as male. You told her from the perspective of biological science she’s still female. Isn’t that denying her gender definition?”

“Not at all,” Mike claimed. “As I already explained, a gender definition is an arbitrary internal personal feeling that does not depend upon biology except in so far as it hijacks biological terms like male and female or men and women in service of an arbitrary agenda. Telling a ‘trans-male,’ someone who is biologically female that she IS biologically female, in no way denies the fact that she feels otherwise. She is a biological female who identifies as male. Noting the former doesn’t deny the latter. Pointing out the biological reality doesn’t deny the existence of the subjective feeling,” Mike argued, “even if the feeling contradicts the reality.”

“That seems pretty straightforward,” Senator Travis acknowledged. “Why do you think there’s all this controversy?”

“I think the problem,” Mike explained, “comes when people try to let their feelings override reality, or worse, insist that their feelings have to trump reality for everyone else. If you’re going to argue that everyone has their own independent personal reality and their own independent personal truth, and if you’re going to privilege some person’s supposed truth over everyone else’s, that’s a recipe for disaster. You’ve destroyed and undermined any basis for determining true and false or right and wrong. All that you have left is conflict and controversy.”

“Conflict and controversy,” Senator Travis nodded. “Well, we certainly have a lot of that, now don’t we?”

“Yes, sir,” Mike replied.

“With your keen scientific mind,” Senator Travis talked up his witness for the jury, “you’ve really swept aside all the nonsense and all the wishful thinking we’ve heard the last few days. Leave it to a biologist to cut to the heart of the matter. Could you just summarize for us one more time? You’re accused of teaching that ‘gender identity has a biological meaning independent of any person's chosen preference.’ Did you?”

“No, sir,” Mike insisted.

“Please explain,” Senator Travis requested.

“Gender DOES NOT HAVE a biological meaning independent of any personal chosen preferences. A man can choose to present as a woman or vice versa without regard to their biology. So, I did not and would not ever teach that ‘gender identity has a biological meaning independent of any person’s chosen preference.’ It’s that simple.”

Senator Travis continued. “You’re also accused of ‘denying the gender definition adopted by your student.’ Did you?”

“No, sir,” Mike replied matter-of-factly.

“And would you explain that to us again, please?” Senator Travis followed up.

“Gender definition is an arbitrary internal personal feeling that does not depend upon biology. Telling a biological woman who identifies as a man, for instance, that she IS a biological woman in no way denies the fact that she identifies as a man.”

“Thank you for clarifying that for us,” Senator Travis turned away, took a step back, then sat on the corner of the defense table.

“One final question,” he picked up his legal pad from the defense table. “When you were teaching biology to your students for that last time, and the door smashed in, and the SWAT team rushed toward you,” Senator Travis asked, “what was going through your mind?”

“It all happened so fast,” Mike shook his head, recalling the moment. “I wasn’t expecting it. My initial thought was that someone was attacking the school, attacking my students. Then, I saw they were police officers. They… manhandled me, cuffed me, and led me out of the classroom in front of my students. It was an intimidating and demeaning experience for me. It traumatized my students, students I was responsible for. I hope we never have to go through that again, and I hope no other teacher and class are subjected to the same treatment.”

“What an amazing story,” Senator Travis shook his head to emphasize his witness’s account. “We certainly appreciate the great personal sacrifices you’ve made to help us better understand what’s wrong with the GAIA Act and the difference between this so-called gender identity and biological sex.”

Senator Travis took his seat and looked smugly over at Senator Castillo. “Your witness.”

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