Pastor David Olson from Ankeny said in the past he has worked for a rehab drug and alcohol sector for 14 years where he dealt with many homeless people.
“I was homeless at one time,” he said. “So I’m familiar with that lifestyle. We dealt with a lot of clients who were coming out of the homosexual lifestyle and some who continued in that lifestyle, but we were there to help them with their drug addiction.”
Olson said his biggest issue is that the realm of severing gender identity from biological sexuality is “not based in science.”
“That belongs more to the subject realm of ethics and philosophy, it is not science,” he said. “Philosophy and ethics are based on someone’s worldview. Presuppositions and biases are brought to the table.”
He said it is his belief that we should stick to “verifiable science.” Olson said he has seven children, and he would like to influence his children in those areas.
“My kids are free thinkers,” he said. “My adult children now don’t always agree. But, when they’re small, it’s my job to shape their belief system.”
Olson said he read a statistic that 98 percent of boys diagnosed as gender-confused and 88 percent of gender confused girls eventually accept their biological sex after naturally passing through puberty.
“That is a natural thing, they will identify with both males and females because they have influence from those two groups of people,” he said. “For us to validate that during an impressionable time I think is dangerous. There’s mounting evidence of people who have transitioned, even medically, who now regret that and are reversing their transition.”
Olson said he has friends in the homosexual lifestyle. Some have escaped, others have never left.
“But they’re not children, they’re adults who can make their own decision,” he said. “I just think that’s left to parents. As a Christian, I’m often told Christians are against science. I’m all for science, but let’s have some verifiable science and let’s base this on things that are observable and provable.”
