Class date: 17 March, 2019
IMPORTANT: The focus is on transgender ideology and its errors, as distinct from individuals who experience transgender feelings.
Thought to ponder:
How can it be that if a girl likes pink and princesses, she’s the victim of tyrannical social conditioning, but if a boy does, that means he’s really a girl?
1. Why does transgenderism matter to you? Particular areas where the ideology is being pushed strongly today:
- entertainment and media engaging in propaganda
- education - children in grade school being taught gender ideology as fact
- medicine - especially parents being told drugs and hormones are the only answer for children experiencing gender confusion
- bathrooms / locker rooms - laws, school policies, etc.
- pronouns - laws that punish "misgendering" are compelled (not free) speech
2. Key terms to understand:
- sex: your biological makeup as either male or female. For politically-motivated reasons, inaccurately termed "sex assigned at birth"
- gender: traditionally = sex. Today, often disconnected from (biological) sex
- gender identity: individual’s perception of being M/F/something else
- gender dysphoria: distress from feeling alienated in one's own body, from feeling that there is a mismatch between one’s gender and sex
- transgender: having a gender identity that doesn't match one's sex
3. Other important facts:
- Do kids with transgender feelings ever lose them?
- Yes! Overwhelmingly. Various studies show that 73-94% of children spontaneously lose those feelings.
- Is gender dysphoria real? What is an indicator of this?
- Absolutely. An indicator of the serious distress that many transgender individuals experience in that about 41% of transgender people have attempted suicide.
- Have there been studies of whether treatments help?
- Yes. The largest study to date, a Swedish study of 372 persons over a period of 30 years, found that treatments initially helped, but 10-15 years later, the suicide rate rose to 19x vs comparable non-transgender persons.
- How do we know it's not completely genetic?
- Identical twin studies show that both twins identify as transgender only around 20-30% of the time.
4. What the Catholic Church teaches about sex and gender
- Pope Francis has warned that the new gender ideology is the "annihilation of man as the image of God":
“We are experiencing a moment of the annihilation of man as the image of God. I would like to conclude with this aspect, since behind all this there are ideologies. ... And one of these –- I will call it clearly by its name –- is [the ideology of] 'gender'. Today children –- children! –- are taught in school that everyone can choose his or her sex. ... These forms of ideological colonization are also supported by influential countries. And this terrible!” ~ Pope Francis
(Note: bracketed words are from Vatican transcript, not mine.)
- As Genesis teaches (1:27), "God created man in his own image ... male and female he created them." Human persons are created in the image of God as either male or female. This is the natural order of creation.
- This fact of two sexes is also scientific fact, based on an organism's organization wrt sexual reproduction. Across the animal kingdom, there are two complementary ways on the anatomical, hormonal, DNA etc. levels that biologists identify as male and female.
- Gnostics and modern followers of Decartes view matter and spirit, body and mind as radically disjoint.
- We are NOT mere "ghosts in machines" but rather mind-body unities: embodied spirits / minds.
- Our bodies and our minds are equally integral parts of our identity (who we are), so gender and sex are inseparable.
- Gender dysphoria is a confusion, a psychological illness, NOT a sin. But surgery that intentionally damages healthy body parts is sinful, IF done with full knowledge and consent, since it rejects God's gift and plan.
- The ultimate identity of a transgender person is as a child of God, deeply loved, and with immeasurable dignity.
5. Questions to ask transgender ideology supporters
- What do you mean by _______? (Make sure you understand what they mean by "gender", "gender identity", etc.)
- Are you saying we should affirm all bodily dysphorias, or only this one? Why? What about trans-racial, trans-abled (BIID), or trans-species persons?
- What is a woman? What is a man? (Can they come up with an objective definition that does not rely on stereotypes, without reference to the body?)
- Apart from having a male body, what does it feel like to be a man? Apart from having a female body, what does it feel like to be a woman?
- If gender is a social construct, how can gender identity be inborn and unchangeable? (How can your identity with respect to a social construct be determined by biology while you're in the womb?)
- And more ... see the Ryan Anderson video and the "questions" articles in the Resources post for this class.
5. How to answer the best objections and most common arguments presented by supporters of transgender ideology
- See the class handout. I have some extra copies for those who missed the class.
6. Five quick tips for speaking with transgender individuals: NOT intended to replace professional help!
- Listen
- Empathize
- Respect, compassion, sensitivity
- Affirm their true identities as beloved children of God
- Always with love
Credit to my main sources: Brandon Vogt's ClaritasU course on "Transgenderism" and Ryan Anderson's video lectures. Thanks to Brandon for permission to use his videos in my class!
Please see the Resources post below for more.