By Lesley Williams*
Transgender people are no longer rare: from President Biden’s assistant secretary for health, Rachel Levine, to prime TV interviews, movies, documentaries, sporting events, and glossy magazine covers. (Remember when Bruce “became” Caitlyn Jenner?) The media has presented the faces of “successful” gender transitioners—people who look fitting and right with their new opposite-gender appearance. High-paid entertainers have glamorized bisexuality and gender fluidity. Wars over bathrooms and eligibility for sporting competitions have erupted, followed by a string of legislative moves designed to normalize transgenderism. In one country that now fully recognizes trans parenthood, a trans man who gives birth is officially designated as “father” and a trans woman who fathers a child as “mother.”1
In the face of such rapid changes, the question naturally arises: How are Christians to relate to today’s transgender and gender fluidity movements? In what manner should we, as individuals, families, and churches, meet persons
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“Sweden recognizes trans parenthood,” Transgender Europe, tgeu.org, Mar. 9, 2019.
Leonard Sax, “How common is Intersex? A response to Anne Fausto-Sterling,” The Journal of Sex Research, vol. 39, no. 3 (Aug. 1, 2002): 174–78, https://doi.org/10.1080/00224490209552139.
“Gender-affirming hormone in children and adolescents,” BMJ, blogs.bmj.com, Feb. 25, 2019.
Gabriele Kuby, The Global Sexual Revolution (Angelico Press, 2015), p. 10.
Martha Irvine, The Associated Press, “Young gender-benders like to keep options open,” The Salt Lake Tribune, Oct. 2, 2005.
See Walt Heyer’s latest book, Trans Life Survivors, which contains stories of 30 “regretters.”
For that reason, the present article is written under a pseudonym.
David Batty, “Sex changes are not effective, say researchers,” The Guardian, www.theguardian.com, July 30, 2004.
Lawrence S. Mayer and Paul R. McHugh, “Sexuality and Gender,” The New Atlantis, www.thenewatlantis.com, 2016.
Cecilia Dhejne et al., “Long-Term Follow-Up of Transsexual Persons Undergoing Sex Reassignment Surgery: Cohort Study in Sweden,” PloS One, vol. 6, no. 2 (Feb. 22, 2011): e16885, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0016885.
See reference 3.
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*For reasons explained above in reference to note 7, Lesley Williams is a pseudonym.