Some Things Christians Should Know about Gender Dysphoria (Transgenderism) in Children
Introduction Within the past ten years, there has been an unusual rise in children as young as two years old being identified as transgender. However, many Christians do not have adequate tools to decipher between LGBTQ propaganda and medical science or articulate the appropriate biblical ethic regarding the diagnosis and treatment of children suffering from Gender Dysphoria (GD) with Puberty Suppression Hormone Therapy (SP) and Sex Reassignment Surgeries (SRS). In this paper, I plan to offer some clarifications that will separate true scientific facts from social propaganda. This subject is complex and understandably socially volatile but the Christian needs to be well informed with medical, social, and biblical truth. Hence, in Section One, I will define Gender Dysphoria (GD) from medical, social, and biblical perspectives. In Section Two, I will foray into the medical classification and treatment of GD. In Section Three, I will discuss ongoing ethical issues with the current social trends.
Within the past ten years, there has been an unusual rise in children as young as two years old being identified as transgender. However, many Christians do not have adequate tools to decipher between LGBTQ propaganda and medical science or articulate the appropriate biblical ethic regarding the diagnosis and treatment of children suffering from Gender Dysphoria (GD) with Puberty Suppression Hormone Therapy (SP) and Sex Reassignment Surgeries (SRS). In this paper, I plan to offer some clarifications that will separate true scientific facts from social propaganda. This subject is complex and understandably socially volatile but the Christian needs to be well informed with medical, social, and biblical truth. Hence, in Section One, I will define Gender Dysphoria (GD) from medical, social, and biblical perspectives. In Section Two, I will foray into the medical classification and treatment of GD. In Section Three, I will discuss ongoing ethical issues with the current social trends.
Gender Dysphoria refers to the experience of conflict or incongruence in gender identity when a person’s perceived gender differs from the biological sex at birth. Biological sex is a natural phenomenon and 99% of all children conform to their biological sex. Less than 1% of all children experience GD as part of their developmental process. Children as young as two years old have expressed discomfort with their gender or the expected roles that match their biological sex. Most children outgrow this feeling at puberty. The result from follow-up research among children with GD shows that 80 – 95% of children and 75-90% of adolescents who express incongruence as children outgrow those desires after puberty or as adults.
However, due to recent socio-political developments, the definition of gender dysphoria has become both ambiguous and controversial. New nuances have been introduced in the scientific literature to accommodate social activism, political correctness, and suitability for insurance claims. The redefinition and reclassification from Gender Identity Disorder (GID) to Gender Dysphoria offered in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual fifth edition (DSM-V) is an example of this trend.
The DSM-5-TR defines gender dysphoria in children as a marked incongruence between one’s experienced/expressed gender and assigned gender, lasting at least 6 months, as manifested by at least six strong preferences, desires, likes and dislikes. The condition must also be associated with clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning. Also, according to the American Psychiatric Association (APA), “Gender dysphoria involves a conflict between a person’s physical or assigned gender and the gender with which he/she/they identify.” It is important to note that in both definitions, the incongruence is no longer between one’s biological sex and the feeling of being of the opposite sex. The shift to incongruence between assigned gender and experienced gender is a ploy to shift the fundamental cause of GD from an internal mental state that precedes the GD to an externally induced distress that is in response to social pressure, prejudice and bullying.
Want to read more? Click here: Some things Christians Should Know about Gender Dysphoria (Transgenderism) in Children.docx for our free resource from apologist Prince Nwankudu.
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