By Judie Brown
It is sad but true that man has found himself in a new state of flux, thanks in no small part to those who deny the creative power of God while embracing the ruses that evil perpetrates. One of the most recent aberrations is the rising support for something called transsexualism, described by the government’s National Institutes of Health as a “condition when a person’s psychological gender differs from his or her biological sex.” This is pure gobbledygook!
A basic lesson on the topic of gender is required here. Father Paul Scalia wrote that though “the Church has no teaching on ‘gender identity’ per se,” it “articulates the truth about the human person” and explains that we suffer from a fallen human nature. He then turns to the wisdom of Pope Benedict XVI, writing:
“Man does not create himself,” Pope Benedict XVI bluntly stated. To be created means to accept ourselves as having a certain nature and design—those defining features that make us human. Shortly before his resignation, Pope Benedict described our culture’s current misunderstanding: “The manipulation of nature, which we deplore today where our environment is concerned, now becomes man’s fundamental choice where he himself is concerned. From now on there is only the abstract human being, who chooses for himself what his nature is to be.”
And this is where man frequently goes off the track, denying the creative power of God and arrogantly assuming it unto himself, including the question of transitioning from one gender to another. Such hubris seems to have no bounds, as we see in the recent proclamation of United States president Joe Biden, who called for a Transgender Day of Visibility on Easter Sunday. His actions underscore the diabolical forces we face.
So we turn to basic definitions to bring us back to reality.
In the case of the word transition, Webster defines it as “a change or shift from one state, subject, place, etc. to another.” Think of transitional phrases or transitions in human development and the like. Such transitions are natural and have occurred throughout the history of the human race.
But when that word is used in relation to the sexual identity of a person, all manner of misinformation comes into play. And it does not stop with transitional gender but addresses detransition as well—a state that Wikipedia defines as the “cessation or reversal of a transgender identification or of gender transition, temporarily or permanently, through social, legal, and/or medical means.”
Reading and absorbing what this means when contrasting it with the divine design of our Creator is astounding. On the one hand we truly see and live the natural order of things as they should be, but on the other hand we find the creation of an entire vocabulary designed to support a false concept of the human person and his identity.
In 2023, the Federalist published an article entitled “‘Detransitioners’ Are Being Abandoned by Medical Professionals Who Devastated Their Bodies and Minds,” in which one victim of this tragic situation said that while she has resisted self-medicating, she is “feeling pushed to go that route because no doctor will help” her. She continued, “It is deeply triggering my [borderline personality disorder] abandonment and rejection issues. It’s really easy to slip into the mindset that everyone hates me, I’m a medical monster, I’m bad and evil, and I deserve this.”
Reports like this one are rarely the focus of the mainstream media, most of which appear to advocate for gender transition without giving an iota of concern for the human fallout that leads to such suffering because man has chosen to play God.
Bishop Michael Burbidge of Arlington, Virginia, has addressed this very question, writing to those who are struggling with these situations:
More than anything else, the Church desires to bring you the love of Jesus Christ Himself. That love is inseparable from the truth of who you are as one created in God’s image, reborn as a child of God, and destined for His glory. Christ suffered for our sake, not to exempt us from all suffering but to be with us in the midst of those struggles. The Church is here to assist and accompany you on this journey, so that you will know the beauty of the body and soul that God gave you and come to enjoy “the glorious freedom of the children of God” (Rom 8:21).
Let us pray for those who seek or have already received unnatural alterations to their bodies and ask the Lord to be with each of them on their personal journey to healing.
