Seven Things I'm Learning about Transgender Persons

[River Jordan]

From a Baptist preacher who's at least trying to listen....

Seven things I’m learning about transgender persons

Most of them are fairly obvious, but the ones that stood out to me are....

2. What you see is not always what you get. For the vast majority of humanity, the presence of male or female genitalia corresponds to whether a person is male or female. What you see is what you are. But for a small part of humanity (something less than 1 percent), the visible parts and the inner identity do not line up. For example, it is possible to be born with male genitalia but female chromosomes or vice versa. And now brain research has demonstrated that it also is possible to be born with female genitalia, female chromosomes but a male brain. Most of us hit the jackpot upon birth with all three factors lining up like cherries on a slot machine: Our anatomy, chromosomes and brain cells all correspond as either male or female. But some people are born with variations in one or two of these indicators.

3. Stuff happens at birth that most of us never know. It’s not an everyday occurrence but it’s also not infrequent that babies are born with ambiguous or incomplete sexual anatomy. In the past, surgeons often made the decision about whether this child would be a boy or a girl, based on what was the easiest surgical fix. Today, much more thought is given to these life-changing decisions.

I often wonder how many people are aware that sex determination during development isn't always a clear-cut, A or B situation? Even if it's only 1% of the population, that's 700,000,000 people born with "a little from column A and a little from column B" in various combinations. That brings us to his last item...

7. Transgender persons are the product of nature much more than nurture. Debate the origins of homosexuality if you’d like and what role nature vs. nurture plays. But for those who are transgender, nature undeniably plays a primary role. According to medical science, chromosomal variances occur within moments of conception, and anatomical development happens within the nine months in the womb. There is no nature vs. nurture argument, except in cases of brain development, which is an emerging field of study.

This last point in particular raises the largest of theological questions. If Christians really believe every person is created in the image of God, how can we damn a baby who comes from the womb with gender dysphoria? My pediatrician friend puts it this way: “We must believe that even if some people got a lower dose of a chromosome, or an enzyme, or a hormonal effect, that does not mean that they got a lower dose of God’s image.”

I like how he ended the article too...

I don’t know much about transgender issues, but I’m trying to learn — in part because I want to understand the way God has made us. For me, this is a theological quest as much as a biological inquiry or a political cause. How about you?

"I'm trying to learn". I think I like this guy. :)

 

[Angel]

I guess I need to comment, being trans and all. What's to learn we're just people. That's the biggest mistake I get is someone treating me special or just yelling lol.

 

[mjrhealth]

And Jesus is on there side. Being a battle.

 

[River Jordan]

I guess I need to comment, being trans and all. What's to learn we're just people. That's the biggest mistake I get is someone treating me special or just yelling lol.

Didn't know that! I guess if there's anyone in this forum who can speak to this issue, it's you. :)

 

[junobet]

It seems to me that the urge to put people into dichotomous boxes of male and female is only human, whereas God isn’t really all that bothered about our gender. See Gal. 3:28:
„There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.“