The Only True Way to Self-Identify Is as a Child of God

Nothing is more distorted from the truth these days and also attacking children in unprecedented numbers than the craze of so-called transgenderism. “Transgenderism” is not only about mentally confused people playing pretend, but it’s also about demanding the world play along, just as all the emperor’s subjects felt obliged to play along with the emperor pretending in Hans Christian Andersen’s famous folktale, “The Emperor’s New Clothes.”

Written almost 200 years ago, “The Emperor’s New Clothes” taught a moral that people should be willing to speak up if they know someone is spreading a falsehood. As you recall from this tale, it takes a child to point out the elephant in the room to all the adults who are either too embarrassed or too pressured to tell the truth about the emperor being naked instead of clothed.

Perhaps we should write a modern version of “The Emperor’s New Clothes” and call it “The Man’s New Gender.” In this adaptation, there would be a plurality of adults who are too manipulated or too intimidated, to tell the truth, and point out a number of elephants in the room – such as “transgenderism” isn’t real, “gender identity” is a fake concept, and “sex change” is impossible.

As the father of lies, Satan distorts the truth and provides all the rationalizations for why something is right, even though God and the Church teach it as wrong. We are all targets of the evil one, who lures us into a sense of false security to believe we can build our little kingdom here and now without any need of God. The propagandists in the so-called LGBTQIA2S+ community have already succumbed to Satan’s lures; they see traditional Christian views on sexuality as wrong and their distorted views on sexuality as right. Parents who want to make sure their kids don’t submit as well to these evil lures will have to work exceedingly hard to counter the lies coming from the powerful, corrupt culture.

Up until 10 years ago, “transgender” was listed as a mental illness and disorder by the American Psychiatric Association’s Manual of Mental Disorders. But in 2013 the definition was downgraded to call it a “dysphoria – an emotional state of distress which results from one’s gender identity.” This sleight-of-hand in altering terminology didn’t come about because of advances in science, but due to pressure and lobbying from various pro-perverse sexuality groups so to gain mainstream society’s acceptance and counter what they said was a stigma and discrimination toward so-called trans people. This unscientific change in terminology comes from the same American Psychiatric Association which also in 2013 changed the terms “male” and “female” to “individual assigned male (or female) at birth.”

The transgender movement is attempting to change in the eyes of popular society the nature of the male and female human body just as the homosexual movement improperly changed the nature of marriage. Both movements establish a revolt against God our Creator, and what makes things worse is how the transgender movement is purposely trying to snare and corrupt youngsters.

It is sad that a person with gender dysphoria (i.e. a so-called transgender person) is detached from reality, and it’s sadder still that so many preteens and teenagers are being persuaded by social media, mainstream media, celebrities, and even the educational system to not only consider transgenderism the latest and greatest trend but to consider it may be the solution to their issues. Throughout history, teens and preteens during puberty – due to raging hormones and attempts to understand their lives – have sought affirmation, identity, and attention. In our current society, these kids are being indoctrinated to believe their questions about their identity can be answered by supposing they were assigned the wrong sex at birth. It is now considered that the cool and rad thing for a kid to do is to announce you’re a different gender than the one God gave you and to tell people your new name and what pronouns you are using.

Susceptibility to popular delusions has happened throughout time, but with the fallacy of the transgender movement, the people who are more susceptible appear to be youngsters, especially those with autism spectrum disorder. Teens and preteens who are on the autism spectrum (which includes children who previously would have been referred to as having Asperger’s syndrome) have difficulties developing and maintaining friendships, communicating with peers and adults, or understanding what behaviors are expected of them. They often will also have anxiety and depression. Autism in the general community is estimated to be no more than 4%, but research in the publication European Psychiatry found that “14% of the transgender and non-binary group had a diagnosis of autism, while a further 28% of this group reached the cut-off point for an autism diagnosis, suggesting a high number of potentially undiagnosed individuals.”

While it is disheartening that so many preteens and teenagers are being allured to consider transgenderism as they are undergoing some type of psychological stress, it is downright evil that ultra-progressive parents and immoral medical professionals are enabling youngsters to believe their dysphoria is real, to the point of drugging and/or mutilating them. And it’s absolutely infuriating that the so-called transgender movement has brainwashed, coerced, and/or threatened much of society to go along with this detachment and lie, ala what happened to the people in “The Emperor’s New Clothes.”

If you refuse to go along with the lie if you firmly insist “transgender” is a made-up word, and if you reject using the so-called preferred pronouns of a person because you know that’s a dishonest sham, you will be harassed and called a hater or “transphobe” (another made-up word). It may possibly be risky for job security and also friend security to speak out in a counter-cultural manner, but the reluctance to speak out is a big reason why the immorality of society has progressed in such a speedy manner in recent years. Out of fear of being labeled a so-called hater, too many good Christians have committed the sin of omission when they didn’t speak up to say such-and-such is wrong and we are not going to go along with it.

Especially when the situation involves corrupting kids, we need to call to mind Jesus’s words:

 If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones (children) who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were fastened around your neck, and you were drowned in the depth of the sea (Matthew 18:6).

The other side will call you unchristian for not accepting a confused person’s “truth,” for not using a person’s so-called preferred pronouns, and for expressing your abhorrence at how the lie of transgenderism is harming children. But you will know – as an authentic Christian – that real charity must be grounded in the truth. One can provide compassionate help to so-called transgender persons by trying to get them to accept their bodies as God’s gift and valuing the femininity or masculinity of the sex in which God created them. Compassion does not mean agreeing with a so-called transgendered person who denies God creates only two sexes or capitulating to the delusion that one can change one’s sex by using different pronouns and cutting off body parts. That would be misplaced compassion.

Ultimately, all parents these days need to be proactive and protective, lest their child could be pulled into the social contagion before they know it. Instead of waiting until they see signs of their daughter wanting to be a boy or their son wanting to be a girl, parents of a preteen or teenager need to discuss as a family the gender ideology craze and use both scientific and religious reasons to explain why it is wrong, and likewise, why the popular culture is wrong to endorse it.

Furthermore, parents must not wait to remove the environmental sources – peers, school, and social media – that often contribute to youngsters getting sucked into this incorrect thinking of gender ideology. Mom and dad ought not to let their child hang around others who are into transgender beliefs, must limit their kid’s social media exposure, and cannot send their child to a school where teachers encourage changing students’ pronouns, especially if their child is already showing signs of depression or anxiety or is considered to be on the autism spectrum, as these characteristics are regularly seen in kids – and especially girls – who begin to believe they are so-called trans.

The parent’s job is to help their children realize that peace and resolution will not be found in rejecting the truth of the human person God created. Children need to be told the truth: that they are loved and that they matter, that Jesus loves them too and will never abandon them; that their bodies were beautifully and wonderfully created by God; that their Almighty Father did not make a mistake when He made them; and that disfiguring or maiming the body will not bring enduring peace, but that counseling, prayer, and a sincere support system can help them overcome feelings of loneliness and self-loathing.

No matter what the mouthpieces in the so-called LGBTQIA2S+ community continue to tell us, authentic Christians know the propagandists’ revised tale of “The Man’s New Gender” is a lie. Both science and years of Church teaching agree with the fact that there are only two sexes, determined at conception and matter-of-factly acknowledged at birth, and there are biological differences between and a complementary nature of a man and a woman. Up until the 21st Century, 99% of humans agreed with this reality. But today’s popular culture – i.e., all of the entertainment industry, most of the news media and social media, the public educational system, and a large portion of big businesses’ marketing – decided to make a 180-degree turn in recent years and reject reality.

It is distressing that many these days believe the Catholic Church forces an antiquated view of sexuality on its members when in actuality, the Church is simply working to provide clarity about the truth of the human person which God created, and which Jesus confirmed when He said:

 Have you not read that the one who made them at the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let no one separate (Matthew 19:3-7).

A lukewarm or misguided Christian who goes along with the invention of so-called transgenderism is basically saying that when Jesus affirmed God created males and females, Jesus was wrong.

The claim to “be transgender” or the desire to seek “transition” rests on a mistaken view of the human person, rejects the body as a gift from God, and leads to grave spiritual, physical and psychological harm. That is why it is vital for parents to be counter-cultural when addressing gender theory and to stress that it is a disorder and an untrue ideology. If they don’t stand firm and speak up, too many kids will just go along with what today’s culture is falsely and dangerously teaching them instead of trusting their omniscient, Heavenly Creator.  A child’s ultimate happiness will come when he or she accepts the body as God’s gift and discovers his or her true identity as a child of God.