Friends, you've probably heard in the news about the Cass Report out of the UK regarding medical intervention for youth struggling with gender dysphoria and transgender issues. This is a massive and technical report that can be daunting to decipher. If you're interested in how that report makes seismic impacts to the nature of transgender debates and treatments, you may want to start with this article that summarizes some of its central findings.
Rebecca McLaughlin has written a helpful article that summarizes some of these findings and makes plain how this impacts the larger debate. In particular, she points out these four findings:
Adolescent gender dysphoria does not predict lifelong experience.
Puberty blockers don’t merely “buy time” to think.
Puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones are not “life-saving” medicines.
The exponential rise in trans identity in recent years is not explained by greater societal acceptance.
These findings essentially dismantle the cultural narrative surrounding the transgender debates. This is why the Cass Report is so important to showing that medical intervention is neither healthy nor helpful in solving the confusion that many have when it comes to their gender.
I've also included a few excerpts that are particularly enlightening as it pertains to common claims about gender issues and suicide and how social media rather than societal acceptance have been the driving forces in the confusion that so many are experiencing. Don’t just skim these excerpts. Make sure to read the entire article.
God has made humans in two genders—male and female (Gen. 1:26-27). Each person from conception is made in God’s image according to God’s design for their sex and gender (Ps. 139: 13-16). These genders are inextricably tied to our biology and are fixed. In other words, biological sex=gender. Sex and gender aren’t realities that can be chosen or changed because of disordered feelings that we have about our bodies. Binary gender (maleness and femaleness) is God's wise design for our good. There are many in our world right now who are struggling and confused about who God made them to be. They are inundated with messages everyday that drive a spiral into deeper and deeper confusion. Let us be a people who are willing to tell the truth about God’s good design, who are willing to listen and pray with those who are struggling, and ultimately who are willing to lead them to a place of hope and healing through a relationship with Jesus. The Cass Report has demonstrated that medical intervention isn’t the answer for those suffering confusion about who God made them to be. The Bible gives us the solution by making plain God’s good design and promising transformation through the gospel.
For more on the Bible’s teaching about gender, I would recommend Kevin DeYoung’s recent article:
DeYoung’s central claim is, “We will see that the Bible does not support transgenderism. Instead, God has created each of us as either male or female, and he desires that we live our lives—in appearance, in attitude, and in behavior—according to our biological sex.” I wholeheartedly agree.
