How Do I Nicely Explain The Churches View On Transgender People?

[premed_jakey]

Feel free to move this is I have posted it in the wrong area!

I attend a liberal college and there will be a conference soon to talk about gay and lesbian and transgender issues. Not only that, I do know a few people who feel that "they" are not the gender their bodies are. (aka, a guy feels like he is really a girl)

I naturally feel against transgenderism, and people feeling like they were born in the wrong body, but, I dont know how to express in a loving way why I am against changing your gender because of how you feel about it. Any help (and biblical basis) would be great.

[Pio Nono]

JMJ
2/21 - St. Peter Damian

Premed_Jakey,

It's ironic, for a number of reasons I can't explain here, that this question is being answered on Peter Damian's feast.

[i]Transgenderism[/i] is fundamentally a psychological disorder, and unless we're trained to deal with that problem, there's really nothing that we can do to "make it better." These people, typically, aren't OK with themselves due to some sort of (a) chemical imbalance or (b) childhood trauma - my experience in dealing with transgender people is that it's a childhood trauma, usually sexual in nature.

If you want to help these people, you need to let them know that, even though they don't love themselves, you love them. If they ask you outright what the Church believes, then tell them - Providence isn't so cruel as to put us in a body that we don't belong in. Otherwise, it's best to treat them as you would anyone else with a severe psychological disorder - take them seriously and let them know you're not interested in their problem, but in their person.

As for people who aren't transgender but support transgender issues (whatever that means), let them know that you don't take them seriously. In my experience, these people need to be shocked, and the best way to do that is to toss back their own relativist philosophy at them. A line like, "That's just your opinion," or, "Let's agree to disagree," is usually enough to get them foaming at the mouth.

I'd ask others to toss in their two cents. Hope this helps.

Yours,
Pio Nono