Catholic husband decides he’s a woman

[0Scarlett_nidiyilii]

Then I’m sure we can both agree that the LGBT activists should get out of the way of real research, even when the results make them uncomfortable.

And not refuse speakers at conferences who don’t agree with them.

And stop putting ideas in kids’ heads.

 

[Annie]

. The first surgeries were attempted in in the first half of the 20th century; the first known vaginoplasty was in 1931. Before that, gonadectomies.

Were these surgeries for transgender people or for people who needed it because of a different problem?

 

[SugarMagnolia]

How is it not delusional to say you’re female when in fact you’re male? This guy impregnated a woman yet he believes he’s female.

 

[SugarMagnolia]

Lots of mental illnesses have an organic basis. Physical illnesses have an organic basis. Just because something has an organic basis doesn’t mean it’s good.

 

[SugarMagnolia]

I have a serious question for you if you are Catholic: How do you reconcile God’s infallibility with the transgender belief that He makes mistakes and puts souls in the wrong bodies?

 

[OraLabora]

I have a serious question for you if you are Catholic: How do you reconcile God’s infallibility with the transgender belief that He makes mistakes and puts souls in the wrong bodies?

Yes I am Catholic. The answer is obvious: original sin allowed corruption to enter the world. God designed us with 4 limbs but some are born with limb agenesis (limb that doesn’t form or doesn’t fully form). Did God purposely make some people miss a limb? I don’t think so.

Similarly, things can go awry with gender. Look up “complete androgen insensitivity syndrome”. These are born genetic males; they have testes that produce testosterone, but due to a genetic defect, their bodies cannot metabolize the testosterone. Since we all start out phenotypically female until the 17th week or so of gestation when a shot of testosterone turns the genetic male embryo in to a phenotypic male, the “boys” (with AIS) cannot process that testosterone, so their bodies go on to develop as phenotypically female. That includes their brain. They usually grow to become fully socially integrated women, albeit sterile, and most are well-adjusted with their situation. Are they delusional because they are actually genetically men in a woman’s body?

Either God isn’t infallible… or He is and original sin brought corruption upon us. As a Catholic I rather subscribe to the latter notion.

The evidence is piling up that transgederism has a genetic basis. A faulty gene that inhibits testosterone take-up by the brain has been identified (for male-to-female transgendered). If one identical twin is transgendered, the second one has a much higher chance of being transgendered as well. They see brain structure differences.

Lots of mental illnesses have an organic basis. Physical illnesses have an organic basis. Just because something has an organic basis doesn’t mean it’s good.

Whether one is or isn’t transgendered, or any other condition, is morally neutral for the sufferer. If the condition is causing the patient to suffer, then the role of medical science is to find ways to alleviate that suffering. Some methods are crude and disfiguring but allow survival, for instance some cancer treatments. And yes, the transgendered may need recourse to mutilating surgery, depending on the severity of the dysphoria. Some are satisfied with much less than that. The role of the therapist is to discern that and suggest a course of treatment that provides sufficient relief from the suffering.

 

[OraLabora]

How is it not delusional to say you’re female when in fact you’re male? This guy impregnated a woman yet he believes he’s female.

I know several that are high achievers in the hard sciences. These are not delusional people. They are in fact highly rational.

Inexperienced clinicians may mistake indications of gender dysphoria for delusions. Phenomenologically, there is a qualitative difference between the presentation of gender dysphoria and the presentation of delusions or other psychotic symptoms. The vast majority of children and adolescents with gender dysphoria are not suffering from underlying severe psychiatric illness such as psychotic disorders (Steensma, Biemond, de Boer, & Cohen-Kettenis, published online ahead of print January 7, 2011).

From WPATH standards of care V7.

Delusions are a psychosis, and impair social functioning to a high degree. You don’t go on to do a master’s degree in the hard sciences if you are delusional, as my own daughter is doing as well as one of her trans friends.

As a Catholic and a retired scientist I form my conscience from both scientific and Church sources. Alas I think in this case, the Church is being a bit too precocious in condemning transgenderism as a moral disorder when it is in fact a clinical condition. She should wait for the science to do its work before talking about “ideology of gender”. That does not at all square with my experience as the parent of a transgendered (adult) child.

There is however room for moral considerations in the treatment of the transgendered. I am particularly alarmed with some things I am reading about treatment for children. And in non-suicidal cases, I would be inclined to be conservative in treatment options. As my Benedictine spiritual director says, the transgendered need to be considered on a case-by-case basis. One-size-fits-all generalities have no place in this debate.

 

[Feanor2]

There is no psychiatric treatment for transgendered people regarding '“accepting” their anatomical sex.

The effort is to normalize their feelings and provide emotional support.

 

[OraLabora]

Moreover, even if you believe that God messes up and puts souls in the wrong bodies, the solution wouldn’t be to mutilate the body.

I thought I was clear that I don’t believe God did that. It’s simply an anomaly that occurs to a small percentage of the population, just like any other anomaly. There is no moral choice involved in being transgendered, and God is no more to blame for it than He is for any other naturally-occurring anomaly. It happens through His permissive will, not His determined will.

I am deeply offended that you equate someone who dislikes the look of their healthy genitals with someone who has disfiguring surgery so they don’t die of cancer.

No offense was intended. I have also lost friends and loved ones to cancer. But… suicide is permanent. Dead is dead whether from cancer or distress great enough to drive someone to suicide. You would deny life-saving treatment to someone who is suicidal? I get that mutilating treatment is not great, but in extreme cases it’s all there is. I would prefer my child to be alive as girl than dead as a boy.

If your daughter wants a mastectomy maybe she should visit the cancer ward and see how lucky she is that her breasts are not cancerous.

My daughter was born in a phenotypically male body and is transitioning to female.

You know, the brain is just as capable of disease or structural anomalies as any other organ. We must stop demonizing people who have these issues. Most people here have never encountered transgendered persons, and have no idea what it’s like to be on a suicide watch for your child wrestling with this issue without the parents being able to figure out what is wrong. Coming out was a relief for all of us. We know the path forward, and our daughter is now much happier and adjusted. We as parents will continue to support her whatever path she takes.

 

[CatholicELATeacher]

Either one really is the opposite gender trapped in the wrong body (heresy for Catholics to believe) or one is delusional.
And “ delusional” is not a put down. It’s a specific psychiatric term.

 

[SugarMagnolia]

I’m not going to respond to your arguments because someone (I don’t know who) reported one of my replies to you and I have absolutely no idea what I said that was against the rules. Perhaps I am simply not allowed to disagree with you.

 

[OraLabora]

And “ delusional” is not a put down. It’s a specific psychiatric term.

Which psychiatry has determined is not the case with the transgendered.

I’m not going to respond to your arguments because someone (I don’t know who) reported one of my replies to you and I have absolutely no idea what I said that was against the rules. Perhaps I am simply not allowed to disagree with you.

It wasn’t I. I didn’t find anything disrespectful even though we disagree.

 

[CatholicELATeacher]

Which psychiatry has determined is not the case with the transgendered.

Many in the psychology / psychiatry field are deluded if they believe gender is an artificial construct that can be changed at will. No. Gender is God-given: man and woman He created them.

 

[OraLabora]

Gender is God-given: man and woman He created them.

The existence of only a few cases like AIS or true hermaphroditism completely negates that statement.

Unless by His permissive will, He allows such anomalies to exist naturally and spontaneously.

Which is exactly what transgenderism is.

Of course it wasn’t God’s intent any more than it was His intent that we should suffer all manner of anomalies and diseases. I have hereditary diabetes. Did He say “Diabetic I created them?” Of course not. I don’t blame God for my situation, but I believe His permissive will has allowed corruption to enter the World after the Fall.

I don’t believe gender is an artificial construct. I believe in some cases the brain is hardwired to perceive the world through a feminine lens, and that the brain is the primary sex organ. And I believe there is ample evidence that this may be due to genetic factors. Do the research from reputable sources!

 

[CatholicELATeacher]

Theology of the Body. A series of Wednesday audiences by a sainted Pope. I’ll take that over agenda-pushing “research” all day long.

I’m a fully formed Roman Catholic, not a secularist. Not drinking the gender ideology Kool-aid.

 

[CatholicELATeacher]

Thank God I have the sacred opportunity to teach Middle School Religion this year as part of my course load! I will be using Theology of the Body and the kids will develop a firm understanding of why the tenets of gender ideology including “changing” gender, “non-binary,” gender fluid,” etc. are diabolical lies.

Just drafted my syllabus, in fact. And TOB is embedded in it!
Ad majorem Dei gloriam.

 

[Annie]

Original sin can explain disease and birth defects, but not souls in wrong bodies.

This clearly is not a correct way to render the issue.

But in that case, what do you about people who are born blind or become blind later in life? What did God have to do with that?

Because we do not know the source of the transgender condition, we cannot say what is the best way to handle it. There could be a physiological reason like the idea of hormonal exposure before birth. It could be exposure to something in the environment or some neurological anomaly.

It could also be psychological.

However, what little the Church jas said about it, which I know only from reading about a sub secretum letter some time ago, is that if surgery is necessary to prevent proportionate mental distress, that is all that science jas to offer and so is all we have to go forward with at this time.

So the main issue is not so much what we think about it or what society thinks about it, but * what the patient thinks about it, and how we can help the patient.*

@CatholicELATeacher

 

[0Scarlett_nidiyilii]

The existence of only a few cases like AIS or true hermaphroditism completely negates that statement.

Unless by His permissive will, He allows such anomalies to exist naturally and spontaneously.

Which is exactly what transgenderism is.

Please don’t equate physical/genetic anomalies with people who think they are trapped in the wrong body.

 

[OraLabora]

Please don’t equate physical/genetic anomalies with people who think they are trapped in the wrong body.

Which some evidence shows might be a physical/genetic anomaly.

We don’t know for sure. Until we do, we shouldn’t stigmatize these people with our non-scientific beliefs, and we should as Annie said offer the best proportionate care available to avoid the greater harm of suicide.

 

[SugarMagnolia]

However, what little the Church jas said about it, which I know only from reading about a sub secretum letter some time ago, is that if surgery is necessary to prevent proportionate mental distress, that is all that science jas to offer and so is all we have to go forward with at this time.

So the main issue is not so much what we think about it or what society thinks about it, but * what the patient thinks about it, and how we can help the patient.*

So why doesn’t this also apply to females who experience profound mental distress at having to carry an unwanted pregnancy? Males who want to be females can get mutilating and sterilizing surgery but women can’t get abortions to " prevent proportionate mental distress."