Could my grandchild be transgendered?

[cleofet]

What is the Church’s stance on transgendered children? I have been doing a lot of reading on the subject and most everything says that your sexual identity is formed while you are still in your mother’s womb. I am having a lot of conflict within my heart and head because I believe my granddaughter is transgendered. She has always insisted that she was a boy from the time she was three or four. At that time we thought it was cute. She is going to be ten next month and she has started to develop.

I am sorry to say that her dad (my son) and her mom are not the greatest parents in the world and they do not pay much attention to her and never have. They used to live very close to us but for the past four years they have lived very far away and we only see our grandchild in the summer. She seems very depressed and anti-social. I have told my son that she needs to see a therapist when she gets back home. How am I supposed to act and feel? I am very confused. I just want her to be safe and happy. Please answer me.

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

No one, adult or child, is “transgendered,” which ordinarily means that someone is biologically one gender but “really” the opposite gender. Gender is determined at conception and a person is ontologically male or female. Even were “sex-change” surgery to be performed – which is, in actuality, mutilation of gender-specific organs – that person would still be ontologically male or female.

This means that your granddaughter is female and that you should not suggest to her or to her parents that she is anything but a female. She may however be in need of counseling. Since you are not her parent though, all you can do is to suggest to your son that she be taken to a counselor. You can get a referral to a Catholic counselor in your son’s area by contacting the Pastoral Solutions Institute or CatholicTherapists.com. You may also wish to share with a Catholic counselor your concern for your granddaughter’s well-being and ask if there is anything more you can do to help her and your son and daughter-in-law.