Not a Phase!

 Tennessee is trying to pass a law that makes it illegal for minors to transition. This is so harmful and makes my heart ache. Gender dysphoria does not go away. For me, it even seems to get stronger with age. It does not quietly fade away. It is not some sort of "sexual gratification". Imagine one day you wake up in a body of the opposite gender. You may find this immediately off putting. Or perhaps at first you may think it is interesting. But given time, you would feel wrong. You would feel like your body does not reflect the inner you. You would feel like nobody sees you for you, or fully recognizes you. Now lets expand this thought experiment. Now imagine that everyone around you doesn't remember you ever being the other gender. Whenever you try to tell people about the incongruity they shame you, they tell you some great evil has a hold of you, or make you feel crazy. Or tell you that you just dont know how to express yourself sexually and you must be confused. But you know you are in the wrong body. Given time, you may find coping skills. You may even get comfortable in your new skin with enough time. But you will always know. And never feel 100% yourself.

 If I had the option to transition in my teen years I would have done it in a second! And I can say today (entering my 40's) that I would not have regretted it.  Testosterone does so many irreversible things in the body that makes life so much more painful down the road if you have gender dysphoria. This makes transitioning a much harder decision later on. Because now, instead of being able to pass as a woman, I will always look like a man trying to be a woman. Not to mention the pain I am putting everyone around me in from building a life as a man.

Long story short, These kids KNOW they need gender affirming care. Furthermore, they can not just go in and get surgery. They need to be on hormones for at least 1 year first. Further furtherfurthermore, they cant do hormones till they are 16 AND have gone through an extensive psychological  evaluation. It is not our place to boldly declare that I have the right to such and such, or boldly declare "dont tread on MY rights", while turning around and enforcing your beliefs onto others that are not affecting you. The whole "wont someone think of the kids" argument has been used over and over again by a particular group of people to fight against "the gays", "the commies", and school segregation. It is an old tired tactic that stalls human rights, but thankfully has yet to succeed in the end as it is easily debunked. 

I will end my rant and get off the soap box and close with a teaching from the church I have been attending that reads as follows:

It is not right to profess oneness and equality in Christ  then to deny them by word or action. Such behavior wounds Christ’s body and denies what is resolved eternally in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  You do not fully understand many interrelated processes of human creation. Through its wonderful complexity, creation produces diversity and order. Be not consumed with concern about variety in human types and characteristics as you see them. Be passionately concerned about forming inclusive communities of love, oneness, and equality that reveal divine nature. Oneness and equality in Christ do not mean uniformity. They mean Unity IN Diversity and relating in Christ-like love to the circumstances of others as if they were one’s own. They also mean full opportunity for people to experience human worth and related rights, including expressing God-given giftedness in the church and society.