Trans medical treatment and faith

February 18, 2014 ·

A reader writes:

I am trans but also religious. Although I live as a woman, I was born with boy parts. In my opinion, to have surgery would imply that God made a mistake. I do not believe that God is capable of making a mistake, which means that I have the body I was meant to have. I believe that God gave me a challenge and that I am playing the hand that I was dealt. I am trans and proud, but I will not second guess the Almighty. I hope there is room for that, and I love and respect those who believe differently. We are all in this together.

There is a story an old guy once told me. It’s corny, but here it is:

There’s this guy and there’s a flood. He climbs on top of his roof to be safe from the flood. He begins praying that god save him and his faith in prayer is unshakable. He KNOWS that god will save him.

His atheist neighbors come by in a boat an tell him to hop in. They tell him that god isn’t going to come down from the sky and save him because god doesn’t exist. He tells them that his faith is unshakable and refuses to get in the boat.

The water continues to rise and in a little while, his Muslim neighbors from down the street come by in a boat. They tell him that their god allah told them to check in on him. They tell him to get into the boat. The man tells them that his god is an awesome god and that allah is a false god. He refuses to get in the boat.

The flood waters continue to rise. He is eventually swept away and dies. He then finds himself standing before god. He asks, “God, why did you not save me? My faith in you was unshakable!” God replied,”I sent not one, but TWO boats to save you and you refused to get in!”

I think that a lot of religious trans people view the medical treatment of gender dysphoria as their “boat” sent to them by their god. From what I’ve seen, they thank god every day for giving them the tools they needed to live the life they felt their god had designed for them.

What I do know is that there is a ‘boat’ that people can choose to get in. I have no belief that a god programmed me with gender dysporia so that I’d learn how to suffer well. I’m an atheist.

At one time ALL diseases – pathogenic and genetically caused – was viewed as being part of a god’s design. If you got sick, it was god’s will. When humanity began unlocking the causes of the physical miladies we suffered, most viewed these achievements as a gift from god; a ‘medical miracle.’ Indeed, many religious people believe that god guides the hand of the surgeon.

Many folks nowadays see the ‘cross’ they’re bearing as both the physical malady and the treatment. Yes, a child may be very ill from both the cancer and the treatment, but folks view the treatment as a god-send. For them, the treatment is the window god opened when he closed a door. For them, surviving is an inspiration; they feel grateful that god showed them a healing path forward.

I wish you well in the path you’ve chosen. I encourage you to ensure that you have support (that doesn’t resort to fear or shame-based tactics). Depending upon the degree you may suffer dysphoria, I can believe that your cross is indeed heavy. Please ensure that you have – at the very least – experienced and qualified therapeutic support in your corner.

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  1. God created man in his image. He then created woman. The only two God had a personal hand in creating was Adam and Eve. Once they were booted from the garden of eden, nature was allowed to take over.

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  6. I am Trans and a Christian. That having been said I believe that my Dysphoria is a gift, that situates me uniquely to understand other people in a broad range. That having been said, while I respect the choice of other Trans persons to not Transition through surgery; for me it seems to be more of a necessity to Transition through surgery. While i do echo the sentiment that God does not make mistakes, my view of what that means is entirely different from that person referenced in the article. For me personally I believe that God created us, and does allow us to modify our bodies. My reasoning behind this is due to the fact that the Bible explicitly states: “God is a spirit”, another explicit statement is “Created in God’s image”. using deductive reasoning I can confidently assert that from a standpoint of the physical body; while there is a great similarity in the human body of all people, each person is completely unique. There are people of different heights, no one person is allergic to exactly the same things as another person. So therefore it is the soul/spirit that is explicitly created in God’s image. Some Christians will argue against this because, “the body is the Temple of the Holy Spirit”. I counter they’re assumptions with the very scriptures they use to defend they’re position, by pointing out a few things in the bible. #1 The angels are neither male nore female, and the Angels were also created in God’s image. #2 There is no marrying or giving of marriage in Heaven. for those who have studied they’re bibles they will find it hard to argue against the logic i have presented here. So to sum it up, I can state that i believe that Transitioning one’s mind and body especially through the use of surgery and hormones is (A) Not sinful, (B) Not explicitly forbid in Scripture. The standard argument is that “well it’s just your cross to bear”; that argument and the logic behind it are flawed. because if we hold to that logic then doctors would not attempt to repair congenital defects: such as a cleft palette, a deviated septum or other significant birth defects. While it is true that a person can live with these issues, arguing that you are exactly as God intended you to be is simplistic logic at best and outright hostile at worst. Any person who claims Christianity will agree that God expects us to grow and evolve in our characted to become more like Jesus. An important distinction to remember here is that Jesus welcomed all who would welcome him. So for those who feel compelled to avoid a surgical or hormonal transition, i absolutely respect your right to decide what is right for yourself; however, I believe that in light of God’s Word, and considering advances and discoveries made in in science and the nature and inner workings of the human body, it is clear that LGBTQ is something that is completely normal and not aberrant, it is within the normal variety of the DNA and genes that make up all of us and for the majority of Trans persons especially it is absolutely vital to physically transition through hormonal therapy as well as surgery.

  7. Not being particularly religious I would ask – which religion? Some might say this path was your karma – you should embrace it.

    Others might say god has a plan for you – you may not understand it – but – you should accept it. And live the truth of who you are god has revealed to you. To deny that would be to say god has made a mistake.

    Other religions may value your being trans.

    1. Isn’t that but the entire unadulterated USDA Dee-cerified truth! As adults step (1) acknowledge that we have been extremely-subjectively programmed by parents/others & so our hard drive needs a C:>scandisk>delete parental brainwashing (2) acknowledge that even a clock is right 2x/daily, so some of what they said bears truth (3) go on a personal quest to believe or not (4) my quest ended in belief but only from a personally irrefutable incident during high distress http://wp.me/p1hX86-gX which answered it for me, but mileage will vary (5) know that with 31,000 religious flavors, all can’t be “right”, whatever “right” might be (6) understand that religion is (my def. is man’s *failed* attempt to define a creator. It is failing now by believing it’s doing good persecuting LGBT children + adults.

      Know that (my strong belief), if the purpose of religion is to improve the lot of man now and “forever”, and if in fact there really exists an “adversary”, like all “battles”, the “good guys” will be infiltrated. This is why I refer to ’em as fake Christians—fake as in they don’t really “believe” their religion, just hide behind it like a cowboy approaching a bull hiding the lasso behind his/her back.

      Lastly, like love, belief isn’t belief it’s been coerced and truth is there probably isn’t one “true” religion because as unique as everyone is, a creator will probably consider this and customize them for “His children”. For me, I had become practically agnostic and then that happened (link above). It sounds crazy even for me to this day but it really did unfold as it did. My personal analysis is since we come in two gender flavors (sex), the creator is both…..two-spirited…….just a thought.

  8. John 9:1-11 and Matthew 19:11-12. Your Christian friend ought to read both those passages very carefully because they utterly destroy the basis of his argument and both of those passages are from Jesus Christ himself, assuming you accept the New Testament Gospels as accurate, which that person should.

    1. Matthew 19:12 is a reference to Isaiah 56:5, which is clearly a refute of the very early single sentence prohibition in Deut 23:1 against damaging one’s testicles. But then the message in Isaiah and Matthew is again repeatedly referenced and played out very clearly in Acts 26-40. All three time periods, cross referenced. To a Biblical scholar, those three passages stand out as a clear instruction to specifically accept by name, people with intersex conditions, transsexuals and male eunuchs. To a historian, it’s interesting to note that the Church was accepting of eunuchs for much of its early history, even after they were replaced with virtual eunuchs (ie , the vow of chastity) perhaps a thousand years later. Castration’s feminizing effects had been known since the technique was first used on livestock possibly thousands of years prior; it clearly would have been the best available hormone therapy and surgery of the time. Almost as important, though, is that documented ‘eunuchs’ in Rome and elsewhere were recorded as living with the other women, as women. I’m fairly certain they used the (translated) word ‘eunuch’ differently than we do in our post-Freud world.

      I’ve met several women who transitioned in the 70’s and 80’s who had their names successfully changed in their local parish Registry. However, that was before the late 1990’s / 2000 when anti-trans Paul McHugh was brought in as the Vatican’s “sex and science adviser”. And clearly before the Pope’s 2007 or 8 Xmas breakfast speech to the Curia regarding “protecting the human ecology”.
      Perhaps the pendulum is swinging back again:
      http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2014/02/transgender_talks_hosted_by_two_syracuse_catholic_churches.html
      http://waer.org/post/parents-transgender-people-share-stories-all-saints-parish

      1. Thank you for the elaboration on my prior post! I really appreciate that and can pull that into my own discussions with my fundamentalist sons! Thank you!

  9. I am a trans woman and a Christian. My goal of SRS in no way goes against God’s will any more than having surgery to correct any other birth defect. My birth defect is that one leg of my second X in the 23rd pairing of my chromosomes had a leg that broke off making it look like a Y resulting in a biological appearance of a male. One can only ask those who know me to realize that I AM female…the way God intended me to be.

  10. surely one can see their suffering as a gift from god which does not have to be endured for the gift to be taken and used in a positive way; that the insights offered by suffering, the humanity learned, the partaking (if you wish to see it as such) in the suffering of christ in the form of your own pain and suffering are positive things and can help us be better people – even closer to god.

    one does not have to be a martyr to partake in grace.

  11. Yeah the “God doesn’t make mistakes” argument is a reallllly bad one. Tell that to kids born with all manner of crippling problems. Emphasis on crippling, because most Christians say it’s ok to fix a issue if it cripples or endangers the child. Being Transgender is just as crippling, as it cripples the mind and spirit of the person.

    I think what bothers Christians the most about us is it poses a very uncomfortable question that they don’t want to answer. “What defines ‘you’. Is it your body? Your Mind?’

    The future is going to smash this issue to bits when we further cybernetic technology. Just read any good scifi involving cyborgs or cybernetics (Ghost in the Shell, Battle Angel Alita, Blade Runner/Shadowrun, Matrix, ect). Us transgender people ‘mutilating our bodies’ is just the very tip of what people will be able to do in the future.

  12. *Sigh* this is a tough one for me, as I’m also religious. Here’s how I see it. It’s written that God knew you before you were in the womb. Which means that God knows your soul, since you clearly didn’t have a body at that point. It is undeniable that two people are responsible for the body of a person. To disagree with that isn’t religious, it’s just ignorant. God creates the soul, people create the body. However we people are imperfect by nature. It’s just who we are. At this point many people, my parents included, jump up and get defensive because they think I’m saying it’s the parents’ fault. I regret to say that I was so pissed off at my parents for their reaction that I did nothing to set their minds at ease, but I don’t think it’s the parents’ fault. Genetics is complicated and sometimes shit happens. If you can have a soul that is distinctly female but you can have an entire spectrum of genitalia that doctors would label as “ambiguous,” then it follows that you can have a distinctly female soul and in the genetic confusion and human imperfection you come up with dangly bits (if you’ll excuse the expression).

    As far as surgery goes, the objection I always hear is “Your body is a temple!” I can’t help but roll my eyes a little when I hear that as an objection. “So by that logic,” I counter, “the beautification or improvement of a temple is an affront to God?” Knowing that their church has a big planned renovation, the individual thinks for a moment and says “no, but…”

    Plastic surgery is controversial in the Christian community. Probably, it always will be. Fact is, in many cases, it is a lifesaving intervention. Even Christian Scientists have a provision for lifesaving surgical intervention (I’m pretty sure).

  13. As a religious trans woman myself, I have always felt that this “condition of birth” which we have to deal with is simply a natural variation of the human condition. I equate it to a person born with a cleft lip (which I feel is another natural variation of the human condition). Surgery is not generally required in order for the person with a cleft lip to get through life. surgery does however make social interaction much easier for these individuals.

    1. Amen! I am not religiously a participant of a denomination but am a person of faith as well. Cristan is brilliant beyond belief and personally a very charming girl, me thinx. She demonstrates it in the opening piece here. The only difference is that she is atheist which doesn’t make a person good or bad, for too often much harm is done by persons who reportedly believe while very infrequently is harm done by persons who don’t believe. Most religious persons believe that faith & belief must be coerced, I am not one of them in the least.

      Christians view the bible as a reference at minimum and as holy scripture at maximum. For me it’s somewhere in between but is where I am currently. The bible story begins almost simultaneously with creation followed by pesky “sin”. Christians accept the story of creation as a given but in practice disregard the story about “sin” as credible. Allow me to explain:

      Assuming that creation and “sin” both happened as depicted, right there in front of us (to Christians such as I),is the cause of gender dysphoria and all physical ailments. Prior to “sin”, all was well with paradise…….no illness, no hunger, no physical defects, and no death! Everything “bad”, were the OT to be deemed as credible, stems springs forth from creation goe bad. We use our ability to rationalize, analyze and conclude to remedy physical ailments, including the ailment of non-harmonious hormonal balances. In short, we who transition are fixing our own “cleft lip.

  14. Great question and commentary.
    As a trans person with an amalgam of beliefs pulled from Judeo-Christian, Buddhist,
    Hindu, and aboriginal cultures as mythologies to live by or with, I can
    understand the concepts shared by many that, essentially, “God doesn’t
    give us any more to bear than he things us capable of bearing.” I have
    asked myself this question about my trans (MtF) nature. However, upon due
    reflection, I believe that our existence in this world, in corporeal form, with
    our spirit bound for a period within this shell and with the circumstances in
    which we find ourselves, is simply a construct for that spirit to advance and
    grow through “lessons to be learned”, if you will. That does not necessarily
    imply a Great Teacher in the Sky, but rather a cycle of existence for all
    things.
    I happen to believe that we keep coming back in this form until we no longer need to
    come back, and that each of us is at a different point in our growth of spirit,
    not a point in time – which is not a spiritual concept but a corporeal one – but
    a matter of whether our enlightment cup is more toward empty or more toward
    full. It’s not a race (thankfully!). No one’s spirit (or karma) is better or
    worse than anyone else’s. (Comparisons are a uniquely human, corporeal
    construct.) For me, the idea that God (if you believe in a personal God, as
    many do) would curse any of us with afflictions as some sort of personal test,
    is not right. It does not ring true. Instead, WE (our spirit) have baggage we
    drag along from one incarnation to the next. This we call karma. It is not a
    penalty, it is a gift; a gift we typically have to learn to work through across
    many lifetimes, in order to become enlightened so that we no longer have to
    return to this form. All that said, consider that physical afflictions, whether
    your lot is as a bald short guy, a woman in a misogynist culture, a child with
    leukemia, a blind person in Africa, a poor person anywhere, or a trans person in a cruel society…,
    those are all outside of spirit.
    The manner in which we deal with challenges, whether afflictions or tough times or
    internal misalignments, by letting them go, taking them in stride, or using
    every means in our grasp to resolve them, and in doing so to resolve obstacles
    on our path to enlightenment that are worthy of working on, determines our
    progress on the karmic path. Being true to yourself is the key. Living in truth
    is the goal.
    Back to trans people, whether we seek hormones, seek electrolysis, seek various
    surgeries, whether we choose to be out of the closet or stay in, whether to be
    stealth or public, or even to be an advocate, that is our call as individuals.
    If you want to “take the boat”, take the boat – choose the one you want.
    If you want to “stay on the roof”, stay on the roof. But do it because
    you are living in truth, being true to yourself and your goals. Don’t make
    decisions based on what you think others would want you to do, even your God.
    Living for others, even God, is the heart of co-dependence and is not an ideal
    way to live in truth. Be you. Live for you. Such a life will invariably be a
    life worthwhile, and one that touches other lives in more positive, meaningful,
    and authentic ways than living for others.

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