Concerning Gender Confused Youth In The Catholic Church

Concerning gender confused youth in the Catholic Church.

Recently, I engaged in a civil discussion on gender confused youth in the Catholic Church with a fellow Patheos blogger. I also wrote an article about the coming persecution in light of the Church’s refusal to budge on issues of human sexuality. In all honesty, we know the Catholic Church cannot change its positions on human sexuality. Since this is the case, what then can everyday faithful Catholics to do when confronted with the issue of gender confused youth? What’s at stake? What impact does this issue have on faithful Catholic families? Can we learn anything from medical and phycological professionals that advise caution? What of those who regret their transition? Can we learn anything from them? If so, what next? To these questions this article turns.

Know What’s at Stake

With all the back and forth among progressive and conservative Catholics, many get bogged down in emotive arguments concerning gender ideology. Some even equate those who do not subscribe to affirmative care for gender confused youth facilitating harm or even death. On the contrary, those who subscribe to a cautious approach do so to mitigate permanent damages caused by hormone therapy and surgery. Anyone who takes any time to study and contemplate this issue does so out of care and concern for those involved, not out of a desire to control or do harm. If this is agreed upon from the start, the possibility of better dialogue increases. Also, no one in the debate believes gender dysphoria a myth. The issue at hand is how to address the broader issue of gender confused youth, as not all gender confused youth are gender dysphoric. More on gender dysphoria later.

Impacts on Faithful Catholic Families

What of faithful Catholic families? These families do not support the idea that their child is one way on the inside and another way on the outside. They are against hormones therapy and surgery. These parents are also backed up by scientific studies, psychology, and their Church. Given these facts, what happens when the state disagrees with parents?

Do those who support affirmative care also support the state removing a child who identifies as trans from a loving Catholic family who follows the Church’s teaching on human sexuality? Furthermore, would those who support affirmative care call this family unloving by following Catholic teaching?

Impact of Regret on the Individual

Moreover, many people regret transitioning. Many still suffer from the same issues they had before their transition but now permanently scarred. Many are at higher risk for cancer due to hormone treatments. Other are now infertile and unable to experience sexual pleasure due to surgery. What advice do those who support affirmative care give to these individuals? Would they tell them, “sorry, but at the time we saved your life?” Would they accept this answer?

Cultural Phenomenon Vs. Legitimate Mental Health Crisis

Also, how does one determine if a child is truly gender dysphoric and not merely confused and under the influence of social pressures?

According to The New York Post:

“In recent years, the number of children experiencing gender dysphoria in the West has skyrocketed. Exact figures are difficult to come by, but, between 2009 and 2019, children being referred for transitioning treatment in the United Kingdom increased 1,000% among biological males and 4,400% among biological females. Meanwhile, the number of young people identifying as transgender in the US has almost doubled since 2017, according to a new Centers for Disease Control & Prevention report.” (https://nypost.com/2022/06/18/detransitioned-teens-explain-why-they-regret-changing-genders/ )

The Report of Centers for Disease Control & Prevention

How do we as a society determine what is social contagion and what is not? Would not the prudent course mandate a cautious approach in place of direct application of hormones and surgery? Furthermore, in regards to our youth, we as a society set age limits on tattoos, smoking, drinking, and voting, but it appears not on decisions of gender that may have irrevocable consequences. How does this makes any sense?

Other Disorders: Lessons Learned

Furthermore, gender dysphoria has a correlation with other body disorders, specifically bulimia and body integrity identity disorder. How would someone who supports affirmative care counsel sufferers of bulimia or body integrity identity disorder? Would they affirm the bulimic in their disordered body image or encourage one suffering from BIID that they truly are paralyzed or have no limbs? Therefore, would affirmative care entail paralysis surgery or the removal of unwanted limbs? The obvious answer is comprehensive psychiatric care. The answer is helping those afflicted by these disorders to recognize their bodily truth. Only then can they start down the road to recovery. This prudence course is the best and most wise course.

In fact, gender dysphoria—the official psychiatric term for feeling oneself to be of the opposite sex—belongs in the family of similarly disordered assumptions about the body, such as anorexia nervosa and body dysmorphic disorder. Its treatment should not be directed at the body as with surgery and hormones any more than one treats obesity-fearing anorexic patients with liposuction. The treatment should strive to correct the false, problematic nature of the assumption and to resolve the psychosocial conflicts provoking it. – Paul McHugh, MD, University Distinguished Service Professor of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins Medical School and the former psychiatrist in chief at Johns Hopkins Hospital.

To Conclude

In conclusion, prudence should motivate all discussions regarding gender confused youth. The challenge facing the Catholic Church is not small. As someone who volunteers for the youth program at the local parish, I know first hand the magnitude of this issue. Our youth’s confusion, especially about gender, currently stand at an all-time high. Therefore, all who care about this issue should proceed with caution. Affirmative care involving hormones treatments and irreversible surgeries shows a lack of caution and imprudence. Our youth deserve better from us.