The Real Issues Behind the Symptom of Transgenderism

The quest for gender transitions often covers up deeper mental, emotional, and physical problems.

Back around 2017, a friend of mine came home after being on the mission field in Africa for a few years. What really shocked her was the rise of transgenderism in America during that brief period.

It’s undeniable that transgenderism has accelerated at an alarming rate in the last few years. The interesting thing, however, is that some within the LGBTQ movement are recognizing its rapid spread, and are now expressing alarm rather than delight. One of these individuals is Jamie Reed, a queer woman who describes her political leanings as “left of Bernie Sanders.”

Reed recently told her experience in an article for The Free Press, claiming, “I Thought I Was Saving Trans Kids. Now I’m Blowing the Whistle.” Beginning in 2018, Reed worked as a case manager in the transgender center of a children’s hospital. As more and more children came through the doors, Reed grew concerned that the growth was becoming a fad, particularly when whole groups of teens would sweep in the door, claiming they all wanted to transition.

The push to transition young people who clearly had other mental or health issues, including depression, obesity, anxiety, and autism, was especially concerning to Reed, as were the cases where the real problem was clearly past trauma. The trend to go around parents’ wishes was also troubling, as was the lack of disclosure about the likely medications—such as those for diabetes and blood pressure—that the cooperative parents were subjecting their gender-confused children to.

Finally Reed had enough:

I left the clinic in November of last year because I could no longer participate in what was happening there. By the time I departed, I was certain that the way the American medical system is treating these patients is the opposite of the promise we make to ‘do no harm.’ Instead, we are permanently harming the vulnerable patients in our care.

Reed’s story is interesting in that it underscored a growing realization I’ve had lately, namely, that the increase in transgenderism and other LGBTQ ideologies is often just the outgrowth of past abuse and negative experiences left undealt with. I came to realize this while reading Laura Perry’s book, Transgender to Transformed.

Perry was raised in a Christian home, but always had difficulty connecting with her mother due to personality differences, which in turn led to great insecurity. When she was only eight, a friend’s brother violated her, creating an appetite for sexual activity that Perry sought to feed during her teen years with all types of illicit behaviors, accompanied by the occult and plenty of rebellion.

Due to the many times she felt used by men, Perry wished the roles could be reversed and that she could be a male herself. She thought that was possible when she discovered the concept of transgenderism in 2007, beginning the process of transitioning from Laura to “Jake.”

During the required counseling before her transition, Perry’s therapist looked up at her in surprise, saying, “Wow, you really have issues with your mom.” Perry angrily lashed out, but in retrospect acknowledges:

What is most sad to me about this encounter is that I think the therapist knew that the issues with my mom were causing a lot of my desire to be a boy. That certainly wasn’t the entire problem, but I think that’s where it had started very early in childhood. In fact, I found out several years later, when I needed a certified letter from the therapist that my gender dysphoria wouldn’t impede my job performance, that she had never actually diagnosed me officially. She had given me a letter to start hormone therapy to transition simply because I wanted it. I had not been medically diagnosed as needing it.

Perry’s story of seeking gender transition lines up with the one Reed saw unfolding in the gender clinic where she worked. So often, the desire to transition to the opposite sex was merely a symptom of a deeper problem—great hurt or serious health issues or a desire for acceptance. Yet in today’s politically correct society, the trained professionals can’t seem to see, or are too scared to speak out about the real issue.

Perry’s story ends happily. She turned back to God, and He convicted her that she needed to begin living as a woman again. Although the detransition was emotionally painful, Perry is now a beautiful and joyful woman, recently married and publicly speaking about her difficult past.

But how many other individuals are following the fad of transgenderism in order to cover up real physical, mental, and emotional problems? Jamie Reed’s experience working at the gender clinic suggests the number is rapidly expanding.

And that demonstrates that we as adults must have courage to start dealing with the root of these problems rather than treating the symptoms—dealing with the sex, the porn, the broken families, and the lack of God in the lives of these troubled young souls who are looking for solutions in all the wrong places.

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Image Credit: daydreamerboy, CC BY-SA 4.0