I really get tired of going over the same crap over and over again regarding gender. The mental hebetude of conservative Christians discussing transsexual youth and adults is beyond incredible. These dullards have no personal qualifications that indicate expertise in gender issues, and even in their supposed area of expertise — Biblical scriptures — they cherry pick scriptures on sex and gender to make points on gender when other scriptures counter the evangelical message.

Chuck Colson, in a Breakpoint article entitled It’s a Sick, Sick World takes another stab at transgender people and issues — some of his previous stabs includehere, here, here, and Coming to a School Near You. In It’s a Sick, Sick World, he gets around to attacking Dr. Norman Spack, who treats transyouth with puberty delaying medications — in large part to keep these not-gender-confused children from committing suicide.

So here’s what the former Watergate conspirator and hebetudinous writer said in his most recent piece about Dr. Spack and transyouth (links added for reference; emphasis added):

He has been called “demonic,” “barbaric,” and has been compared to Nazi doctors. And when you read about his work, it is easy to see why Americans are so outraged. Dr. Norman Spack is a pediatric endocrinologist at Boston Children’s Hospital. Not long ago, he opened a clinic for what he terms “transgendered” children. Incredibly, he is giving kids as young as seven drugs that delay the onset of puberty–the first step in sex-change surgery when they are older.

…When these kids hit their teen years, they are given the option of taking cross-hormones for a few years—which will allow them to develop the characteristics of the opposite sex. Tragically, the treatment will condemn these teenagers to lifelong infertility.

…So why are doctors like Spack altering young bodies instead of treating confused minds?

The answer is that many doctors have embraced the modern teaching that sexual identity, rather than being biologically determined, is a preference or a choice. According to this, people should be allowed to choose whatever sex they want to be.

But both science and the Bible teach otherwise: God created us male and female in His image. Shots and surgeries and politically correct teachings cannot alter this fundamental truth.

Tragically, some parents are now buying into this false teaching–and allowing their children to undergo destructive treatments.

You and I need to be spreading the word that legitimate treatment is available for people suffering from gender confusion—and it is a treatment that does not sacrifice the well-being of children to the political agendas of adults.

By the way, science doesn’t teach us what the thick-witted Colson believes it does — Please see The Scientific Problem With Sex Dichotomies and BiGender and the Brain to see what science study has so far revealed.

And, the Bible doesn’t teach us what the dullard Colson — and many other thick-witted conservative Christian commentators — believes it does in Genesis 1:27 and Genesis 5:1-2. Specifically, Matthew 19:12, Galatians 3:28 and Isaiah 56:4-8 challenge Colson and his peers scriptural understanding of a very, very binary gender dichotomy.

Exactly what, in Chuck Colson’s personal life history and education (biographies here and here) indicate an expertise in gender issues or theology? His “authority” appears to be false authority based on his personal personal, spiritual conversion. Nothing in his personal story, education, or current job of running a prison ministry indicate any reason why he should be considered a knowledgeable expert on tragic transgender youth.

[Below the fold, fellow hebetudinous, conservative Christian commentator Peter LaBarbera jumps in to the fray -- pimping Chuck Colson's piece]

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We don’t think that demonic is too strong a word to describe this. It brings us thoughts of the Nazi doctors who thought they were doing good things.

–Unsigned MassResistance editorial (April 19, 2008), and quoted in WorldNetDaily

I occasionally get asked why I spend so much time and energy repeating the message that the Bible mentions gender variant people in Matthew 19:12, Galatians 3:28 and Isaiah 56:4-8.

Well, it’s because conservative Christian’s often site Genesis 1:27 and Genesis 5:1-2 to mean that there are only those born female, and those born male, and there is no gray area between male and female.

Against science and reality, they believe in a sex (“what’s between the legs”) and gender (“what’s between the ears”) dichotomy, where gender is either male or female, and one’s gender is always aligned to, and always determined determined by the shape of one’s genitalia at birth. They strongly believe that when asking the question Can One Be A Transgender Christian?, they usually answer “No.” The Traditional Values Coalition quotes Jerry Leach in proclaiming Transgenders Need Spiritual Help:

Gender confused individuals need psychological help but they also need spiritual assistance to deal with their mental problems.

Jerry Leach, a former closeted cross-dresser, heads Reality Resources, a ministry to men and women who have gender identity problems. Leach, writing in his paper, “Homo-sexuality & Transsexuality Compared,” says that a transgendered person is not only gender confused, but he gradually rejects his God-given gender role. “Deep-seated psychological splitting or disassociation from the masculine is the most serious in the life of the transgender person. … An underlying principle that bears repeating is the reality that compulsions do not remain static. They are progressive. A man can begin with experimentation, only to discover much later that his repeated habit finally betrays him by leading him into bondage.” Leach’s web site, www.realityresources.com, has more information on how sexually confused individuals can find healing and wholeness.

Peter LaBarbera recently more than inferred that the idea that there may be transgender and transsexual youth as “tranny insanity.” Now his pals at MassResistance have gone further in their description of the treatment of transyouth, using the term demonic (the emphasis is theirs):

We don’t think that demonic is too strong a word to describe this. It brings us thoughts of the Nazi doctors who thought they were doing good things.

As MassResistance has reported in the past, this is going on at the world-renowned Children’s Hospital in Boston - not some backwater clinic. This is the elite of the medical profession. And the Boston Globe treats this with clinical nonchalance. This article is so disturbing that it’s difficult to say more.

MassResistance then cites an article in the Boston Globe, entitled Q&A with Norman Spack; A doctor helps children change their gender. Where MassResistance is upset enough to directly add a comment to the article’s quoted text is where Dr. Spack indicates that he believes transgender people are also formed — as transgender — in the image of God:

[After the fold, more pure, unadulterated crap from MassResistance.]
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Every now and again, folk like Americans For Truth About Homosexuality, Focus On The Family (FOTF) and the Concerned Women For America (CWA) call out LGBT organizations to take stands on issues, or to work with religious right organizations to work against some perceived scourge. Well, I have a similar call for Peter LaBarbera, Matt Barber, Janice Crouse, and Wendy Wright: it’s time for religious right organizations to condemn Rev. Lou Sheldon, his daughter Andrea Lafferty, and the Traditional Values Coalition for their repeated use of the anti-LGBT/anti-transgender pejorative “she-male.”

And, Matt Barber needs to be one of the particular voices condemning the use of this anti-LGBT/anti-transgender pejorative, as he’s used the pejorative she-male in a relatively recent piece.

I assume religious right organizations will continue to condemn use of the terms faggot — they should feel the same way about the term “she-male,” and they should be condemning their peer Rev. Sheldon, his daughter Andrea Lafferty, and the Traditional Values Coalition for their repeated use of the term.

In fact, I’m calling out these organizations to do just that.

It might be tough for the CWA to condemn it though — they’ve posted the term she-male on their website too, and Matt Barber was extremely disrespectful of Dana Beyer’s gender on Friday, February 29th.

The TVC has taken down their latest article using the term — entitled Hillary Clinton She-Male Advisor Harasses Maryland Signature Gatherers — but not before its text was archived at transgendernews. The TVC repeated the same ol’ factoid:

Maryland Citizens for Responsible Government believes that a clear reading of this bill means that a she/male, drag queen, transsexual or cross-dresser could demand access to opposite sex restrooms and shower facilities!

Here’s what Andrea Lafferty had to say about Dana Beyer:

Dana Beyer’s appearance and hostile behavior is a perfect picture of how confused these individuals are - and why no government agency or legislature should protect what is clearly a Gender Identity Disorder (GID),” said TVC Executive Director Andrea Lafferty. “Do parents really want someone like Dana Beyer entering a girl’s shower or restroom? I think not. The legalization and protection of a serious mental disorder cannot be permitted to stand.”

It’s not enough that the article has been taken down. The TVC needs to be condemned for its repeated use of the pejorative she-male by other conservative Christian organizations, and the term needs to be erased from the TVC and other conservative Christian organization websites — like the CWA’s website. She-male is a term that’s at least as offensive as the term faggot — all these conservative Christian organizations need to condemn their peer conservative Christian pejorative users.

By the way, Rev. Lou Sheldon has endorsed Sen. John McCain for president. Does anyone think Sen. McCain will “reject and denounce” Rev. Sheldon’s endorsement for president in the same way Sen. Obama has rejected and denounced Louis Farrakhan’s endorsement for president?

So while I’m calling on conservative Christian organizations to denounce Rev. Sheldon, Andrea Lafferty, and the Traditional Values Coalition for their repeated use of the anti-LGBT/anti-transgender pejorative she-male, I’m also calling on Sen. McCain to reject and denounce Rev. Sheldon’s support of his candidacy for president due to his frequent use of anti-transgender terms, as well as his and the TVC’s derogagtory use of other LGBT terms, such as drag queen.

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And speaking of transgender civil rights laws and factoids….

“A hotel or convention site will not be allowed to turn down a transgender/cross-dresser or BDSM (whips & chains, sadomasochism) convention. A restaurant will not be able to turn away a special party for she-male prostitutes and their clients, or cross-dressers. A museum or library will not be allowed to turn away a GLBT activist seminar promoting BDSM, public nudity, public sex, or legalized prostitution. A function facility will not be allowed to refuse a seminar on breast removal and hormone treatments for women ’transitioning’ to men. A Catholic church could even be forced to hold a forum on homosexual or transsexual ’marriage’ or polygamy. These behaviors and activities could all be considered ’gender expression’ and these venues are could all be considered ’public accommodations.’”
–Amy Contrada, The Coming Nightmare of a “Transsexual Rights and Hate Crimes” Law in Massachusetts: Why Bill H1722 Must Be Defeated; PART 3: Public Accommodations

I’ve grown tired over the past few weeks of Theresa Rickman’s mischaracterizations of the transgender civil rights legislation in Montgomery County, Maryland; now I’m just as tired of Amy Contrada’s 75 pages of mischaracterizations and exaggerations of the effects of Massachusetts’ H1722. Bay Windows‘ take on Amy Contrada’s 75 page diatribe: Contrada warns of trans apocalypse.

There are 13 states and dozens of municipalities with transgender inclusive civil rights legislation in place — the bathroom factoid is just that — a factoid. The bathroom fueled apocalypse hasn’t come yet to any state or municipality — it’s not going to come to Massachusetts either.

Amy Contrada is MassResistance’s main blogger, and she’s a piece of work. You may remember her from for using her own daughter’s coming out to foment homophobia, as well as claiming that Biblethumper Diane Steele was set up when Steele slapped “homosexual rights supporter Jack Kirschenbaun” in the face.

I’m transgender woman, but I don’t make shit up whole cloth about conservative Christians — Amy Contrada and the Traditional Values Coalition do make shit up whole cloth about transgender people like me.

~~~~~
Further reading/Further listening:
* Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition’s H1722 Talking Points
* Concerned Women For America (MP3): Not My Shower! (Opposition piece: Interview of Theresa Richman by Matt Barber — discusses Dana Beyer at length by name. Matt Barber calls Dr. Beyer a “gentleman,” and refers to Dr. Beyer by male pronouns.)

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Related:
* From Your Friendly Neighborhood Montgomery County “Christians.”
* TVC Calls Maryland Activist “Shemale”
* Convincing sales pitch of the year, from Traditional Values Coalition
* Just Feel The Love From The TVC
* The TVC’s Latest Assaults On The Federal Employment Protections Act
* Daughter of MassResistance’s Amy Contrada comes out
* MassResistance: the lowest of the low
* MassResistance goes silent after Amy Contrada’s treatment of daughter