When a culture rejects the Bible’s account of God creating man and woman in His image (Genesis 1:27), the worldly battle over whose “truth” wins the day eventually becomes a power struggle. That is what has happened with the transgender movement and other questions of sexuality, says Christian apologist and author Jeff Myers. 

“It’s almost a new tyranny that’s begun to develop,” Myers said prior to a conference at First Baptist Church of Dallas on March 23 titled “Unmasking Gender Ideology: Protecting Children, Confronting Transgenderism.”

“The only way to effectively understand and develop a culture around truth,” Myers said, “is to have an objective point of reference outside of yourself and how you see things [in] the world.”

For Christians, that is God-breathed Scripture. Yet many believers—and others who intuitively doubt the prevailing LGBTQ ideology—don’t voice their beliefs out of fear.

Summit Ministries’ research has shown that most people remain quiet for three reasons, Myers said: They don’t want to be canceled, they don’t want to offend, or they don’t feel equipped to defend what they believe.

To help address those challenges, Summit, along with The Christian Post, organized the conference, which drew some 170 people to the downtown church. 

The event featured two panel discussions and six speakers representing the legal profession, ethics, Christian ministry, medicine and women’s rights. Author and Christian Post commentator Brandon Showalter, who moderated the discussion and has co-written a book for pastors on the subject with Myers, said the transgender movement is a “cultlike contagion.”

Lawyer and writer Mary Rice Hasson of the Ethics & Public Policy Center agreed, saying the transgender movement has begun shaping language, our laws, our health care—“It’s shaping our relationships.”

Hasson told the audience that hardly anyone noticed in 1996 when a group of self-described “transsexual” activists gathered in Houston to unveil something they called the International Bill of Gender Rights. 

“Fast forward to today,” she said. “Here we have those very same beliefs that are now Biden administration policy.”

Hasson said that in the intervening 25 years, those who were pushing transgender ideology gained influence in the media, entertainment, schools, the law and health care at the same time that religious belief was declining. 

Dr. Andre Van Mol, a board-certified family physician from California who has written and testified extensively on the medical dangers of the transgender movement, said many of the medical practices related to gender, especially for minors, are not being driven by physicians but by activists pushing “junk science.” 

Van Mol said the data suggest that among kids diagnosed with gender dysphoria, there is a noticeably high percentage who are on the autism spectrum as well as those with a plethora of other social and emotional issues.

“There is always a more honest answer to gender confusion in a minor,” Van Mol said, “than chemical sterilization and surgical mutilation of what is otherwise a very healthy young body.” 

In dealing with young people about these transgender issues, Christians must be ready to respond with Biblical answers in a way that seeks to build a connection before issuing correction, said Julia Jeffress Sadler, a licensed professional counselor who also works with students at the church. 

She said the vast majority of kids she has observed who are rooted in sound doctrine live in accord with Biblical truth regarding sexuality and gender. However, some young people enter her office who are struggling either because they have a gay or transgender friend or sibling, or because they are struggling with those temptations themselves. They seem more swayed by their own experiences or friendships than by what Scripture teaches. 

“They say, ‘I don’t care that it’s wrong—this is what I’m struggling with. This is what I’m attracted to. Or this is what my brother thinks is right and I love him.’”

For many adults in churches, these issues may be alarming, Sadler said, but be thankful they told someone because it gives believers the chance to lovingly speak Biblical truth to them.

Jennifer Lahl, a former nurse and the founder and president of the Center for Bioethics and Culture, said that while the cultural trends are discouraging, there are glimmers of hope. A sub-Reddit group online devoted to formerly trans people who call themselves “de-transitioners” is rapidly expanding. 

“It’s boasting some 40,000 members in that group now that are all talking about how they believed the lie.” And that number, Lahl said, is likely only a fraction of those in that camp. “We don’t know how many there are. All we know is that it’s growing.” 

Another panelist, Amie Ichikawa, who served five years in a California state women’s prison and went on to found a ministry called Woman II Woman, has been on the front lines in the fight to protect female prisoners from the growing problem of biological males who enter the population as trans-identifying inmates. 

The law in California now protects the rights of trans-identifying biological males to be housed in female prisons, and the trend is spreading, she says, despite the high percentage of female inmates who carry trauma from sexual violence or abuse. 

“Congregations can easily do a Freedom of Information Act Request,” Ichikawa said. “Ask questions. Know who your wardens are. Know who your chaplains are. It’s very important to know who your chaplains are in prison because they have a lot of control. Just get familiar.” ©2023 BGEA 

Photo: J.T. Whitehorn