WHEN I STOPPED at a “natural foods” market recently to pick up a few things and went to the checkout, I had the feeling, just the sense as I was standing there and my purchases were being rung up, that someone was looking intently at me. I looked up and realized it was the young man, about 20 years old, packing my groceries. I believe he wanted me to look at him. And once I did, he smiled as if he was relieved. He thanked me in a friendly way; I thanked him. And I left.
But as I left, I tried to process his strangeness. I then realized he was not a man, but a young woman who was impersonating a man. That explained her apparent desire for me to look at her. If you have gone to extreme lengths to change your appearance, it is only natural that you would want people to see you. She obviously had had surgery and hormone treatment (there was a slight beard on her chin). But recalling her arms, hands and face, I knew they had the unmistakable, delicate skeletal structure of the female body, which cannot be altered by surgery.
It was not surprising to see someone who had undergone the deception known as a “sex change” in a natural foods market.
These places are frequented by people who believe in absolutely natural, organic conditions for plants and animals. But they do not believe consistently in the same conditions for human beings.
It’s important for a chicken to be natural, but a human being can impose the most artificial, dangerous conditions on himself for certain acceptable reasons related to sexual identity and autonomy. Toxic birth control, mutilating surgery, hormones that destroy fertility and cause cancer — these are okay for human beings, even in a store devoted to free-range poultry.
I was saddened by this woman’s condition. She will probably never be able to have children. And she may have life-long damage from hormones and drugs. She may very well die from cancer, all to indulge adolescent confusion.
And to top it off, there is no convincing proof that sex change operations remove serious psychological distress in people like her in the long run. In fact, there is evidence to the contrary. This young woman was the victim of a very sinister hoax. How can one not feel angry at her condition? Her parents probably funded her transformation. It’s one thing to let your child go through a phase of radical clothing. It’s another to let her physically mutilate herself in a permanent, irreparable way. Doctors apparently violated fundamental medical ethics on her supposed behalf.
But then great lies have been employed to convince the clueless and the willfully stupid that this is right. The ultimate goal of “transgenderism” is clearly not to help the weak and confused. In fact, it hurts them. Even people who have been otherwise supportive of the sexual revolution are uncomfortable with these deceptions.
Alex P. Serritella is a California schoolteacher, a liberal who was nevertheless so taken aback by the widespread and sudden acceptance of transgenderism that he decided to look closely at the subject. In his book, Transgenda: Abuse and Regret in the Sex Change Industry, he makes these important points. He has produced a common sense, well-researched critique of this disturbing phenomenon, which, as he rightly says, is going to damage many more lives. Again, Serritella is a liberal who believes homosexuality is not harmful (though the evidence that it is physically, psychologically and spiritually harmful is abundant.) But he has regrets and the sort of indignation that should be everywhere:
In the past I always supported gay rights. I was never an activist, but when it came up in conversation, I always stood up for them. Although I have no interest in it myself, I always thought that I should defend other people’s personal rights. I figured that if it’s consenting adults, indoors, and safe, then people should just leave them alone. It was a matter of principle. It was the “do unto others” philosophy. I didn’t want to be self‐righteous or judgmental. Even when the gay marriage debate was an issue, I still went along with it. It seemed weird, but I considered it their own private business.
But now I see where it has led and I am getting a different view of the whole thing. I see more of the overall picture now.
[….]
I wonder if I may have inadvertently supported this thing. If that’s the case, then I hope that this book will atone for it. Read More »