Core Beliefs of the
Transgender Movement
Dr. Sam Ferguson, in his book Does God Care About Gender Identity?, has identified three core beliefs of the transgender movement, which are discussed below. Support for these three core beliefs is growing at what many see as an alarming rate. These beliefs have been worked into K-12 public education systems by an elite academia that has lost its rudder. In some states and provinces, they are supported by laws that do not allow parents to opt their children out of these courses and programs.
In March of 2022 a nominee for the Supreme Court of the United States was asked by a member of the legislature the question: What is a woman? The surrounding discussions and debate revealed a wide departure from the answer that might have been given fifty to sixty years ago. In fairness to the nominee, her answer was based on what the current law says because, with numerous related cases heading for the Supreme Court, this is what she would be asked to rule on. In effect, our society’s answer to the question “What is a woman?” will not be based on biology but on the various rulings that have emerged from court cases affirming a definition based on psychological and sociological factors.
Answering questions about what it means to be a man or woman has impacted areas of our individual and family lives in which each of us work and study and play. These include questions regarding the following issues which are very much in public debate:
Questions regarding use of pronouns in K-12 classrooms
Transgender males participating in female sports.
Healthcare workers not being able to opt out of participation in surgical procedures involving gender transitioning.
Questions regarding bathroom and sleeping space in public schools and group settings.
There is a great deal of promotion, powered and fueled by a number of organizations and activist groups, all vigorously supporting an ideology and a set of core beliefs that is far different from God’s every intention when he created mankind. It is not a pretty picture and if one is involved in this subject in more than a casual nature, this is all part of seeking the deeper understanding of which grasping the import of three core beliefs is an integral part.
The first of these core beliefs is the concept that my identity is self-determined.
Perhaps the easiest way to understand this is to look at the contrast between the traditional view of one’s self, or how we answer the question “Who am I?”, and the current view held by those supporting and advancing the transgender agenda. Who we are was determined by factors beyond our control such as biological sex, our family of origin, our nationality, our religion, and perhaps even our occupation. Today, identity is a do-it-yourself project based on self-discovery and self-expression. One Christian writer, Carl Truman, an English theologian and ecclesiastical historian who has written extensively on the subject, says this: “[Here is] a view of personhood that has almost completely dispensed with the idea of any authority beyond that of personal, psychological conviction, an oddly Cartesian notion: I think I’m a woman, therefore I am a woman.”[1]
The second of these core beliefs is that my feelings, not my body, determine my gender.
This concept, that one’s gender identity is determined by psychological and sociological factors, is a position adopted by many therapists. The American Academy of Pediatrics describes the response to a young person’s belief that they are transgender known as “watchful waiting” as “outdated”; the American Psychological Association encourages psychologists to “adapt or modify their understanding of gender, broadening the range of variation viewed as healthy and normative” according to information in Abigail Shrier’s book Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters.[2] This position basically confirms a person’s sense of gender and encourages the individual to find ways to explore and express it.
We would like to insert a quick note here relative to the science behind much of this gender-related thinking. All of the resources we reviewed devote a serious quantity of pages to exploring the questions of science and the poor research or outright fraud that is used to support a lot of “affirmation therapy.” One who is thinking seriously of moving in this direction is strongly advised to consider these questions very carefully before committing to any affirmative therapy at all.
Dr. Andreades’ book, Across the Kitchen Table, examines some of the studies put forth by the Endocrine Society and concludes as follows: “In short, the science does not really show what the Endocrine Society claims it shows, but rather something they want to see – justification for advocating cross-sex imitative procedures for the gender distressed. Rather than reflecting rigorous analysis, the Endocrine Society statement serves as a steely advance of another agenda. A recent revisit to that statement, six years later, finds the same two studies cited with no new evidence given.”[3]
The third core belief is that we find wholeness through external, not internal change.
This has to do with the transgender revolution’s path to healing and wholeness. It assumes that the changes a person with gender dysphoria need to make are external, not internal. They are told they need to change their external appearance, not their perspective.
Increasingly, gender dysphoria—a significant incongruence between one’s experienced or expressed gender and one’s sexual characteristics[4]—is treated not through counseling but through transitioning, a process that involves puberty blockers, hormone treatments, and surgeries. All the resources we have reviewed contain adequate warnings and not a few stories about things that have gone wrong with transitioning. They state and demonstrate with examples how the process has not brought the happiness and healing that was promised to the recipient at the outset. Again, this is a route where we strongly suggest a great deal of study and prayer before pursuing.
Perhaps you might at this point want to pursue the questions regarding the moral issues involved and what the Bible has to say about the whole transgender ideology.
References
1. ^ Carl Trueman, The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self: Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism, and the Road to Sexual Revolution, Pg. 36
2. ^ Abigail Shrier, Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters (Regnery, 2020) pg. 119
3. ^ Sam A. Andreades, Across the Kitchen Table: Talking about Trans with Your Teen (In Our Image, 2023), pg. 117
4. ^ “Gender dysphoria,” Wikipedia, accessed February 22, 2025, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_dysphoria#:~:text=A%20significant%20incongruence%20between%20one's,one's%20experienced%20or%20expressed%20gender
Seeking Clarity.
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3- What does the Bible Say?
Moral implications of gender, sexuality, and identity.
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4- Gender Affirmation
The impact and risks of modern gender practices.
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5- When it Touches Home
Navigating gender dysphoria within the family.
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Transgender Identity
Introduction to trends, challenges, and biblical perspectives on transgender issues.
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1- Looking at the Language
Understanding gender identity starts with clear definitions.
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