I am writing in response to an article entitled "My Child Not be Allowed to be Transgender" because the content in that article is ignorant, hateful and dangerous.
In that article, the author's reasoning for not wanting her future child(ren) to be transgender is based on religion. Now, I am not a religious person at all. However, doesn't God love all humans regardless of who they are? Shouldn't someone who identifies as a Christian love and accept people (especially their own children) for who they are? I would think so. After all, God it is said that God doesn't make mistakes. I don't think Jesus would believe a transgender/non-conforming person has a mental illness. I believe he would love and accept them.
I also want to point out that the author's statement about transgender humans suffering from a mental illness. This belief is highly dangerous and ignorant. I want the author to know that in a survey, 41 percent of trans or non-conforming people have attempted suicide compared to 10 and 20 percent for lesbian, gay and bisexual respondents and 4.6 percent of the overall U.S. population. Think about how heartbreaking and disturbing that number is for transgender/non-conforming individuals.
According to a report from endtransdiscrimination.org, those who expressed a transgender identity or gender non-conformity while in grades K-12 reported alarming rates of harassment (78 percent), physical assault (35 percent), and sexual violence (12 percent). The report also stated the level of harassment was "so severe" that it led to almost one-sixth (15 percent) to leave a school in K-12 settings or higher education.
I am not OK with this and I don't know how anyone could be OK with letting another human being suffer because of harassment and bullying on daily basis just for being the person they are meant to be.
Again, being transgender is not a mental illness. In fact, a study conducted by Geoffrey Reed at National Autonomous University of Mexico that was published in "The Lancet Psychiatry" on July 26, 2016 found that a person is transgender because that's how they were born. There is no evidence, diagnostic criteria or valid reason to say that identifying as transgender is a mental illness.
I hope the author of that article understands that using religion to mask bigotry and ignorance is wrong and ungodly in every way.
We need to learn to be open minded and accept everyone for who they are. There is no need to judge another human or treat them poorly just because you don't understand who they are or what they've been through in life.
There is no concrete reason to look down upon someone else because they don't identify with the traditional gender roles deeply embedded within our society.
Just because someone is different from you doesn't mean there is anything wrong with them. I'll end this article with a statement one of my wonderful social work professors from undergrad told the class daily as a reminder:
"Different is different. Different is not bad."