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Parakaleo

A Christian ministry seeking to uphold Biblical values to the transvestite,

transsexual and transgendered person.

Finding Comfort – A Testimony About Crossdressing.

Posted on August 15, 2011 by | Permalink 0

We are all on a journey discovering ourselves, for me that journey involved a

period of cross-dressing and finding comfort in the deep love of God.

When did it start? I recall painting my face with water colour paints and
answering the back door to my best friend, I must have been around 8 I think.
He said nothing – he probably didn’t notice. I remember a scout pageant of
knights of old, and what we wore looked like a dress – I wore it again at home
and it felt more like one. Then there were years of wearing clothing from my
mother’s store of clothes she wore when she was young, and no longer wore,
and clothes that people gave her.

I remember the years working out how to create a girl’s shape with many pairs
of pants, and the padding of socks and stockings under suitable
undergarments, back in the 60′s they were boned and created to curve you
quite effectively. Spending time creating,forming, making up and becoming a
girl however briefly – became an addiction for me. Only for me, only once I
ventured out in the garden, but was never seen by others. I would actively
avoid being asked to dress as a girl in plays, but secretly thought I could do it
better than those who did.

There was always a thrill in the risk of being found out, the frantic hiding in the
toilet if mother came home early and gradually sneaking the clothes back. The
pleasure when dressing up becoming linked to sexual feelings as adolescence
progressed, reinforcing the desire and the satisfaction. What would it be like to
be a girl? My relationship with real girls were not at all successful. I was a boy
– yet confused seeking comfort inside?

Why did it start? – “If you had been a girl we would have called you Helen”,
mother said. She had lost a daughter at the age of 4, my step sister, –
somehow I tried to replace that daughter in an effort to make mother love me
and not physically punish me as she did. Dad was quiet and said little
especially when in a sulk, when there had been a falling out between Mum and
Dad.

Mother said once – can I ask you something personal – I said no. Maybe she
knew? I hoped nobody knew! it was my inner secret my inner shame. I
remember in my teems worrying that if I had a drink I would reveal my secret
– it didn’t happen. When I left for college at 18 the clothes were gone – I

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never brought any of my own – I used to borrow garments from the lodgings
where I stayed – always returning them undetected. The cross-dressing always
hidden. I had this dream of being dressed up and travelling in my car having
changed on the way – I never had the courage to be seen and certainly not
“come out” in any way.

The desires to dress up diminished in my mid 20′s and seemed to stop when I
formed a stable relationship with my now wife in my late 20′s. I told her about
my past habit and when I started to seriously explore having an active
Christian faith I was introduced to the Christian Healing Ministry I told a
Christian minister and for the find time felt that I had faced the fear with God.
That seemed to be an important release – that is not to say it was entirely the
end of the thoughts – at times I would take an avid interest in the underwear
departments of stores or catalogues and in the clothes put aside for jumble
sales. But I resisted wearing women’s clothing, only occasionally adapting my
male outfits in some way.

Through many years, I’m in my late 50′s now, there seemed to have been a
shame deep inside that clouded my personality. Through many times of
Christian prayer ministry I have come now to accept that God accepts me and
does not condemn me. When I have been aware of the deep love that Jesus
has for me, I have been able release the pain that is inside. That pain of
unfulfilled love from my mother and my attempt to win love through a false
created self. I have seen how much the heavenly Father wants to show me the
“Father love” which I did not demonstrably receive. I have come to know that I
am an adopted son – my orphaned heart is being healed.

There are times when I forget the love and acceptance that is there – when my
mind tries to run an old tape – the “enemy” wants me to feel worthless,
outside hope, ashamed, and when you are involved in Christian Ministry as I
am, that is not a route that can be followed. So I try to turn my thoughts to
what is good and honourable and true. At some point the living God breaks in
again – when I find Him, or rather He finds me, I feel restored, refound,
knowing that only in Jesus am I completely free, as the hymn says, “His Grace
has brought me safe thus far and grace will lead me home”.

If you have a Christian faith you may know of the Father’s love – if not I do
pray that you will be helped to find it. I am still on a journey to find my true
self – those early years made quite a mess. But thanks be to God who gives us
the victory. Knowing you are loved can bring you into a place of freedom and
living hope and remove the years of shame. May God bless you in your
journey.

Richard

(Richard – not his real name – is a Christian minister in the UK)

Sam’s Story

Posted on June 2, 2011 by | Permalink 0

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What I am about to tell you is unique. Why? It is because each one of us is
different. Different in the way we live, different in our loves, our habits, our
desires. My story will not be the same as yours. You might find aspects of what
I tell you fascinating; there may be parts to which you can relate. Equally,
parts of my story may bore you, and you will want to skip over them.
Whatever your choice, I hope you can identify in something with me,
understand what made me tick, and how I overcame what was the deepest
depression, the highest hurdle, the widest gulf in my life. Interested?

I am almost 54. Fifty years ago, I can remember going into the large walk-in
cupboard under our stairs, in our old stone cottage in Wandsworth, and looking
through the rag box. This was where my mum and dad put all the old clothes.
They had many uses. Some were for cleaning dad’s paintbrushes, and others
for cleaning the motorbike and sidecar, and other household jobs. Mum’s
stockings were always used for filtering the paint, as in those days, paint was
lumpy and had to be sieved before it could be used. I liked the rag box. There
were so many different things in there, and in the early nineteen fifties, as not
many toys were available, I used to dress up and play games. I was an only
child, and life was lonely. Mum often worked up town, and my dad was always
out. I had to find things to amuse myself.

Something drew me closer to my mother’s old clothes than my Dad’s. Dad was
a tough electrician. He was big, brawny and his clothes were the coarse type,
suitable for his work. Mum’s were finer, softer and had just the right feel about
them. There was a long black slip, I used to wear around the house, and I can
remember my mother telling me to take it off, as boys do not wear those
things. I obeyed, but there was something that made me want to go back
again and again, and put it on. I found myself dressing up in her clothes at
every available opportunity. I was told not to dress up any more, so I had to
resort to secrecy. When my parents were out (they were out quite a lot), I
would go to the rag box, and wear anything I could of my mother’s. I loved to
parade around the house, and just enjoyed every moment. I had no idea why I
wanted to do this; it was just the wonderful enjoyment of dressing up.

As the years went by, I progressed to going into their bedroom, and putting
her clothes on whenever I had the opportunity. I made sure my parents were
out, and checked that they had really gone (by looking out of the upstairs
window), I would experience a wonderful tingle all over my body and was
drawn to her wardrobe and drawers. Everything was too big for me (although
she was tall, she was only about a size 12), and I treated myself to wearing
just about everything I could. It was my little secret, and I made sure
everything was folded neatly and back in place before they came home.

I loved the excitement. I hated the thought of being caught, but wanted to
make sure I could be dressed up until almost the last moment. There were
many times when I was almost caught, and my heart would almost fail,
especially if I heard the key turn in the door downstairs and I was dressed up.
On one occasion, I had to jump into bed fully clothed, as they quickly came
upstairs. The panic and fear were unbearable. What would my father say, if he
could see his son dressed as a girl? He was huge, with muscles to match, and
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would not understand. I didn’t understand it myself, so I had no explanation to
offer him. Another close call was when my parents came home early one night,
and my mother came into my room and sat on my bed. She asked me why I
was looking in her drawers in her bedroom, and of course I denied it. She said
it was unhealthy, and must stop. She knew I had been there, because she is
the most fastidious of women, and all her underwear and clothes were laid out
perfectly, and so I must have put something back incorrectly. I made sure I
was more careful in the following months.

As I grew into teenage years, the impulse never left me. I was even brave
enough to tell a friend, and he wanted to see me dressed up. We arranged a
time, and he came round to see me. The trouble with boys entering puberty is
that they become hairy, their voices deepen, and shaving becomes a necessity.
I hated all these. I did not want to shave my hairy body, so I just left it hairy;
the thrill of just wearing female clothes was reward enough. My friend came
round and we pretended to be boy and girlfriend, no kissing or anything like
that, just talking and sitting. I asked him if he would lie on top of me, and he
did, and that was all we did. That alone was enough to satisfy me.

I knew I was not homosexual, as I only liked boys when I was dressed as a
girl. During school, I was one of the lads, and often in trouble. Eventually,
some years later I was expelled during my Upper Sixth Year, and looking back,
I think it was because I was often ‘over the top’ to prove to everyone how
much of a lad I was. Inside I knew differently. One of my father’s business
colleagues had died of cancer, and before he died had asked my father to look
after his shop. It was a big rambling place full of electronic bits and pieces and
millions of radio valves (remember this was the 60′s), and I often used to go
there on my own to make sure the place was secure. I bought some clothes,
mainly underwear, and some stilettos, and a dress, and I hid them in the shop.
I longed for the times when I could go down on my push bike, and check the
shop over for my father. I would dress up, and walk around, click clacking in
my heels, loving the sound. One day, on turning the corner into the main road,
to visit the shop, I saw that the demolition men were in and had begun to
knock the buildings down. I was totally crestfallen, my secret world was being
demolished, and I felt like crying. I loved the clothes I had saved for and
bought, they meant the world to me, and now they were gone forever, and I
had to start again. Where could I go to experience the freedom and the
pleasure?

Over the following years, the deepening desire never left me. The subject, like
homosexuality was taboo, and never discussed. In the boys’ changing room,
‘homo’s’ were ridiculed and despised and I joined in. Gangs of queer bashers’
were organised, and many of us used to crawl around the Common looking for
them, ready to do them great harm. This gained me acceptability. I even
joined a Karate class, and took up weightlifting, I think, to help convince
others, and also to convince me in some way, as I thought that I was a little
freaky and unusual. It wasn’t easy going out with my mates, and if we passed
a dress shop or a woman’s clothes store, my eyes were drawn to the windows,
and I wanted to linger and dream. It was a constant fight to keep my secret
safe. I liked girls, and wanted to be with them, but having been brought up a
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boy, and having no sisters, I was unsure what to say and do. Early dates were
a bit of a disaster. I tried to be macho, but I guess my feminine side came out
too much, and I was neither rough nor tough enough for my early girlfriends. I
preferred to go out with my close mates, as I felt comfortable with them, and I
did not have to playact too much. One particular friend was always looking for
deeper mischief, and we got into a lot of trouble. We both had a liking for
practical jokes, and it was this that got me expelled. I was in the top two
streams at school, and my prospects were good. I wanted to go to University,
and work for the British Museum as a palaeontologist (the study of fossils).
However, one day I sent the whole of the second year to the Headmaster (120
boys); he had had enough of my many pranks, and I was asked to leave. I
joined a financial business in the city of London, and realised I was an adult. I
could no longer dress as a girl, but wanted to become a woman.

I lived at home, and could not keep any female clothes there, as my parents
would have gone berserk, and would not have understood. I used to buy things
and keep them in the car, or hide them in places only known to me. There was
nothing sexual about my cross-dressing. It was just a natural outcome, I
thought, of the real me. My mum had wanted a girl, but a boy was born. She
wanted to call me Samantha, so I became Sam. The doctor told her that I
would be a girl, so she believed him, and knitted me pink clothes, and the
nursery was pink. I think I was a disappointment to her, but she would never
admit it. I often wonder if she willed me to be a girl. Does that make any
difference?

Time passed. I had met a wonderful girl, who liked my humour, and my good
looks (in those days!), and although I told her a little of my secret self, she
thought it was a phase, and I would grow out of it. The continent of Asia, had
always held a fascination for me, and I decided to go to South Korea. She was
distraught, but my mind was made up. I left in Jan 1970, and flew to Seoul. I
had not reckoned on the enormous weight of loneliness, although the freedom
was wonderful. I got a job in a Bank in town, and a nice flat. There was no
stopping me acting out my secret life now. I could buy what I wanted and
dress up whenever I could. I became braver and ventured out as far as I
dared, and wandered around, mostly at night, and with a scarf over my head,
as I did not have a wig. I made lots of friends at work, but kept my secret to
myself, and did not disclose it to anyone. I spent eighteen months in Korea and
decided I wanted to see the UK again, so I returned by boat, which took a long
time, and shared a cabin with three tough Australians, so I had no chance to
put on my favourite clothes! These were very tough men, and I had to be
likewise!

Back in the UK, I got a job, and settled down. I married the girl I had left
behind, and my desires subsided for a while, although my mind was always
active, and I thought almost entirely in the feminine, and when I dreamt it was
always in a female role.

There were so many questions I kept asking myself. I realised I was not
‘normal’, but then again, I knew that other people, male and female, must
have their own secrets and that most people had their own little fantasy
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worlds. With me, it was different, as I wanted to live out my fantasy. Each day
I was faced with coping with my internal emotions, the pull of feminine desires,
whilst trying to live a stable life at home and at work. This constant battle
inside was draining, however over the years, I simply coped with it. Another
thing that was difficult for me was the fact that women were all around me, in
the train, in the street, in shops, everywhere. I would look at them, and be
critical or appreciative of the way they dressed.

Little things used to trigger me. Beautifully shaped nails, open toed shoes, with
stockings/tights showing, colour co-ordination and beautiful hair. I had
testosterone buzzing around my body, and I had started slowly losing my hair.
When I saw women with beautiful hair, I was hurt and jealous at the same
time. It seemed so unfair. Women could look so lovely, so glamorous, and just
enjoy being female, and I could not. It was no surprise to me that if I asked a
woman if she would want to ‘come-back’ as a woman or a man, almost all said
as a woman. Some said they would like to be a bloke for a day or two, but
preferred being female. With men, it was often 25% who said they would like
to try being female. I suspect there would be more, but the male stigma about
anything feminine in their lives and minds would preclude them from saying
so. It was just so hard being surrounded by feminine things each and every
day, and all these signals homed in on me.

We had three lovely children. Two boys and a girl. The two boys I could cope
with, teaching them soccer in the garden, playing games, and doing things
that boys enjoyed, adventure games, and getting dirty whenever possible. I
understood all this from my childhood. When our daughter was born, I
panicked, as I had little idea of how to bring a girl up, and what to do with her.
My wife, as a nurse, was brilliant and taught me a lot. Our daughter was a joy
to us, and I loved buying her dolls and treating her, although we tried not to
spoil her as she was the first girl on my side of the family for many years! I
was fearful that as she grew older and turned into woman hood, that I would
not cope seeing her grow into a beautiful person (and she is!), with my own
desires of wanting to be female inside me. I did not want to hurt anyone, and
hoped, quietly, that my desires would fade away one day, as I grew older and
hopefully wiser.

I had started my own business some time ago. It was international, and I had
the opportunity to travel more. At first I simply enjoyed the travelling, and
seeing new places and experiencing new sights and sounds. Then, when I was
51, and my travelling overseas increased, I had a greater desire to dress up. I
had resisted for a long time, and the battle was hard and lonely. Then one day
overseas whilst walking along one of the market roads, I saw a lovely green
local dress. Before I knew what I was doing I had bought it. I rushed back to
my room and tried it on. It was like an avalanche had hit me, and I had to buy
other feminine things. I went out and bought several other things, mainly
clothes and accessories. I stayed in my room for ages, dressed up and looking
at myself in the mirror. It was if my true self had come out at last. This was
me; I wanted to be like this all the time.

Over the next year, as I travelled more and more, I took a whole new wardrobe
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of clothes and accessories with me. I dressed up in my hotel rooms. I bought
special make up to hide my bluebeard from a TV shop in London, and I had an
expensive and beautiful wig. I loved selecting the make up, and spending time
deciding what to wear, and getting it all to match or co-ordinate. I would walk
around the hotels dressed up, and thought I would blend in. I did not get any
quizzical looks and that encouraged me. Back home I had started going to a
beauty salon and was waxed from top to toe, The salon therapists accepted it,
as society had become very liberal in its thinking and gays and TV’s were
openly accepted into society, and they had rights all of a sudden. I even went
to the TV shop in London for make up lessons, and I would wear nice casual
women’s clothes there. I went up on the train, and remember proudly showing
off my gold ankle bracelet. I had gone so far. So far, I could not go back, I was
mesmerised and easily convinced myself that I was really female, and looked
the part. Acceptability in public places meant everything to me. I was trapped
inside this awful body of mine, and the woman inside was screaming to get
out. I ached.

My family had seen the change. My wife hated what I had become and what I
was doing. I became more adventurous. I was in my own world, and the
woman inside controlled my life and my thinking. I wanted to go to TV/gay
clubs to mix with others like me, so we could talk and understand each other. I
needed like company. My family did not understand me; they could not realise
that the person within, was the real one, why couldn’t they see that? Why
didn’t they understand? It was so simple. The real me was about to emerge in
a new role. I was planning to move out to a flat, where I could live out my new
life. They were holding me back, I even contacted someone on the web who
was a TV, and I needed this new type of company. Sympathy and
understanding was needed. The break away from this male lifestyle was just
within my grasp. Plans were laid, and I would soon be the real person I was
inside and hopefully also outside. I couldn’t wait.

Before I tell you what happened next, I have to take you back to 1975. We
were married in 1974, and I had lived overseas for 18 months from 1970.
England was going through a difficult period and the 3-day week was on,
miners and others were on strike, the unions held the country to ransom, and
things looked bleak. I persuaded my young bride to emigrate with me. I told
her all about the wonderful lifestyle, the sunshine and the utopian
opportunities. We left the UK in 1975.

An old school friend and his wife met us, and they put us up. I had known him
for years at school, but we were not close. We got on like a house on fire
together now, and the four of us enjoyed each others company. Then things for
my wife and me went wrong. We lost our savings in trying to buy a house. Our
jobs were not what we expected. My wife was pregnant with an unplanned
child. Disaster after disaster overtook us. We did not know what to do or how
to cope. My friend had spoken before to me of Christian things, and I ridiculed
him. He tried to get us to his church, but I told him I wanted to improve our
lives not make them worse. As our lives tumbled, and we were cast very low,
he asked us again to go to his church and very reluctantly, we agreed to go.
His church was one of the first in Africa where blacks, coloured, and white folk
7
could meet and mix. Usually they were segregated. The preacher spoke of a
loving Saviour, someone who could help in the direst of circumstances, a friend
forever. Someone who could forgive all the things we had done wrong and
change us. It was if he was speaking just to me. I wondered if he had been
planted, just to talk to me. But, as the weeks went by, I became fascinated,
and wanted to hear more. Yes, I needed some relief from my present
circumstances, but this man was talking about now and eternity. What was on
offer from the Bible and this man Jesus Christ was incredible, and I wondered
why I had not heard this before. After all I had been to church before and
attended Sunday School (until I was thrown out!), so why now, why this time,
why, why?

One Saturday evening, a special service was being held in town. It was called
an evangelistic service and a theatre was hired as the church had grown so
popular and had outgrown its building. My wife, two friends and I went along.
That night the message was powerful and hit me hard. I heard of my need to
turn away from all the wrong in my life, that Jesus Christ was waiting for me,
ME!, to give myself to Him and that I had to repent of all my wrongdoing and
to have a permanent loving relationship with the very Son of God. It was free,
and for me. A call was given by the preacher and people were invited to walk
down the long aisle, and kneel at the front for prayer and a life change. The
place was packed, the atmosphere was intense, there was something in that
place which I could not understand, but if this was God working, then who was
I to turn Him down. My body trembled, I shook, and I remember mumbling the
words to my wife, I have to go down, are, are you coming? She said no, and
before I knew what was happening, I had turned and was walking down the
sloping aisle to the front. A man smiled at me and invited me to kneel. He
prayed over me and for me. I said AMEN, as I had never meant it before. I
knew that something had happened in me. I felt a change, it was not just the
emotion, nor the tears, it was a freedom, a feeling, and a flush of newness.
Still shaking, I went back up the aisle, and joined my wife and friends.

They hugged me, and it was one of the greatest moments of my life. Within
three weeks, my wife had seen such a change in me, she too, wanted to give
herself to Christ, and she did this in the new church building. It was one of the
greatest moments in our life together. Within a month, we had boarded a ship
bound for England. We had lost everything we had taken out with us, but had
gained our Salvation.

I can sense you thinking, well, if he became a Christian, and it was a life-
changing experience, why did these feelings continue? All I can tell you is that
if it had not for the fact that I had become a Christian, my desires would have
taken over earlier, and I would have destroyed my life and marriage. There is
no doubt in my mind, that I would have been divorced, lost all I held dear, in
terms of my family, and would have been a lonely, desperate person. Christ
held me together.

But, even as a Christian, having been a Deacon in the Church, Youth Leader,
and a committed member involved with many events in the church, the devil
was not far from my shoulder. He knew my Achilles heel. He knew when to
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attack. Why then did I succumb and buy that dress overseas? What compelled
me? It was moment of weakness. The devil seized his opportunity, and I gave
in. He wanted to see me fulfil those suppressed desires over the last fifty
years, it all came out so quickly, just like a tidal wave, one moment- nothing,
the next, a huge, mountainous flood, of pent up emotions, desires,
uncontrollable emotions; the girl within, suppressed over all these years, was
being born, the turmoil inside bubbled over and life became a roller-coaster.

The family were obviously concerned. They could see the changes. I had lost
weight, my eyebrows were shaped, I was hairless, the tablets I was taking had
produced mini-boobs and my nails were shaped and manicured, as well as
other things. My wife hated it. My macho son, a tough site worker, spoke to
me, with tears in his eyes, hating what I had become, and desperate to help
me. My daughter loved the old me, not this new creature. It all came to a head
over a few days. My wife had spoken to my Pastor (a good friend, who knew
my history), and he came round. He spoke common sense to me; he laid on
the line, what I was doing to the family, what the consequences would be. All I
could think about was, me, me, and me. Why did they not understand? As I
spoke to him and the family in our living room, I laughed. It was not a normal
laugh. It was eerie. I felt coldness come over me, I knew what it was, and
afterwards they told me they heard the devil in that laugh. He had taken me
over, I was addicted to my obsession, I was blind to the truth and
consequences, it was me, me and me. I knew that I had to make a massive
decision, either to give in to the girl within, or lose everything I had worked so
hard for all these years; the battle raged and raged. I was worn out, I could
not control the fight, and things greater than me were at work. Forces deeper
and darker and lighter were raging back and forth over the battleground, which
was my whole being, body, mind and soul.

Over the next few days, I had to face reality. My loving wife of nearly 30 years
was prepared to push me out of the family home; I had to choose between her,
the family and my deep desires. The surge of emotions rocked me back and
forth. Something had to be done, but what? Was I brave enough to change,
was it worth it, what about the hidden woman within? I loved my wife and my
children, and had given them everything I could. We were very close, and they
meant everything to me, but so did SHE. The ache in my body and mind grew.
My business was suffering, I had brought misery to those I loved, and the only
happiness I had was knowing that the female within me, wanted release.

I had to do something, and quickly. I had only a day or so, before I had to
move out, as the family could not take the huge strain any more. It was
affecting their lives, in ways, I could not see nor understand. I was so self
obsessed, that nothing else mattered. I called my Pastor and asked to visit him
in his study. My wife and daughter came too. I told him, I had made a decision.
I was ready to deny myself, and my desires, and to repent, to give back to a
generous and loving God all my sin and thoughts, and to turn away from all
that was holding so tightly onto me. The Pastor gave me a very hard time. He
wanted reassurance that I was not just playing for time, that I was honest, and
willing. He said he would not pray with me there and then, until I had really
made up my mind to change. I thought and thought. The battle raged within,
9
fighting was taking place in my mind, things not understood were raging back
and forth, I wanted to get right with God, I wanted my family back, I wanted a
fresh start, but could I let HER go? I was shot to pieces, and I said, loudly;
‘yes, I want to change, I must do it now, please pray for me, lay hands on me,
help me now. It’s now or never’. He could see that I was processed of this
thing, which only now, I realise was demonic. I knelt on the study floor, in
tears, I was choking, forces were telling not to do it, to walk out; freedom as a
woman awaited me, after all, I had made such progress. I fought back, I cried
aloud, I repented, I rebuked what had gone on in my life. The room swayed,
the battle raged fiercely, then, when he laid hands on me, I felt a release, a
change. I shuddered, my wife and daughter were in tears, and I urged the
forces that were driving me to leave and for Christ to reign again, fully, and
forever. I cannot remember all that happened. Who does in a battle situation? I
remember the Pastor anointing me with oil, and it running down my head, and
onto my clothes. The prayers subsided. I was a wreck.

My story is almost at an end. All this happened 18 months ago. I left the study,
and although my wife and daughter were sceptical (as they had seen the
deceit in me before), I knew I was changed. Never again could I expect the
trust from them that I had enjoyed before, and I have had to live with that. I
gave them my suitcases of dresses, clothes, make up etc. It made them feel
sick, and it was a major thing for me to do. I had to get rid of all that had held
me before. They disposed of the stuff. I stopped having manicures, and cut my
nails short, I grew a small beard. I threw all the tablets away, and turned away
from anything that had to do with my

desires. I asked my Pastor for a verse that I could look at every day and enjoy
my new freedom as a man, a father and a husband. I put a piece of paper next
to my bed, with encouraging verses, which I read every morning when I got
out of bed. I knew that the woman inside was dead. The power of Christ had
destroyed her, and all she stood for. Eighteen months on, the devil still tries to
persuade me, but he knows that I will not go down that path, as the
consequences for my family would be immense. I am accountable to several
people, and I am enjoying my manhood. The consequences of sin are terrible.
It almost destroyed my family, and their individual lives, my business, some of
my church family, my friends, and me. My personal goals would have wrecked
untold number of lives. I was blind to it. How I praise and thank God for His
kindness and patience with me. He has brought me back, and I am so grateful.
Life has meaning, and is colourful again. My family flourish, and things are
perfect all around me. I am very fortunate.

Have you had a similar experience? Did your story turn out differently to mine?
I am a success because those who loved me stood by me. Those who
counselled me cared and pointed me to a solution. My Father God, wanted me
to get right with Him. But all in all, I had to be willing to change, and that was
the hardest bit. But, once I had decided, and the battle was fought and won,
nothing compared to the freedom and release from the devils grip, and the
wonderful reality of enjoying life, and family again.

Thank you for reading this very long story. It is my story, and very special to
10
me. I hope it may help you too. There is always hope. If you are a Christian
and have stumbled, God wants you back; relationships can be mended, the
clock cannot be turned back, but you can turn back. You are the key.

‘Your old sinful nature. if you keep on following it, you are lost and will
perish, but if through the power of the Holy Spirit you crush it, and its
evil deeds, YOU SHALL LIVE.’ (Romans 8:12-13)

The choice is yours. I’d encourage you to turn round, and fight hard, and YOU
SHALL LIVE.

Sam

Towards an understanding of transsexual behaviours.

Posted on June 6, 2011 by | Permalink 0

Keith Tiller January 2010

‘…Homosexual activists have moved from seeking a right of privacy to

demanding social approval for the gay lifestyle, equal status with the
heterosexual family and even the legal right to exploit the sexual uncertainty
of adolescents…Knowing how matters have turned out, would I have voted
differently on any of these measures? I now see that we viewed them too
narrowly. As a lawyer and indeed a politician who believed so strongly in the
rule of law, I felt the prime considerations were that the law should be
enforceable and its application fair to those who might run foul of it. But laws
also have a symbolic significance: they are signposts to the way society is
developing – and the way society envisages that it should develop. Moreover,
taking all of the ‘liberal’ reforms of the sixties together they amount to more
than their individual parts. They came to be seen as a radically new framework
within which the younger generation would be expected to behave.’…

(Margaret Thatcher. Autobiography – ‘The Path to Power’. (1995 Harper Collins.

p151)

1. Introduction.

In recent years public awareness of transgendered behaviours has increased

dramatically. This has come about primarily as a result of deliberate and skilful
campaigning that has mirrored the homosexual political agenda.

The homosexual agenda began to take shape in the mid sixties with isolated
instances of individuals ‘coming out of the closet’ declaring themselves publicly
to be homosexual or lesbian. Today, any attempt to present an alternative
voice based on freedom of speech and truth is responded to aggressively with
the aim of silencing any opposition.

Thirty or forty years ago there was little cohesion between homosexual and
transgendered groups. For a time, the transgender agenda lingered behind the
11
agenda of the homosexual lobby. Today, there is a successful political alliance
between the two. The transgendered political agenda, although less overtly
aggressive, has mirrored the homosexual political agenda achieving as much in
a considerably smaller time frame.

The Transgender Council meeting in Berlin during May 2008 attracted 200+
participants, representing 83 groups from 38 countries.

An increasingly secularised society, spearheaded by the GLBT [Gay, Lesbian,

Bisexual and Transsexual) political lobby, openly challenges the authority of the
Church with respect to their response to the issue of transgender. Any attempt
by the Church to present an alternative, Biblically based, response to
transgendered behaviour is likely to receive condemnation for being both
bigoted and uninformed.

2. A brief review of the progress of the transgendered agenda.

In April 2000 the Home Office published the report of the Interdepartmental
Working Group (IWG) on Transsexual People. The report contained submissions
from a variety of persons, of which only two were deemed expert. One of the
experts, Professor L Gooren from Amsterdam, pleaded for the acceptance of
transsexuality as an intersex condition. Intersex conditions have demonstrable
underlying biological cause (see below); transsexuality does not, a fact with
which Gooren himself agreed. Medical authorities ridiculed the other expert
witness statement.

Other submissions were largely anecdotal accounts of acceptance suggesting

that there had occurred a fundamental shift in acceptance of transsexuality by
society.

The Evangelical Alliance (E A) contributed a submission to the IWG. The E A

had drawn together a small group of people who were well qualified in their
respective fields to contribute to the IWG report.

The IWG wrote to the E A commending it for the quality of its submission and
acknowledging that other submissions were largely anecdotal. However, the
published report of the IWG contained no reference at all to the Evangelical
Alliance submission.

The IWG report was subsequently presented as evidence in a case taken to the
European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg (Goodwin vs. the U.K.). In part,
the Court concluded:

[a] Para 77 (…) The stress and alienation arising from discordance between the
position in society assumed by the post-operative transsexual and the status
imposed by law which refuses to recognise the change of gender cannot, in the
Court’s view, be regarded as a minor inconvenience rising from formality. A
conflict between social reality and law arises which places the transsexual in an
anomalous position, in which he or she may experience feelings of
vulnerability, humiliation and anxiety.

12
[b] Para 91. (…) the Court considers that society may reasonably be expected
to tolerate a certain inconvenience to enable individuals to live in dignity and
worth in accordance with the sexual identity chosen by them at great personal
cost.

[c] The Court also concluded that ‘there was no conclusive finding as to the
cause of transsexualism and, in particular, whether it is wholly psychological or
associated with the physical differentiation of the brain’.

The unanimous judgement reversed earlier Court decisions all of which had
been unfavourable to transsexuals.

Following publication of the Court decision in the British media some doctors
responded with statements such as ‘the judgement was a victory for fantasy
over reality’. Those doctors who were prepared at the time to take a public
stance for truth and reality were berated from all over the world in a successful
attempt to silence them.

The then Lord Chancellor (Lord Irvine) stated that he was: ‘persuaded by the
Court’s view that ongoing scientific and medical debate as to the exact causes
of the condition is of diminished relevance.’

In April 2005 the Gender Recognition Act came into effect. That Act, amongst
other things, overturned nearly four decades of legal precedent (Corbett vs.
Corbett) that the chromosomes determine sex, shortly after conception, and
could not be altered by any subsequent recourse to surgery.

3. The present reality.

Today, as a result of the Gender Recognition Act, Britain has in effect

legislation to allow ‘self determined’ gender identity that may be confirmed by
a Gender Recognition Panel (GRP). The panel has been created by the Act. The
need to have undergone sex reassignment surgery is not a pre-requisite for
the issue of a new birth certificate by the GRP. In effect this allows a fully
functioning male or female to be legally recognised as belonging to the
opposite sex with a confirming birth certificate. Thus, it is said, the Act creates
a legal fiction. In the twelve months to October 31st. 2009 the Gender
Recognition Panel granted 2436 certificates with 82 pending. (source. General
Register Office South Port.)

In May 2008 the Equality and Human Rights Commission commissioned the
National Centre for Social Research (Nat Cent) to establish a clear picture of
the recent and relevant evidence base on equality and discrimination in
relation to transgendered people. Trans research review. (Autumn 2009 p iv)

“The project involved a comprehensive review of academic resources, ‘grey’

literature (non- published or non-peer reviewed) and policy documentation on
trans and was conducted at the end of 2008 and early 2009.

The review identified a considerable body of literature produced for

13
campaigning or lobbying purposes, including commentary on the legal position
of trans people and discussion of experiences”. (p iv)

The review (P71) draws a number of conclusions, including:

1. There is no reasonably accurate estimate of the size of the transgendered

population.

2. Most existing research has been conducted and funded by transgendered

advocacy organisations. There are considerable problems inherent in studying
the trans population.

The review makes no reference to the two Evangelical Alliance publications,

which include substantial reporting of the available scientific literature. Nor to
the considerable body of published (peer reviewed) literature that focuses on
cause and the reports of successful interventions that have resulted in reversal
of Gender Identity Disorder.

The review seems to assume as valid the common position of transgender

advocacy groups that Gender Identity Disorder is
biologically determined. It appears therefore, that political activism has been
allowed to trump science.

4. The scientific reality.

‘There is no evidence that any influence, biological or social, will inevitably

create a transgender identity in a person. Evidence from twin studies further
shows this will always be the case. No factor yet to be discovered will
inevitably create such an identity.

There is no overwhelming scientific case about the inevitability of transgender

or its development or its long-term stability. Assertions that there is consensus
about the inevitability are merely wishful thinking.’2

Transgendered lobby groups have, over the last decade and a half, sought to
justify their behaviours by appealing to alleged scientific research.

They have variously claimed that:

1.Transgender is an intersex condition.

2. An abnormality is located in a region of the brain known as the

hypothalamus. (Specifically the BSTc area)

3. It is the result of a pre-natal abnormal hormone surge.

None of these claims have scientific merit.

1. Unlike intersex conditions, the transgender condition does not have an

identifiable scientific cause.

14
2. In relation to the issue of an abnormality of the hypothalamus
region of the brain, Neil Whitehead Ph D who has reviewed all the
available scientific literature says:

‘However in all these studies, the well-known neuro-plasticity of the brain may
be involved. Brain regions are well known to change in response to intense
thought processes, which are certainly present in transgender. Any differences
found are more probably the result of the brain activity rather than the
differences causing the anatomical differences. The former is well known from
many studies – the latter is mostly speculative.’ 2

3. In relation to the issue of pre-natal hormone surges he goes on to say the

following:

‘Those who argue for prenatal influences (inevitably expressed) can only finally
prove their case by longitudinal studies. That is, children must be followed for
about 30 years from birth and their development monitored, and the entire
social environment as well.

This has not been done, and is not likely to be done, because transgender is
relatively uncommon, and to obtain a sufficient number of transgender people
in the final sample (say 20) the sample size might need to approach half a
million people. But until it is, the most likely explanation of any correlation of
transgender with biological function or structure is some environmental
influence.’2

Dr George Rekers, Distinguished Professor of Neuropsychiatry and

Behavioural Science Emeritus at the University of South Carolina
School of Medicine author of over one hundred scientific papers,
published the first empirical treatment in 1974 demonstrating that GID
in children and adolescents could be reversed.

A National Health Service (NHS) pamphlet entitled: ‘Transgender

experiences – information and support for trans people, their families and
healthcare staff’ published in 2009 states that ‘…gender dysphoria is not a
mental illness. Gender Dysphoria is a recognised condition for which medical
treatment is appropriate in some cases. This condition is increasingly
understood to have its origins before birth…..’

The Diagnostic & Statistics Manual (DSM) V is due to be published in 2012.

The Lesbian Gay and Bisexual (LGB) community want all sexuality related
matters to be declared non pathological. That would remove Gender Identity
Disorder from the manual. Ironically the transgender community is opposed as
a diagnosis of mental illness is, in some cases, all that allows their operations.

5. The Biblical Position.

When transgendered behaviours emerge in a church there is often a startled

reaction. Some members are quite hostile, others confused and a host of
questions are generated and asked.

15
The church leadership are likely to be uncertain as to how to respond. The
basic question is “what does the Bible have to say on the matter?” The usual
cursory exploration is unlikely to reveal God’s heart on the matter – or does it?

The primary verse in the Bible that appears to address the issue of
transgendered behaviours is Genesis Chapter. 1. vs. 26 and 27. (NIV)

(vs 26)The God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let
him rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock,
over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground”.

(vs 27) So God created man in his own image, and the image of God he
created him: male and female he created them.

Jesus confirms God’s created intent in Mark, Chapter 10.

(vs 6) “But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.
(Vs.7) For this reason man will leave his father and mother and be united to
his wife.

Deut: 22. 5 ‘A woman must not wear men’s clothing, nor a man wear women’s
clothing for the Lord your God detests any one does this. A complimentary
position that upholds God’s creative intent as stated in Genesis.

Transgendered people will often say that, ‘I must have this mistake corrected’
and also to insist on a personal right to act out the preferred gender role.
Compulsive pursuit of what is thus rebelliously envied is destructive to
relationships

A desire to live deceiving one’s self and others, by acting out in an assumed
gender role, even if only for a short time, is ultimately a form of gender
hatred. The gender hatred is likely to have developed in early childhood as a
response to traumatic events and should be taken seriously. The
transgendered frequently state – even non-Christians – that God has made a
mistake.

Many male transvestites and transsexuals are, or have been, married and
fathered children. Separation frequently occurs and isolation from the family
follows as they are generally no longer accepted within the family or socially in
their preferred, that is self-determined, gender role. Alienation from society in
general encourages the development of special interest groups. These “special
groups” claim that a post-modern society must embrace them and Christians
are seen to be hostile to their worldview.

In most cases children (including adult children) of a transgendered individual

want a father and mother who present and act according to society’s
behavioural norms. Hence the children may be scared and traumatised and in
turn their own lifestyle may well become dependent upon some form of
behaviour which is detrimental to them.

16
We have a relational God whose concern is for wholesome Christ centred
relationships. The Bible lays down firm guidelines for family structures yet
increasingly these structures are being challenged by contemporary society.
Pursuing transgendered behaviour alienates one from God.

Today women commonly wear jeans, slacks and suits that, apart from cut,
appear little different from male attire. A decade ago they would have been
wearing skirts or dresses. The clothes that women in particular and men wear
can change quite dramatically in a relatively short period of time. Climate can
also have a bearing in a warm climate both males and females are less likely to
wear jeans or long trousers.What is perhaps important is the individual
motivation for deliberately wearing clothing popular with the opposite sex.

6. The Church Reality.

In regard to developing an appropriate Christian response to both homosexual

and transgender behaviours Dr Andrew Goddard has noted:

‘That consensus in both theory and practice is being questioned or even

collapsing in many denominations, local churches and Christian networks.
Existing church structures are under threat like never before.’3

7. Overcoming.

Romans Chapter 1 gives a clear expression of God’s willingness to honour our

free will. We have been freed to go our own way, but there will be
consequences if we deviate from our “design criteria.” This is a fundamental
creational truth that society increasingly rejects. Paul tells us in Romans 1:25
“…we have exchanged the truth of God for a lie…”

Overcoming transgendered behaviours is often directly related to one’s

willingness to enter into an ever-closer relationship with God. A personal,
obedient, trusting relationship with Him is necessary in achieving a more
wholesome lifestyle. Obedience to a Biblical statute alone will not bring about
sexual wholeness. (Jer.31: 33-34)

Transgendered people are deeply wounded people, regardless of how mature

they can outwardly seem. Wounded people have a deep sense of shame.
Addictive behaviours have roots into shame. Transgendered behaviour is
addictive and fuelled by shame. Fantasy is an indicator of the level of
addiction. Acting out the fantasy by hopefully ‘depositing’ oneself into a
different body with a pain-free existence, can create immense distress.

To build an intimate relationship with God by wounded people takes time.

(Eze.36: 25-27) The place to begin to nurture such an intimate relationship
with the Lord is within the church.

The “acting out” of transgendered behaviours will be cyclical and can be

identified. When there is sufficient motivation present an individual can be
quick to recognise this cycle of behaviour in their lives – if – they are serious in

17
wanting to overcome the behaviour.

For others the behaviour becomes a false comfort that they have come to
know and rely upon when relationship deficits in their lives occur. The risk and
uncertainty involved in surrendering their dependence on this false comfort
and taking up his cross, as Jesus put it, will often be unacceptable. When we
give up a fixed behaviour pattern we experience loss. This loss has to be
grieved in the same way as we grieve the loss of a person, or position, or
country. Until a personal relationship with the Lord is established there will be
resistance.

For males sex re-assignment surgery which may have included; mamma
augmentation, vaginoplasty, facial surgery, voice adapting surgery, and body
contouring and electrolysis for beard treatment, as hormone treatment does
not remove a beard.

Females are often prepared to undergo mammaplasty (breast reduction) as

well as extensive hormone therapy. Such treatment is, nevertheless, merely
cosmetic and can only produce an approximation of the new gender.

For the transgendered resuming original gender identity will involve acceptance
by the male that surgery to satisfactorily replace removed primary sex organs
is of limited value and that hormone replacement will continue for the rest of
his life. For the female who has had considerable exposure to male sex
hormones and developed male facial and body hair and a receding hairline,
reversal will be slow. She may have to undertake prolonged and painful
electrolysis.

Some people who have undergone SRS subsequently become Christian and
decide to resume their original biological sex and may go on to marry. If they
are male they will not be able to conceive children and are likely to incur
difficulties if they seek to adopt. The overcoming pathway will, for all
concerned, be fraught with difficulties. Successful therapy will include total
dependence on God’s mercy and grace. The recovery, or sanctification,
pathway may be littered with so many obstacles which may impair the
receptivity to God’s grace.

As the Holy Spirit guides the journey out of shame and into wholeness the
transgendered person will need the on going support and understanding of a
caring Christian community, willing to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus was fully prepared to meet people “where they are at”. So should we, if
we hope to restore the transgendered to sexual wholeness. In the third chapter
of John’s gospel we see a picture of Jesus meeting with a Pharisee – a well-
educated religious leader. In the next chapter we see Him meeting with a
Samaritan woman – Samaritans being despised by the Jews. In the eighth
chapter we see Jesus meeting with someone legally condemned by the law for
adultery. Rather than run from Jesus they all appear to be drawn to Him. We
need to look to His example to guide us in ministry to the gender confused.

18
1. ‘Gender Recognition A Guide for Churches to the Gender Recognition Act
(U.K.).’ Evangelical Alliance & Parakaleo Ministry. Jan2006. P27.

2. N. E. Whitehead. PhD Personal correspondence and unpublished report April

2009

3. Rev. A. Goddard. PhD ‘Elevating the conversation: Christians discussing

homosexuality’ Aug. 2009

8. Glossary

· Drag Queen: Usually a male homosexual who for theatrical purposes

caricatures women. Away from the stage such performers are usually content
to resume their male gender role. (The term ‘drag’ arises from Elizabethan
theatre. Then, women were not allowed to perform on stage. Female parts
were played by young males who ‘dragged’ the heavy female costumes –
sometimes with small wheels attached – across the stage.)

· Gender: The psychological and social characteristics that indicate to one’s

self, and to others, that an individual is either male or female

· Gender Identity Disorder: Gender Identity Disorder (GID) and Gender

Dysphoria are clinical terms used to describe the psychological condition
experienced by people who refer to themselves as ‘transsexual’ or
‘transgendered’. Such clinical terms are more accurate as they imply that the
issue is one of self-perceived identity, which is confirmed by the weight of
objective medical opinion

· Gender Reassignment Surgery: Also referred to as sex reassignment

surgery. (SRS). Gender reassignment surgery refers to a range of radical
surgical operations designed to conform the body superficially to that of the
opposite biological sex

· Homosexuality: The physical and or emotional attraction (not necessarily

acted upon) to persons of the opposite sex. Few male homosexuals are
confused about their (male) gender identity. Ambivalent gender identity is
more common amongst female homosexuals (lesbians). Few male
homosexuals are attracted to transgendered persons.

· Intersex: Unlike transsexuality, intersex refers to a number of rare medical

conditions where physical sexual ambiguity exists at birth or develops later.
Some intersex conditions may not be evident until puberty. Intersex conditions
are not the same as transsexuality. Intersex conditions result from
chromosomal disorders.

· Sex: The biological difference between male and female, which is determined
shortly after conception and usually confirmed at birth by observation.

· Trans: Trans man: Trans woman: Terms used within the lifestyle that
refer, usually, to individuals living in their assumed gender role.

19
· Transgender: Interchangeable with transsexual.

· Transsexual: Refers to the usually self-diagnosed condition of a transsexual

or transgendered person. Such a person is an apparently biologically normal
person who, as a result of personal identity crisis, has an overwhelming desire
to be identified as a member of the opposite sex. Commonly, they have the
conviction that they have been born into the wrong body.

· Transvestite: Transvestism (cross dressing) is the wearing of the clothing of

the opposite sex, usually by men, often resulting in sexual arousal.

Suicide rates of Post. Op transsexuals.

Posted on June 3, 2011 by | Permalink 0

The following abstract published in March 2011 is quite significant:

CONTEXT: The treatment for transsexualism is sex reassignment, including

hormonal treatment and surgery aimed at making the person’s body as
congruent with the opposite sex as possible. There is a dearth of long term,
follow-up studies after sex reassignment.

To estimate mortality, morbidity, and criminal rate after surgical sex

reassignment of transsexual persons.

DESIGN: A population-based matched cohort study.

SETTING: Sweden, 1973-2003.

PARTICIPANTS All 324 sex-reassigned persons (191 male-to-females, 133

female-to-males) in Sweden, 1973-2003. Random population controls
(10ratio1) were matched by birth year and birth sex or reassigned (final) sex,
respectively.

MAIN OUTCOME:MEASURES: Hazard ratios (HR) with 95% confidence intervals

(CI) for mortality and psychiatric morbidity were obtained with Cox regression
models, which were adjusted for immigrant status and psychiatric morbidity
prior to sex reassignment (adjusted HR [aHR]). RESULTS: The overall mortality
for sex-reassigned persons was higher during follow-up (aHR 2.8; 95% CI 1.8-
4.3) than for controls of the same birth sex, particularly death from suicide
(aHR 19.1; 95% CI 5.8-62.9). Sex-reassigned persons also had an increased
risk for suicide attempts (aHR 4.9; 95% CI 2.9-8.5) and psychiatric inpatient
care (aHR 2.8; 95% CI 2.0-3.9). Comparisons with controls matched on
reassigned sex yielded similar results. Female-to-males, but not male-to-
females, had a higher risk for criminal convictions than their respective birth
sex controls.

CONCLUSIONS: Persons with transsexualism, after sex reassignment, have

considerably higher risks for mortality, suicidal behaviour, and psychiatric
morbidity than the general population. Our findings suggest that sex
20
reassignment, although alleviating gender dysphoria, may not suffice as
treatment for transsexualism, and should inspire improved psychiatric and
somatic care after sex reassignment for this patient group.

Dhejne, C., Lichtenstein, P., Boman, M., Johansson, A.L., Langstrom, N. and
Landen, M. (2011) Long-term follow-up of transsexual persons undergoing sex
reassignment surgery: cohort study in sweden. PLoS One 6, e16885

A summary in plainer English: those undergoing sex reassignment are 2.8

times as likely to die from all causes as controls; 19.1 times as likely to die by
suicide, 4.9x as likely to attempt suicide, 2.8x as likely to undergo psychiatric
inpatient treatment, and had higher criminal convictions.

It is utterly unsurprising that there is so many psychiatic problems, but it has

been fashionable to brush this known fact aside.

GIRES (Gender Information Research and Education Society) e-

learning resource

Posted on May 5, 2012 by | Permalink 0

Recently my attention was drawn to the following website: www.gires.org.uk.

This site refers to a training resource produced by GIRES (Gender Information

Research and Education Society).

Background

Firstly, if you haven’t previously come across GIRES, let me explain who they
are. GIRES consists, principally, of a husband and wife couple, Bernard & Terry
Reed. Both are well educated, although not in the sciences. If they were
perhaps they would be a little more cautious about their statements on
transgender.

The word ‘gender’ has been used until recently to mean the psychological &
physical characteristics that distinguish male and female. And, often, still is. In
recent years it has become common to replace the word ‘sex’ with the word
‘gender’. (Women’s rights groups began to popularise the use of the word
‘gender’ in this way.)

It is therefore difficult at times to know precisely in which context GIRES uses

the term. Perhaps aware of this difficulty they are now increasingly using the
term ‘gender variant’ which implies being different from the norm. In the way
the term is used by GIRES it remains an oxymoron. The pre-supposition that
gender is biologically determined is false.

21
Information supplied by GIRES is deliberately misleading, presumably for
ideological reasons, as the following comment by Dr Neil Whitehead aptly
demonstrates.

A research organisation it is not. An organisation that exists to present

deliberately misleading information for ideological reasons, perhaps!

E S.

The value of its role as an educational society must be seriously questioned.

A further comment

I have met with Bernard & Terry Reed on two occasions. At the first meeting
they produced a power point presentation which outlined a series of scientific
references which they claimed demonstrated conclusively that gender is
biologically determined. I and a colleague who attended that meeting were
instructed at the outset that questions were not permitted. Some years earlier
I and the same colleague were involved in the producing of two separate
publications that, based on sound scientific research, contradicted virtually all
their power point assertions. Clearly GIRES research had not uncovered either
publically available publication. Or, they deliberately chose to ignore them.

At the second meeting months later I strongly challenged the very premise on
which they (GIRES) took their stand.

The meeting concluded on good terms, I believe. However, it has since become
apparent that their position on transgender has not changed one iota.

Throughout the last 15 or 20 years it has not been unusual for me to be

publically and privately vilified by members of the transgender community
claiming that I am bigoted and unwilling to listen to reason. This is in spite of
the fact that I have constantly used my best endeavours to understand truth
and what science is saying about transgendered behaviours.

I can therefore only conclude that it is the transgender community and their
misguided supporters, such as GIRES and others with their own vested
interests who qualify to be called bigots.

Professional comments on GIRES e-learning resource

Neil Whitehead, Ph. D*

The training resource says that neither your sex characteristics nor your
upbringing determine your gender identity. On the contrary, while they do not
absolutely create gender identity, they do create it to a high degree.

The truth is that transgender is still a rare condition, and that sex

22
characteristics and upbringing produce divalent gender identity to an
extraordinarily high degree, and this characterises “determine” as the word is
normally used. There is considerable evidence for this, hundreds of scientific
papers dealing directly with the observed developmental psychology processes
which lead to gender identity.

In contrast the most the (GIRES) authors can say is that there is considerable
scientific evidence that gender identity is influenced before birth. The word
“influenced” is quite weak and papers dealing with this hypothesis (not
observations) are a handful, negligible compared with those examining post-
natal factors. This is certainly not “considerable”.

The clear statement is made that we are born with gender identity. This is
absolutely wrong. Researchers define gender identity as a consciously held
idea. This idea simply does not exist in new borns. They do not even have a
sense of a separate identity from their mother for months. The stages by which
they acquire a sense of gender identity have been much investigated, and
much of this like all children’s learning is from copying others of the same sex.

An alternative less clear interpretation of being “born with gender identity” is

that we are inescapably destined to a particular gender identity, as this trait
develops.

No academic of my acquaintance will say that gender identity is completely

fixed prenatally and unchangeable thereafter. Rather they will say that all
human traits are multifactorial, having very many influences from prenatal,
family, society, developing physiological states through childhood and random
experiential sources. Further there is considerable malleability and strong post
natal influence can have a considerable effect. A girl subjected to bad sexual
abuse may retreat from a gender identity of femininity to that of androgyny.

Saying we cannot change who we are inside, is contrary to human experience.

The authors are laudably attempting to create precisely this change to dispel
prejudice in the minds of their listeners, and such prejudicial beliefs can indeed
change. But (as shown by twin studies) there is much stronger scientific
evidence for innateness of prejudice in several fields than of innateness of
gender identity!

The authors are pointing to the experiences of many who have not found it
possible to change their gender identity, or to those who experienced conflict
very early, as implicit evidence that change does not happen. But there is
evidence available from those who have changed and contrary interview
material could have been produced, as the authors are aware. In view of that,
it is scientifically indefensible to assert that gender identity cannot
change. The authors may not know that nearly 100 years ago the standard
medical opinion was that alcoholism was incurable. The fact that so very many
now routinely change shows how totally misleading it is to mistake great
difficulty for impossibility.

It is a scientific impossibility to prove that change cannot happen, because

23
there could always be somewhere some very skilled therapist who would have
some successes, or new treatments might emerge. It is another example of
the philosophical principle that it is impossible to prove a universal negative.

The DSM (Diagnostic & Statistics Manual) manuals classify GID (Gender
Identity Disorder) as a mental illness. If the authors want to argue otherwise,
their forum is certainly not a training course, but a scientific article in the
Journal of Sexual Medicine or a related publication.

There may be many reasons for treating trans people with respect, but for the
authors to invoke science in this way, implying that there is such a clear a
consensus around their position that public policy inevitably follows, is totally
incorrect and reprehensible.

(My bolding, italics and brackets.)

*Dr Whitehead has a multi-disciplinary, Ph.D. For forty years he has worked as
a researcher for the New Zealand government and the United Nations. And, for
two Japanese universities. He has some 30 published papers on this and
related subjects.

Dr Whitehead’s website: www.mygenes.co.nz

About Us

Welcome to Parakaleo Ministry

Parakaleo, meaning “to appeal” or “to exhort” gently, is the original Greek
word used in 1 Tim 5: 1-2.

Parakaleo, meaning “to appeal” or “to exhort” gently, is the original Greek
word used in 1 Tim 5: 1-2.

It has been selected as the name for this ministry, because, as indicated by
Paul in his letter to Timothy, it reflects the attitude we seek to minister to
people experiencing gender confusion.

Gender identity confusion or Gender identity disorder is the term used to

describe people whose sense of self (identity) is inconsistent with their
biological sex.

These people are usually referred to as transvestite, transsexual or

transgendered. Though there are historical examples of gender confusion, the
terms transvestite and transsexual are peculiar to the twentieth century. The
Bible therefore appears to have little to say directly on the subject.

Unfortunately these conditions are poorly understood, and when help and
understanding is sought from either secular (i.e. medical etc.) authorities or
Christian sources even greater confusion can occur.

24
The consequences for both the individual and those caring for them can be
quite devastating.

Jesus provided relief for people in a non judgmental way, as in the case of the
woman caught in adultery. (John Ch.8)

The aim of Parakaleo Ministry is to begin in a similar vein, and to introduce

people to the message of the Gospel and the healing love of the Lord Jesus
Christ.

Our Mission

Mission Statement

Parakaleo Ministry is a Christian referral and resource agency, based in the

United Kingdom, dedicated to providing a biblical response to transgenderism,
gender confusion and related distortions of scriptural truth. The ministry
mentors those seeking to re establish their God given gender identity and
destiny. Parakaleo also encourages and seeks to equip friends, loved ones,
church leaders, and fellow Christians to a truthful and compassionate
response.

Doctrinal Statement

• We believe the scriptures of the Old and New Testament are the inspired
Word of God, the final authority of doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction
in right living.

• We believe in one God, existing eternally in three persons: Father, Son and
Holy Spirit.

• We believe in the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, fully man and fully God, only
begotten Son of the Father. He was conceived of the holy Spirit, born of the
Virgin Mary, and lived a sinless life. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was
crucified, buried, and rose physically from the dead. He ascended to the right
hand of the Father and will come again in power and glory.

• We believe that males and females are created distinctly by God, intended to
be complimentary, and united only in biblically ordered marriage.

• We believe that all have sinned; that faith alone in Jesus Christ as Saviour
and Lord frees us from the mastery of sin, and the consequences of death and
eternal damnation. We believe Jesus Christ assumed the penalty of death
Himself, and enables us to live out of His resurrected life unto eternity.

• We believe the Holy Spirit carries out the work of renewal in our lives,
empowering us to grow in loving union with our Heavenly Father and to walk in
obedience to His will.

• We believe that the Church of Jesus Christ is formed of all those who know

25
Him as their Saviour and Lord, regardless of denominational beliefs.

FAQs

Frequently asked questions about: Transvestism, or

Transsexuality/Transsexualism

Transvestism

1. What is transvestism or crossdressing?

The compulsive wearing of clothing pertaining to the opposite sex. It is

primarily a male activity. It often results in sexual arousal. Transvestites
remain aware of, and usually content with, their biological sex.

2. How does transvestism differ from transsexuality?

Transvestism and male transsexuality differ by degree. Both behaviours are

part of a continuum. Transsexuality represents the end of the continuum.
Transsexuals are not content with their biological sex. All transsexuals must
necessarily go through a crossdressing period.

3. Identity

Transvestism and transsexuality are both issues of personal identity. Clinically

such behaviours are referred to as Gender Identity Disorder (GID).

4. Are homosexuality and transvestism the same?

No. Transvestism is not homosexuality. (Transsexuals frequently strongly

dissociate with homosexuality.)

5. What is a drag queen?

Some homosexuals enjoy the theatrical parody of women and are known as
‘drag queens’. The term is believed to have originated with Elizabethan theatre.
In those days women were not allowed to perform, so the parts were played
by boys or small, slightly men. Female costumes were heavy and were dragged
across the stage.

6. Fetishism

Sexual arousal associated with an inanimate object such as gloves or shoes.

7. Cause of transvestism

No known bio-chemical (biological) cause can be demonstrated to exist.

Invariably, transvestites report the practice developing in early childhood,
certainly before the onset of puberty. Authorities tend to agree that cause is
multi-factorial – primarily psychological in origin.

26
B. The practice of transvestism (Acting out)

Transvestism often takes place secretly and in isolation. It is not uncommon for
it to occur in the privacy of home with the consent of a spouse. Most wives,
however, find it difficult to cope with and come to resent it deeply.

Increasing public awareness has spawned the development of small social

groups that meet regularly. Such groups foster and encourage social
relationships, including adoption of gender specific names and dressing fully in
the clothes associated with the opposite sex. Specialist clothing chains exist to
cater for transgendered persons.

As with any repeated behaviour it is possible that the behaviour becomes

addictive.

Transvestites can often sustain long periods of abstinence (often preceded by

the purging of all female clothing). Re-activation can be triggered by stress or
personal crisis that may also involve a change of circumstance.

Signs that crossdressing has become addictive include:

(1) Frequency, and/or

(2) Overriding desire to crossdress
(3) Unwillingness to stop or seek help (denial)
(4) Willingness to take risks to pursue the activity
(5) Alienation from friends and family in pursuance of the behaviour
(6) The compulsive spending of excessive amounts on clothes and
crossdressing activities
(7) The compulsive purging of all items of clothing, with a (unsuccessful)
commitment never to repeat

C. Is transvestism compatible with Christianity?

What constitutes gender appropriate clothing varies from culture to culture.

Crossdressing is acceptable in cultures such as Samoan society, certain sects in
India. Crossdressing native American Indians have been regarded as a type of
holy man.

The passage of time and changes of fashion also determine gender appropriate
clothing. In Western society what may not have been considered gender
appropriate apparel 30 or 40 years ago may have become acceptable today.
The wearing of trousers and slacks by women in a cold climate may be
commonplace but uncomfortable and inappropriate in a hot climate. A
Scotsman wearing a kilt is not a transvestite.

The wearing of opposite sex clothing is proscribed in the Old Testament.

(Deuteronomy 22:5). Therefore does Deuteronomy 22:5 have an application to
the 21st. Century New Testament Christian?

The crossdressing constraint is amongst a numerous list of miscellaneous

27
instructions handed down to Moses from God. Falling as it does amongst
instructions – such as: to build a parapet on flat roofed houses, making of
tassels for a cloak. And, not plowing with both an ox & a donkey yoked
together – many of which are clearly no longer appropriate in today’s society.
Some, therefore conclude that Deuteronomy 22:5 similarly has no application
for today’s Christian.

Indeed it is rationalised by some that by the grace flowing from the death of
Jesus on the Cross, crossdressing is a permissible activity for Christians.
Neither the word transvestism nor crossdressing (or, for that matter
transsexuality) appear in the New Testament. The word transvestism was
originally a psychological term coined only in the early part of the 20th century
to describe men who habitually crossdress. The fact that the constraint
appears in one of the earliest books of the Old Testament evidences that
crossdressing, by both males and females, is not an exclusively a 20th century
phenomena.

The Hebrew word ‘toebah’ is the word that is translated into English as
‘abomination’ or ‘detestable’ in Deuteronomy 22:5. It appears in other
passages of Old Testament scripture notably Leviticus 18:22 and Lev. 20:13.
Used in the context the word means to reverse what is good. It also has a
strong element of idolatry contained in its meaning.

The book of Genesis gives an outline of God’s created intent declaring that His
creation of male and female to be very good. It is clear from the passage that
His intent that male and female are intended to be complimentary.

The use of the Hebrew word ‘toebah’ in Deuteronomy 22:5 would indicate that
any human behaviour that reverses His created intent either inadvertently or
by design is anathema to God. The implication is that for the Jews, whose life
is determined by the Old Testament crossdressing is to be seen as an issue of
morality. (Jesus himself is recorded as referring back paradigmatically to the
creation passage Genesis 1:27.)

The book of Romans begins with an account of humankind’s state of rebellion

against God. To emphasise the gravity of this rebellion against God, Paul
repeats three times that ‘God gave them over to repeat that which ought not
to be done’.

Paul makes it clear that as a consequence of man’s rebellion, and the lack of
obedience, that immoral behaviour (sin) will follow. Immorality or unrighteous
behaviour are the result of mankind’s rebellion against God.

The Old Testament comprised civil, ceremonial and moral law. The New
Testament with Jesus’ authority, shows that the civil and ceremonial laws are
superseded, whilst the moral law is to be upheld.

Therefore, mankind as a whole is seen to be rebellious in the New Testament

just as it is in the Old Testament. (When Paul declared in his epistle to the
Romans the state of mankind, the New Testament had not then come to be
28
compiled.)

Paul’s statement of the rebellious nature of mankind as a whole is a leveler.

That is, no one is exempt from that indictment (for all have sinned and fall
short of the glory of God). It is only through the death of Jesus on the cross
that man can be redeemed. It is only then, as a consequence of God’s mercy,
that man can be credited with righteousness.

Christians responding through the New Birth implicitly agree to honour His
mercy by remaining obedient to God’s demands of purity and obedience to His
holiness code.

In his first epistle to the Corinthian church it is clear that Paul expects change
to occur away from former immoral lifestyles such as idolatry, adultery and
effeminacy. Contemporary commentaries on this epistle indicate that the Greek
words that are translated into current English as homosexuality, also extend to
behaviours that identify with the opposite sex i.e. transvestism and
transsexuality.

Paul goes on to state emphatically that such unrepentant persons will not
inherit the Kingdom of Heaven.

Paul states in his epistle to the Galatians that : ‘… we were held prisoners by
the law, locked up until faith should revealed,’ having earlier declared that his
understanding had come by the direct revelation of Jesus Christ.

The author of the epistle to the Hebrews, in Chapter 6 encourages the moving
on from the elementary teachings of Christ to enlightened understanding and
maturity. The epistle states that it is impossible for persons, who having
received the elementary teachings of Christ and have then fallen away, not
moving on to maturity, to be bought back to repentance. By falling away, the
author states, such persons subject the Son of God all over again to the public
disgrace of the Cross.

Therefore, it must be concluded that a Christian who continues dressing in the

clothing of the opposite sex so as to create the illusion of being a member of
the opposite sex is in effect remaining in a state of rebellion against God and
subjects himself to the due penalty. It matters not whether that person does so
in isolation, or with the active participation of others – Christian or non
Christian.

D. A pastoral response

Active participation, whether alone or in company, will result in an increased

desire to pursue the activity. The crossdressing behaviour will come to
dominate the lifestyle. Any behaviour that dominates a lifestyle, or likely to
lead to its dominance is, for the Christian – idolatry.

Experience has shown that where repentance is genuine the addictive

component of crossdressing will be recognised by the individual concerned.

29
To move to wholeness in Christ and overcome any addictive behaviour an
acknowledgment of dependency on Christ is a necessary first step. Such
behaviours can have such a stranglehold that an establishment of a strict
regime in accountability is essential.

The Church ought to provide a supportive environment whilst any unresolved

issues that have lead to the development of the behaviour in the first place are
addressed.

Prayer alone, without the active support of others, is likely not to succeed and
result in disillusionment. Overcoming such behaviours can be painful and
tedious. Personal commitment, by all concerned, is essential.

Transsexuality/Transsexualism

1. What is a transsexual?

The term is used to describe an apparently biologically normal individual who

has an overwhelming desire to be identified as a member of the opposite sex.
Increasingly such individuals seek chemical (hormone) therapy and surgery to
conform their body to that of the opposite biological sex. In reality it is
impossible to chemically or surgically alter one’s biological sex. Medical
authorities consistently assert that sex is determined by the chromosomes.

2. What causes transsexualism?

There are no scientifically proven genetic or organic causes for transsexualism.

There is much indemonstrable speculation and unsubstantiated mythology.
Most serious available medical research suggests that it is a psychological
condition.

3. What is Intersex?

A number of rare (1:2000 births) medical conditions where some physical

sexual ambiguity exists. These well known conditions include hermaphroditism,
Turner’s syndrome & congenital adrenal hyperplasia. Some intersex conditions
may not manifest until adolescence. Intersex conditions have demonstrable
underlying biochemical causes, which are normally confirmed by blood tests.
Intersex conditions should not be confused with transsexualism. Correct
diagnosis of ‘transsexualism’ should include a chromosome test to eliminate
the possibility of a pre-existing intersex condition.

4. What is Gender Identity Disorder?

The clinical (or medical) term used to describe those people who describe
themselves (or self-determine) as transsexual. The term ‘transsexualism’ is a
misnomer. The clinical term is more accurate as a person’s self-perceived
identity is emphasised. It is a popular though misleading claim that
transsexualism (Gender Identity Disorder) is now has ‘proven’ that the
condition exists as a consequence of an abnormality in the brain, or perhaps as

30
a consequence of some hormonal imbalance prior to birth. Whilst some
research has been conducted into the brains of deceased transsexuals studies
are limited in scope and far from conclusive. Prenatal hormonal imbalance
theories are speculative. The amount of scientific research into transsexualism
is limited. Research that has been conducted overwhelmingly points to
causation being multi-factorial and primarily psychological in origin. Psychiatric
evidence indicates that gender ambiguity can be responsive to therapies
without recourse to surgery. Transsexualism therefore continues to be
regarded by medical authorities as primarily an issue of personal identity,
though appropriate treatment of the condition is disputed.

5. Is transsexualism homosexuality?

No. Homosexualism is the physical and/or emotional attraction to persons of

the same sex, including the desire to act out that attraction. Homosexuals are
normally content with their biological (given) sex. They rarely have any strong
desire to change sex.

6. Is bi-sexualism the same as transsexualism?

No.

7. Are children at risk?

No. Transgendered persons are not paedophiles.

8. What is sex reassignment surgery (SRS)?

A number of surgical operations designed to conform the body to that of the

opposite biological sex. Surgery is normally concurrent with chemical
(hormonal) therapies that can redistribute body fat, alter skin texture and
increase or reduce bodily hair. The degree of surgery or chemical therapies
undertaken can very from individual to individual. It has been estimated that
possibly as many as 50% of transsexuals do not actually proceed to SRS.

9. How much does surgery cost?

It varies with the amount of surgery requested. At least £7,000.

10. What happens if a person changes their mind after surgery?

Post-operative transsexuals do from time to time recognise that surgery was a

mistake, or poorly performed. It is impossible satisfactorily to replace
surgically removed genitalia. A measure of reparative surgery is available at
considerable cost.

11. Is pre-operative counselling available?

It is, but increasingly candidates are being fast-tracked through to surgery

virtually upon request with minimal or no counselling. Existing guidelines

31
recommend at least two years living in the desired gender role. Frequently the
guidelines are ignored. Diagnosis and supply of hormones is now available over
the Internet.

12. Do transsexual people marry and have families?

Many transsexuals are, or have been, married. Many have fathered or

mothered children. Few marriages survive transsexualism. Transsexual parents
usually remain alienated from their children.

13. What about transvestism (crossdressing)? (see above)

Transvestism refers to the wearing of clothing of the opposite sex, primarily by

males, often resulting in sexual arousal. Transvestites remain aware of and
content with their biological sex. However, all transsexuals necessarily pass
through an (often prolonged) crossdressing phase.

14. How many transsexuals exist in the community?

It has been estimated that there are some 5000+ postoperative transsexual
people in Great Britain. These estimates are not reliable.

15. Do postoperative transsexuals live a fulfilling life?

Some apparently do. Many, however, do not and remain on various forms of
support.

16. Should transsexuals be allowed to marry?

A male-to-female transsexual person can legally marry a female-to-male

transsexual. As neither surgery nor hormones change a person’s biological sex
a transsexual remains in their given (birth) sex. In essence, a ‘marriage’
involving a male-to-female transsexual and a biological male would be a same-
sex relationship. Currently illegal, a change in the law is now being proposed.

17. How should Christians respond to transsexualism?

Transsexualism is a complex condition that is not easy for people to

understand, particularly if a person is content with their own gender identity.
Christians should respond as far as possible with compassion and
understanding. However, transsexualism is a self-determined condition. It is
unique in that the patient makes their own diagnosis – a doctor only confirms
it. Genetic determination is not likely ever to be scientifically demonstrated.
Evidence suggests that resolution of the underlying gender ambiguity and
conflict can be slow and painful. It is only likely to be resolved with strong
commitment and determination. Christians should be willing to support in
every possible way the struggles of transsexual people to accept their true
birth sex.

18. Shouldn’t Christians just accept people as they choose to be?

32
We all live in a fallen world and often we come short of God’s standards.
Nevertheless, God’s created intent for humankind is made clear in the early
chapters of the book of Genesis. That intent is confirmed throughout the Old
and New Testaments. Jesus himself referred back paradigmatically to the
creation story in Genesis. Christians experiencing scriptural new birth should
expect personal wholeness to result from a commitment to being fully obedient
to Christ, including any identity ambiguity. Christians should expect
transformation through the work of the Holy Spirit to occur in everyone’s life in
producing Christ-like lives.

This guide to has been prepared by Parakaleo Ministry in cooperation

with the Evangelical Alliance

Parakaleo Ministry

Keith Tiller, the founder-director of Parakaleo, has a profound understanding

of the anguish of gender confusion. (read his personal testimony.)

With a childhood desire to be of the opposite sex, he began habitually

crossdressing in adolescence, an addiction that led to the breakdown of two
marriages and separation from his two adult children.

During the mid-eighties, he underwent prolonged psychotherapy as an

outpatient and inpatient at a leading psychiatric hospital, at the end of which it
was recommended that he seriously considered sex reassignment surgery. He
was not persuaded that surgery was the only course available to him, although
at that time he was not aware of any alternative.

That is, until he allowed God into his life, a decision that had once been
unthinkable to someone who had always been hostile to the Gospel of Christ,
and who saw Christianity and Christians as the ‘enemy’. From that moment,
God began a slow and painful reversal in thought and values, which finally
enabled him to turn his back on a transvestite existence that had dominated
his life for more than a decade.

Keith knows, on the evidence of the changes in his life, that it came about
through the love and power of Jesus Christ. He came to realise that the only
alternative to the confusion and ambiguity of gender confusion is a committed
willingness to ‘take up the Cross and follow Jesus.’

Ministry Update

During the course of my work a wide range of enquiries from various parts of
the United Kingdom have come to me. More recently, through the web site,
many are now coming from various parts of the world, particularly the USA.

The largest segment of enquiry usually comes from people who are in some
form of leadership within a church, concerned for someone they know who is
either cross-dressing or calling themselves transsexual. These enquirers are
usually at a loss to know how to respond in a Christian way. Sometime later I

33
often receive a hesitant phone call from the individual seeking to discuss the
situation with me. If it is possible to do so I arrange to meet them personally.

These individuals are invariably under some form of duress to make contact
with me. Which means that in effect they are not yet convinced that to
continue to gratify themselves with this form of behaviour is not what the Lord
would want from them. The Deuteronomy 22:5 constraint is rationalised as
being no longer relevant, and they fail to see anything else in the Scriptures
that would deter them from the path that they are on.

As best as I am able to do, I try to make my position clear, without coming

across in a judgmental way. (I am not sure that I always succeed.) Certainly I
endeavour to “keep the door open” for future contact. I have seen enough not
to anticipate when the Lord may break in to a persons life and begin the
process of “softening the heart”. It may in fact occur after someone has
undergone surgery. Such is the individual’s brokenness at this time that I have
become convinced that this is an area where only the Lord can work and He
must be allowed to do so unfettered.

One pastor has written an article that demonstrates vividly what the Lord can
do when allowed to work in a person’s life in this way. Anyone who is
interested can read this article on the Parakaleo site. It is entitled:
“Transsexualism in the church – A Pastor Responds”.

Occasionally a person contacts me who has determined under conviction that

they are not to go this route. I am encouraged when I encounter this situation.
Invariably this is prompted by some form of crisis in their lives, such as
marriage breakdown. The circumstances are often tragic. But it can be the
beginnings of a totally new way of life if there is sufficient will to submit to the
purposes of God. The pathway will almost certainly be painful, as false
comforts are surrendered. But Jesus is the master at changing lives.

Personally speaking

Being Australian I have a reputation for a laconic personality. To acquire such a

reputation I assume there must be some hidden truth there. Hidden away
maybe, but not from the Lord! Finances remain tight – to the point of despair,
which affects most of the areas of my life. However, this seems to be part of
the approach that the Lord is using to mellow that Australian characteristic in
me. He has stretched my faith beyond anything that I could have imagined. He
has said that He wants me to be utterly dependent on Him, and “to reveal my
heart to Him”. The path that He has placed me on to achieve that has, at
times, been extremely painful. But His thoughts and ways are not our ways
(Isaiah 55:8) thank goodness, perhaps!

Keith Tiller

34
Contact Parakaleo
Skype: keithtilleru.k.

Telephone: 0774 8662435

mailto:parakaleo@btinternet.com

Video

4thought.tv asks is it wrong to change gender? Keith Tiller struggled with his
gender identity for 40 years and was advised by a psychiatrist to undergo
gender reassignment surgery. Instead, Keith turned to the Christian faith and
was convinced that changing his gender would be against God’s best intent.

Parakaleo.co.uk
A Christian ministry seeking to uphold Biblical values to the transvestite,
transsexual and transgendered person.

Girl, 7, confused about step-parent after woman became transgender

male and grew beard, Family Court hears

Posted on February 14, 2014 by admin | Permalink 0

A LITTLE girl is still trying to work out whether to call her step-parent
Mum or Dad after the woman became a transgender male, had her
breasts removed and grew a beard.

Now the Family Court has ordered that the child, 7, spend Father’s Day,
alternate weekends and other times with “Mr Brown”, who had been in a
lesbian relationship with her mother.

Mr Brown, who had lived with the mother, the child and her older sibling for
almost three years, now lives with another transgender male.

The court heard that as a woman Mr Brown had been in an on-off relationship
with the child’s mother and they were together when the little girl was born.

The mother, who already had another child, had travelled overseas and
become impregnated by a man of unknown identity during a period of
separation, before the couple reunited.

After another brief split, the couple lived together with the two children, and
even had a “commitment ceremony”.

But a month later Mr Brown began identifying as transgender and decided to

have hormone treatment to prepare for surgery to transition to a man.

The Family Court heard a few months later Mr Brown told the children he was
transitioning to male and the couple separated.

35
The mother and the two children went to live in her parents’ home and initially
Mr Brown spent a few nights a week with the children, until the mother
reduced that time.

Mr Brown began a relationship with a transgender male and in 2012 changed

the name on his birth certificate to a male given name, the court heard.

A month later he underwent “gender affirming surgery” to remove his breasts,

the court heard.

Soon after there were consent orders made that the children live with the
mother and the child spend two nights a week with Mr Brown.

A family consultant told the court the child said she sometimes called her
“Dad”, “Mum”, or a European term for “my Mum” or used Mr Brown’s male
name.

She said Mr Brown felt like a father to her.

The court heard the child suffered from anxiety and was stressed by the family
situation.

Justice Watts accepted she had a meaningful relationship with her mother and
Mr Brown, and made orders allowing him weekend and holiday time with the
child.

“I find that it is likely on balance that the child will see (Mr Brown) in the role
of parent and because he has a beard she will in her mind probably over time
accept him as a “father” or “Dad”, the judge said.

Read more: http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/girl-7-confused-

about-step-parent-after-woman-became-transgender-male-and-grew-beard-
family-court-hears/story-fnihsrf2-1226825880534

Facebook: Over 50 gender identities on offer for users

Posted on February 14, 2014 by admin | Permalink 0

Facebook users can now choose their gender from over 50 different options
including ‘transsexual’, ‘gender fluid’ and ‘two-spirit’.

The social networking site announced the update following consultations with
homosexual and transgender rights groups.

The gender options, including ‘bigender’, ‘androgynous’, ‘pangender’ and

‘neither’, are only available to those using English (US) language settings.

Choice

The new settings also offer users the option of three preferred pronouns: him,

36
her or them.

Facebook said the changes are aimed at giving more choice in how people
describe themselves.

Brielle Harrison, the software engineer who worked on the project, is himself in
the process of having a sex-change.

Binary

He said: “All too often transgender people like myself and other gender
nonconforming people are given this binary option, do you want to be male or
female? What is your gender?”

Harrison said the change means that for the first time, “I get to go to the site
and specify to all the people I know what my gender is”.

But an American family-support charity has criticised the move.

Biological

Jeff Johnston, an issues analyst for Focus on the Family said, “it’s impossible to
deny the biological reality that humanity is divided into two halves – male and
female”.

“Those petitioning for the change insist that there are an infinite number of
genders, but just saying it doesn’t make it so. That said, we have a great deal
of compassion for those who reject their biological sex and believe they are the
opposite sex”, he added.

Currently, Facebook targets advertising according to the sex of the user – but
for those who change their identity to something neutral, ads will be targeted
based on the pronoun they select for themselves.

The site has 1.15 billion active monthly users around the world.

Number of kids seeking a sex change rises by 50% in a year

Posted on October 30, 2013 by admin | Permalink 0

Number of kids seeking a sex change rises by 50% in a year

Figures show that last year 208 children were referred to specialist clinics, up
from 139 in the previous year [picture for illustrative purposes only].

 Better help urged for children with signs of gender dysphoria (£,
thetimes.co.uk, 25 October 2013)
 Belgian euthanised after sex-change surgery (03 October 2013)
 Britain’s youngest sex swap patient to revert to birth sex (05 November
2012)

37
Wed, 30 Oct 2013

The number of children wanting a sex change in 2012 saw an increase of 50

per cent compared to the previous year, according to The Times newspaper.

This comes as the Royal College of Psychiatrists urged services to work better
so that children can have the operation quickly when they turn 18.

It came in guidelines for treating adults who are seeking a sex change.

Suicide

Figures reported in The Times show that last year 208 children were referred
to specialist clinics, up from 139 in the previous year.

But research shows that a high number of people who undergo sex change
surgery go on to commit suicide.

Professor Chris Hyde, a medical professor from the University of Exeter, said
that though his findings were from a decade ago it is “likely” the same issues
remain today.

Traumatised

He said: “While no doubt great care is taken to ensure that appropriate

patients undergo gender reassignment, there’s still a large number of people
who have the surgery but remain traumatised – often to the point of
committing suicide.”

Some suggest the transsexual suicide rate is as high as 31 per cent.

And it was reported last year that Britain’s youngest sex swap patient decided
to revert back to living as a man having taken hormone injections to make him
look like a woman.

The 18-year-old was scheduled to go through with a sex change at the

beginning of this year.

Internet

Professor Kevan Wylie, who led the development of the new guidelines, said
there has been a “seismic shift in attitudes” towards sex change therapy.

He said: “Among adolescents there are an increasing number of referrals

because the internet and social media mean people are aware of and
understand their symptoms and are then looking for help.”

He said most clinics are increasingly seeing young people, and the issue is
“more prevalent than people perceive it to be”.

38
Transition

Prof Wylie said there is “quite a lot of evidence that people do well if they
transition early because they can get on with their life.

Earlier this month, press in Belgium reported on a woman who ended her life
after her sex change did not meet expectations.

Nancy Verhelst, known as Nathan, was euthanised under the grounds of

“unbearable psychological suffering”.

source: Christian Institute.http://www.christian.org.uk/news/number-of-kids-

seeking-a-sex-change-rises-by-50-in-a-
year/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A
+christianinstitute+%28The+Christian+Institute%29&utm_content=FaceBook

Born in the wrong body: The transgender struggle

Posted on September 30, 2013 by admin | Permalink 0

Transgender people and their advocates are asking society to take these
internal gender identities seriously, and to respect their right to make a
transition. They’re calling it “the next civil rights frontier.” Sixteen states have
passed laws that ban discrimination against transgender people in housing and
employment. In August, California enacted the nation’s first law allowing
transgender K-12 schoolchildren to pick which bathroom and locker room they
use, and whether to play on boys’ or girls’ sports teams. But advocates say the
fight for acceptance has just begun. As an example, they point to the derision
that greeted the recent announcement by Bradley Manning, a U.S. soldier
convicted of leaking secret documents to WikiLeaks, that he was transgender
and would henceforth identify himself as Chelsea. The Army said it would not
provide Manning with the hormone therapy she’s requested, and she will be
jailed with male inmates at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.

Read the full story: http://theweek.com/article/index/250110/born-in-the-

wrong-body-the-transgender-struggle

Transgender Theology Professor, Asked To Leave California’s Azusa

Pacific University

Posted on September 26, 2013 by admin | Permalink 0

‘Heather Clements taught theology at Azusa Pacific University for 15 years, but
this past year, he began referring to himself as H. Adam Ackley…. He also said
that his insurance was denied when he sought hormone treatment and “top
surgery” for his chest area. “They’re giving me privacy to transition but
denying medical treatment to do that,” said Ackley, who is 47, has two children
and is in the process of getting a divorce.

39
Read More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/23/transgender-
professor-azusa-pacific-_n_3977109.html

Prof. Robert Gagnon, Associate Professor of New Testament,

Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, comments:

‘A Christian Post reporter asked me about transsexualism in general, to which I

responded:

The writers of Scripture viewed any attempts at overriding one’s birth-sex as

abhorrent, a sacrilege against the structures of maleness or femaleness
created by God, and ultimately a rebellion against the Creator who made our
bodies. Paul includes in his list of offenders who will not inherit the kingdom of
God a group called the “malakoi,” which literally means “soft men” and refers
to men who actively feminize themselves to attract male sex partners. Their
attempt to become women could range from adopting female-like hairstyles,
dress, make-up, and mannerisms to the surgical extreme of castration.

These figures were well known in the ancient Near East and Greco-Roman and
went under various names (assinnus, kurgarrûs, or kulu’us; the galli). They
resemble the group of men referred to in Deuteronomy and the
Deuteronomistic History as the qedeshîm, literally, “holy (sanctified,
consecrated) men” (Deut 23:17-18; 1 Kings 14:24; 15:12; 22:46; 2 Kings
23:7; cf. Job 36:14). Their attempts at transforming their masculinity into
femininity, as well as engaging in homosexual practice, are labeled an
“abomination” by Deuteronomy (23:18) and the Deuteronomistic Historian (1
Kings 14:21-24). Indeed, Deuteronomic law treats even cross-dressing as an
“abomination” (22:5).

Yes, Jesus compared “eunuchs who made themselves eunuchs because of the
kingdom of heaven” with “eunuchs who were born so from the womb of their
mother” and “eunuchs who were made eunuchs by humans” (Matt 19:12). The
comparison, though, assumes that neither the born-eunuchs nor the made-
eunuchs (i.e., those castrated against their will) are having sexual relations,
since that is the defining feature of the “eunuchs who made themselves
eunuchs because of the kingdom of heaven.” Moreover, neither the born-
eunuchs or made-eunuchs have made themselves eunuchs. The only group
that Jesus speaks of as “making themselves eunuchs” is that group that does
so only in a metaphorical sense, for they do not mar their body or seek to
change their sex in any way. Rather, they only forego marriage between a man
and a woman, the one permitted venue for sexual relations, in order to
maximize their efforts at proclaiming the kingdom of God (Paul makes a similar
point in 1 Cor 7:32-35). So there is no justification in these texts for ordaining
persons who actively seek to change their own sex.

Paul’s remark in Gal 3:28 that “there is no ‘male and female’” was applied by
Paul to the status of women before God, not as a basis for eliminating sexual
differentiation or legitimizing attempts to change one’s sex. When applied to
the area of sexual intercourse “no ‘male and female’” meant no sex
whatsoever, complete sexual asceticism. Jesus taught that in the kingdom of
40
God people will be neither married nor given in marriage. Until that time, in
this age, sexual activity must pay heed to one’s birth sex by entering only into
a union with the sex or gender opposite to one’s own birth sex.

Transsexuality is in some respects an even more extreme version of the

problem of homosexual practice. It is an explicit denial of the integrity of one’s
own sex and an overt attempt at marring the sacred image of maleness or
femaleness stamped by God on our bodies. Whereas those engaged in
homosexual practice dishonor their bodies by treating them as only half intact
in relation to their own sex, persons who seek to adopt a gender identity
opposite to their birth sex make a total rejection of their birth sex.

There is some evidence that, for at least some persons who embrace a gender
identity at odds with their birth sex, a part of that part of the brain identified
with sexual functioning may resemble the other sex. Yet other parts of sex-
differentiated features of the brain still conform to one’s birth sex, as does
one’s chromosomes, genitalia and other external features, and hormones.
Moreover, there is no conclusive evidence that any sex-incongruent features of
the brain are 100% congenitally determined or operate on a behaviorally
deterministic model. Attempts to erase one’s birth sex have a quasi-gnostic
feel: the dominant features of the body do not matter.’

Gender ideology harms children

Posted on April 23, 2016 by Keith

Originally posted March 21, 2016 – a temporary statement with references. A

full statement will be published in summer 2016. Updated with Clarifications on
April 6, 2016.

The American College of Pediatricians urges educators and legislators to reject

all policies that condition children to accept as normal a life of chemical and
surgical impersonation of the opposite sex. Facts – not ideology – determine
reality.

1. Human sexuality is an objective biological binary trait: “XY” and “XX” are
genetic markers of health – not genetic markers of a disorder. The norm for
human design is to be conceived either male or female. Human sexuality is
binary by design with the obvious purpose being the reproduction and
flourishing of our species. This principle is self-evident. The exceedingly rare
disorders of sex development (DSDs), including but not limited to testicular
feminization and congenital adrenal hyperplasia, are all medically identifiable
deviations from the sexual binary norm, and are rightly recognized as
disorders of human design. Individuals with DSDs do not constitute a third
sex.1

2. No one is born with a gender. Everyone is born with a biological sex. Gender
(an awareness and sense of oneself as male or female) is a sociological and
psychological concept; not an objective biological one. No one is born with an
awareness of themselves as male or female; this awareness develops over
time and, like all developmental processes, may be derailed by a child’s
41
subjective perceptions, relationships, and adverse experiences from infancy
forward. People who identify as “feeling like the opposite sex” or “somewhere
in between” do not comprise a third sex. They remain biological men or
biological women.2,3,4

3. A person’s belief that he or she is something they are not is, at best, a sign
of confused thinking. When an otherwise healthy biological boy believes he is a
girl, or an otherwise healthy biological girl believes she is a boy, an objective
psychological problem exists that lies in the mind not the body, and it should
be treated as such. These children suffer from gender dysphoria. Gender
dysphoria (GD), formerly listed as Gender Identity Disorder (GID), is a
recognized mental disorder in the most recent edition of the Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association (DSM-V).5 The
psychodynamic and social learning theories of GD/GID have never been
disproved.2,4,5

4. Puberty is not a disease and puberty-blocking hormones can be dangerous.

Reversible or not, puberty- blocking hormones induce a state of disease – the
absence of puberty – and inhibit growth and fertility in a previously biologically
healthy child.6

5. According to the DSM-V, as many as 98% of gender confused boys and 88%
of gender confused girls eventually accept their biological sex after naturally
passing through puberty.5

6. Children who use puberty blockers to impersonate the opposite sex will
require cross-sex hormones in late adolescence. Cross-sex hormones
(testosterone and estrogen) are associated with dangerous health risks
including but not limited to high blood pressure, blood clots, stroke and
cancer.7,8,9,10

7. Rates of suicide are twenty times greater among adults who use cross-sex
hormones and undergo sex reassignment surgery, even in Sweden which is
among the most LGBQT – affirming countries.11 What compassionate and
reasonable person would condemn young children to this fate knowing that
after puberty as many as 88% of girls and 98% of boys will eventually accept
reality and achieve a state of mental and physical health?

8. Conditioning children into believing that a lifetime of chemical and surgical

impersonation of the opposite sex is normal and healthful is child abuse.
Endorsing gender discordance as normal via public education and legal policies
will confuse children and parents, leading more children to present to “gender
clinics” where they will be given puberty-blocking drugs. This, in turn, virtually
ensures that they will “choose” a lifetime of carcinogenic and otherwise toxic
cross-sex hormones, and likely consider unnecessary surgical mutilation of
their healthy body parts as young adults.

Michelle A. Cretella, M.D.

President of the American College of Pediatricians

42
Quentin Van Meter, M.D.

Vice President of the American College of Pediatricians

Pediatric Endocrinologist

Paul McHugh, M.D.

University Distinguished Service Professor of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins

Medical School and the former psychiatrist in chief at Johns Hopkins Hospital

For a PDF version click here: Gender Ideology Harms.

CLARIFICATIONS in response to questions regarding points 3 & 5:

Regarding Point 3: “Where does the APA or DSM-V indicate that Gender
Dysphoria is a mental disorder?”

The APA (American Psychiatric Association) is the author of the Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition(DSM-V). The APA states that
those distressed and impaired by their GD meet the definition of a disorder.
The College is unaware of any medical literature that documents a gender
dysphoric child seeking puberty blocking hormones who is not significantly
distressed by the thought of passing through the normal and healthful process
of puberty.

From the DSM-V fact sheet:

“The critical element of gender dysphoria is the presence of clinically significant

distress associated with the condition.”

“This condition causes clinically significant distress or impairment in social,

occupational, or other important areas of functioning.”

Regarding Point 5: “Where does the DSM-V list rates of resolution for Gender
Dysphoria?”

On page 455 of the DSM-V under “Gender Dysphoria without a disorder of sex
development” it states: “Rates of persistence of gender dysphoria from
childhood into adolescence or adulthood vary. In natal males, persistence has
ranged from 2.2% to 30%. In natal females, persistence has ranged from 12%
to 50%.” Simple math allows one to calculate that for natal boys: resolution
occurs in as many as 100% – 2.2% = 97.8% (approx. 98% of gender-
confused boys) Similarly, for natal girls: resolution occurs in as many as 100%
– 12% = 88% gender-confused girls

The bottom line: Our opponents advocate a new scientifically baseless

standard of care for children with a psychological condition (GD) that would
otherwise resolve after puberty for the vast majority of patients concerned.
Specifically, they advise: affirmation of children’s thoughts which are contrary

43
to physical reality; the chemical castration of these children prior to puberty
with GnRH agonists (puberty blockers which cause infertility, stunted growth,
low bone density, and an unknown impact upon their brain development), and,
finally, the permanent sterilization of these children prior to age 18 via cross-
sex hormones. There is an obvious self-fulfilling nature to encouraging young
GD children to impersonate the opposite sex and then institute pubertal
suppression. If a boy who questions whether or not he is a boy (who is meant
to grow into a man) is treated as a girl, then has his natural pubertal
progression to manhood suppressed, have we not set in motion an inevitable
outcome? All of his same sex peers develop into young men, his opposite sex
friends develop into young women, but he remains a pre-pubertal boy. He will
be left psychosocially isolated and alone. He will be left with the psychological
impression that something is wrong. He will be less able to identify with his
same sex peers and being male, and thus be more likely to self identify as
“non-male” or female. Moreover, neuroscience reveals that the pre-frontal
cortex of the brain which is responsible for judgment and risk assessment is
not mature until the mid-twenties. Never has it been more scientifically clear
that children and adolescents are incapable of making informed decisions
regarding permanent, irreversible and life-altering medical interventions. For
this reason, the College maintains it is abusive to promote this ideology, first
and foremost for the well-being of the gender dysphoric children themselves,
and secondly, for all of their non-gender-discordant peers, many of whom will
subsequently question their own gender identity, and face violations of their
right to bodily privacy and safety.

References:

1. Consortium on the Management of Disorders of Sex Development, “Clinical

Guidelines for the Management of Disorders of Sex Development in Childhood.”
Intersex Society of North America, March 25, 2006. Accessed 3/20/16 from
http://www.dsdguidelines.org/files/clinical.pdf.

2. Zucker, Kenneth J. and Bradley Susan J. “Gender Identity and Psychosexual

Disorders.”FOCUS: The Journal of Lifelong Learning in Psychiatry. Vol. III, No.
4, Fall 2005 (598-617).

3. Whitehead, Neil W. “Is Transsexuality biologically determined?” Triple Helix

(UK), Autumn 2000, p6-8. accessed 3/20/16 from
http://www.mygenes.co.nz/transsexuality.htm; see also Whitehead, Neil W.
“Twin Studies of Transsexuals [Reveals Discordance]” accessed 3/20/16 from
http://www.mygenes.co.nz/transs_stats.htm.

4. Jeffreys, Sheila. Gender Hurts: A Feminist Analysis of the Politics of

Transgenderism. Routledge, New York, 2014 (pp.1-35).

5. American Psychiatric Association: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of

Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, Arlington, VA, American Psychiatric Association,
2013 (451-459). See page 455 re: rates of persistence of gender dysphoria.

6. Hembree, WC, et al. Endocrine treatment of transsexual persons: an

44
Endocrine Society clinical practice guideline. J Clin Endocrinol Metab.
2009;94:3132-3154.

7. Olson-Kennedy, J and Forcier, M. “Overview of the management of gender

nonconformity in children and adolescents.” UpToDate November 4, 2015.
Accessed 3.20.16 from www.uptodate.com.

8. Moore, E., Wisniewski, & Dobs, A. “Endocrine treatment of transsexual

people: A review of treatment regimens, outcomes, and adverse effects.” The
Journal of Endocrinology & Metabolism, 2003; 88(9), pp3467-3473.

9. FDA Drug Safety Communication issued for Testosterone products accessed

3.20.16:
http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/DrugSafety/PostmarketDrugSafetyInformationforPa
tientsandProviders/ucm161874.htm.

10. World Health Organization Classification of Estrogen as a Class I

Carcinogen:
http://www.who.int/reproductivehealth/topics/ageing/cocs_hrt_statement.pdf.

11. Dhejne, C, et.al. “Long-Term Follow-Up of Transsexual Persons Undergoing

Sex Reassignment Surgery: Cohort Study in Sweden.” PLoS ONE, 2011; 6(2).
Affiliation: Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Division of Psychiatry,
Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden. Accessed 3.20.16 from
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0016885.

The truth about gender….’Gender ideology harms children’.

Posted on April 23, 2016 by Keith

The American College of Pediatricianshas released an EXCELLENT POSITION

STATEMENT about the HARM being done to children by those who proclaim that
‘gender is how you feel’ and who suggest to them that a boy can ‘become’ a
girl or a girl can ‘become’ a boy, especially by taking puberty blockers or
hormones and having sex re-assignment surgery.

Point 5 states, “5. According to the DSM-V, as many as 98% of gender

confused boys and 88% of gender confused girls eventually accept their
biological sex after naturally passing through puberty.”

Point 7 highlights the real facts about the high suicide risk in transgender
adults who take hormones and have ‘re-assignment surgery’.

It continues…

“What compassionate and reasonable person would condemn young children to

this fate knowing that after puberty as many as 88% of girls and 98% of boys
will eventually accept reality and achieve a state of mental and physical
health?”

45
Paul McHugh speaks from experience…

One of the authors of the statement from the American College of Pediatricians
is Dr Paul McHugh, University Distinguished Service Professor of Psychiatry at
Johns Hopkins Medical School and the former psychiatrist in chief at Johns
Hopkins Hospital.

Paul McHugh was at the hospital when they were the FIRST hospital to do sex-
reassignment surgery for transsexuals. He was ALSO there when the hospital
STOPPED doing the operations because they realised the harm being done to
people.

Paul has written about the situation..

He begins, “The idea that one’s sex is a feeling, not a fact, has permeated our
culture and is leaving casualties in its wake. Gender dysphoria should be
treated with psychotherapy, not surgery….”

Article: Johns Hopkins Psychiatrist: It Is Starkly, Nakedly False That Sex

Change Is Possible, CNS, 17/6/2015.

Gender identity clinic for young people sees referrals double

Posted on April 22, 2016 by Keith

The number of young people referred to England’s only gender identity clinic
for under-18s has doubled in the past year to nearly 1,400, figures show.

The data also shows that nearly twice as many biological girls than boys were
referred to London’s Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust last year.

Consultant clinical psychologist Dr Bernadette Wren said young people now had
more freedom to define themselves.

She told BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour a “social revolution” was happening.

The statistics show that there were a total of 1,398 referrals to the clinic last
year, 913 of whom were female and 485 male.

In 2009/10, the first year for which figures are available, there were a total of
97 referrals – 40 were female, 56 were male and there was one referral for
counselling for the child of a transsexual parent.

The number of referrals increased by 50% in ever subsequent year until

2015/16, when there was a 100% rise in referrals, from 697 in 2014/15.

Asked if boys were being unrepresented in the figures and not getting referred,
Dr Polly Carmichael, a fellow consultant clinical psychologist at the clinic, said:
“I think the sheer number of young people being referred to the service, a
100% increase this year, it’s hard to think there would be a gender difference

46
in terms of who is being referred.

“Particularly because some of the hypothesis in the past around more natal
males to natal females being referred was around the way in which the natal
male body developed and how that perhaps made it more difficult for them
socially if they identified as a female gender. And so I can’t see that’s changed
in any way so it seems unlikely there is under-representation.”

Dr Wren said in the past, more boys tended to come forward than girls,
because girls found it easier to be “boyish” in what they wore or how they
styled their hair, but that society was now more accepting.

She added: “We live in a world where people alter their bodies, surgically or
otherwise, and this freedom is available for people as they get older.

“Maybe we just have to be acknowledging that that is a liberty that people

have, that these things are possible, technologically, and people will avail
themselves of those things.

“It’s not really for us to approve or disapprove. What matters is what they
make of their lives in the end and whether they lead rewarding lives.

“We’re trying to make sure that nothing happens too precipitately. But in the
end, we maybe have to see through this social revolution and see how it
transpires.”

‘I felt it was the right thing to do’

Sasha, not their real name, felt they did not fit in.

Sasha, who was born a girl, was treated at the Tavistock Clinic as a teenager
and now refers to themselves as being of non-binary gender.

In their early teenage years, Sasha began to feel it would be easier to become
a boy and was eventually referred to the Tavistock Clinic.

“For most of my life, I felt as though I didn’t fit in and I was never entirely sure
what that was about. But when I began thinking about my sexuality and
gender identity, I felt as though there were certain paths that would be more
suited to the way I felt.

“I anticipated being a man as feeling happier within myself. That was probably
the key thing that drove me forward in terms of pursuing treatment. I felt it
the right thing to do on a very instinctual level.”

Sasha, not their real name, started hormone blocking treatment at the age of
18, and went onto testosterone a year later. They had a double mastectomy
and felt at that stage they had achieved what they wanted to “surgically and
physically”.

47
Now, Sasha says they do not fit in “with the traditional binary discourse of
being male or being female”.

“It’s quite a difference as to when I was referred to the Tavistock,” added

Sasha, but said they did not regret anything that happened.

“The decisions I made were absolutely right for what I needed then. I believe
now, on looking back, that there may have been more options to be a bit more
flexible in thinking about my gender identity that I didn’t quite pick up on at
the time,” they said.

While Sasha is happy with the physical changes to their body, they said
sometimes they wished they had “taken things a little bit slower or waited until
I was a little bit older”.

She said one of the most difficult things for the clinic was to persuade young
people to get on with their lives “without necessarily jumping into physical
intervention in ways that we might feel is a bit premature given the state of
their thinking”.

“That’s the tough thing because I think there’s a lot of pressure out there to
help them believe that physical intervention will sort all of their difficulties out.

“We think that for some young people, physical intervention really, really helps
them and is what they were always going to do at some point or other, and I
think for others, we feel they need to take more time over it.”

There is also a small number of girls who come forward because they have a
“hatred” of the sexual characteristics of the female body, she added.

“I don’t think the explanation is that we’re suddenly flooded with these young
people,” she said. “I don’t think there are any grounds for saying that.

“It’s quite hard work to come to our clinic. We put them through an
assessment process and none of these young people are doing this lightly.

“But we do need to consider whether there are some ways in which being male
and having a male body is particularly attractive in 2016, the beginning of the
21st Century, whether there are any ways in which the social landscape shapes
and influences how people feel about their role in life, their body and how
they’re going to live in that body for the rest of their lives.”

“My Dad Wears Pirate Shoes”

Posted on June 4, 2013 by Keith

“Our family secret is quite strange a secret I did not choose. It revolves
around my Dad’s wardrobe; and his shiny pirate shoes.”

A little boy has made a discovery. He has found a pair of black shiny patent

48
leather shoes, with a polished gold buckle on the top, hidden discreetly in the
bottom of his parent’s wardrobe. They are not his mother’s shoes. They are,
surprisingly, his father’s. The little boy’s father cross-dresses. The little boy
and his brother must come to terms with the fact that their father does not
wish to dress as a man. Rather his father desires to be a woman.

Such a unique situation is sadly one that some children find themselves. Now
these children are not alone in their secret. Now, they have a voice. This is
one child’s story.

In this true story the child’s father undergoes sexual reassignment

surgery. Children may need to be reminded that not all cross-dressers will
make such a decision.

A picture book designed for young children caught up in the impact of

transgender on families.

Obtain a copy from Amazon.

New book release: ‘He can never be she’.

Posted on June 3, 2013 by Keith

Gae Hall, a Christian wife, investigates the transgender phenomenon from a

biblical perspective.

Through her personal experience, she recounts the story of her husband’s
transition from an Assembly of God pastor with a passion for ministry to a man
consumed with desire to cross dress and ultimately undergo sex reassignment
surgery so as to become a woman known as Christine.

As strange as it may seem to some the situation is no longer uncommon even

among those within the Christian church.

Available from Amazon either as a book or electronically via Kindle.

Karl’s story

Posted on May 25, 2013 by Keith

It’s no coincidence that you’re reading this; I believe God has led you here. My
words are honest and truthful; they come from the depth of my heart. I don’t
know your current situation, but I do know that God knows each of us, and He
loves us more than we can understand or comprehend. Everything I’m about
to share with you is for God’s glory and to bless you. We are important to God,
and we are not a mistake. God doesn’t want to confuse us; He wants to bless
us and give us the good, satisfying life He created for us. He has good plans
for us (see Jeremiah 29:11). My name is Carlos, and I’m a forty-six-year-old
Christian man. I’m in the third year of recovering and healing after struggling
with cross-dressing and GID issues for thirty-nine years. You may be looking
49
for answers at this point in your life. I did for many years, and I never gave
up. You probably feel skeptical in the same way I did. Please don’t give up;
there is hope. Stop and listen for a moment: There is a light at the end of dark
tunnel, and the Light is Jesus. I want to ask you to trust God with all you heart
and all your strength. Trust and believe in Him and in His Word. My Life I
was born in a poor country in Central America. I’m the second of three
brothers, and we had one little sister. My mom had been abandoned by her
mom when she was very young, so, when she was a child, she lived with her
grandmother. During my childhood, my dad traveled all the time, and when he
was home he wasn’t very involved in our lives. My mom had a very possessive
and controlling nature. But I suspect my trials really started on Halloween day,
when I was five years old and my mom tried a costume dress on me for a few
minutes. The next step occurred when I was in sixth grade and I found one of
my mother’s bras. I was simply curious, so I tried it on for a moment. After a
few months my desire and curiosity increased; I began dressing more often in
my mom’s closet. That was the second step in my journey toward my
deceptive and lonely life. Mostly, I was a normal boy; I played with toy cars
and other such toys most little boys enjoy. But during my adolescence my
desire to embrace femininity increased significantly. I began to cross-dress
regularly. In 1982, at age eighteen, I finished trade school. At about that time
I met the Lord and, in a Four Square church, received Him as my personal
Savior. A month later I was baptized with the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues.
However, when I found a job I gradually began to use my income to buy
women’s clothes. When I was twenty-five I met the woman who, within a few
months, became my wife. I had hoped getting married would stop my
compulsive cross-dressing behavior. Instead, my secret life got worse. I even
began wearing my wife’s clothes. I felt confused and guilty. I was looking for
answers: Why did I seem to need to cross-dress? Nothing is worse than being
ignorant about an out-of-control desire. I cried many times and felt terrible. My
Christian life deteriorated even while we attended several churches. My life felt
dry and empty. One day, after ten years of marital struggles, my wife
confronted me and asked if I was a homosexual. I told her the truth about my
secret life and my struggles with cross-dressing. That night we cried for a long
time. She shared my pain. We needed and wanted to find a “cure,” and mostly
to understand my compulsive behavior. First we tried reading self-help
psychology books. Secular books contend that cross-dressing doesn’t have a
cure; mostly they encourage support from family members and close friends.
That was difficult news for her to learn. She tried to help me; she even helped
me in buying women’s clothes and taught me how to dress and apply
cosmetics. I know she was suffering. After several months, our marriage
collapsed and we separated. She and our daughters moved and rented a house
in another city. I was living is a small apartment close to my parents’ house.
My parents didn’t know about my struggles. The day after my wife left, I called
and told them about my problem. They came with love rather than judgment,
and they brought words of encouragement and hope. They prayed for me and
helped me as I sought to renounce cross-dressing. That night I put all my
women’s clothes in garbage bags. Over the following days, my mom asked me
to seek help. I did; I sought help from a pastor. About two months later, my
wife agreed to return with the kids and live together again. She knew I was

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looking for help. Unfortunately, the pastor wasn’t equipped to deal with my
difficult and unusual issues. During this period of my life I felt dry and that I
needed to know more about God. So I started reading theology and self-help
books. A couple months later I decided to attend a well-known Bible School to
seek answers. I made new friends at Bible School. One of my closest friends
was Alejandra. We took many courses together and shared about the Lord.
One day she explained to me that the Holy Spirit talks to people. That
statement shocked me. At that time I felt dry and lonely. I was hungry for God,
so I decided to seek the Lord every morning. I knew the Word of God, but I
didn’t experience God in an intimate way, in a close relationship. Something
was missing in my life. For several months I woke up at 4:00 A.M. and prayed
and worshiped the Lord, looking for answers, and with a deep desire to hear
His voice. The Scriptures are full of promises. Psalm 5:3 says, “In the morning,
Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait
expectantly.” Please understand that I’m a rational person, so I was taking a
leap of faith in seeking God’s presence and His voice. After a few months
something amazing happened during my sleep. One night, around 3:00 A.M.
something awakened me. It was sweet and quiet voice, and I knew it was the
Holy Spirit who told me, “You are not alone; your Father loves you, and I love
you.” I felt peace in my heart and conviction that this was God’s voice. I asked
the Lord to continue our conversation again in the morning. So He did; He
woke me at around 6:00 A.M. and asked me to write something on a piece of
paper. On that piece of paper I wrote, “You will be My voice among many;
don’t be afraid; be ready.” God visited me and answered me my prayers—He
said I would speak for Him. I pictured myself for a moment. I was dealing with
cross-dressing, and then the Spirit led me into something prophetic (1
Corinthians 12:7-10). I had an amazing communion with my Father in heaven,
but that created a huge tension. I wanted to please the Lord with my life, but I
was unable to control of my desire to cross-dress. My anxiety increased during
the following months. I was able to hear God’s voice, and at the same time I
was struggling with cross-dressing. But God had plans for me. At that time we
were attending a small Pentecostal church close to our home. One day an old
woman called Amparo came to visit and preach to our congregation. After the
service we had a friendly conversation. We learned that she lived close to our
home. We invited her to come to visit us. She did, and we had a wonderful
time together. While we were talking, she said to me, “I just came to remind
you what the Lord spoke to you a few days ago.” She asked me to read
Jeremiah 1, where the prophet was called to prophesy to the nations. I was in
shock because no one other then the Lord and I knew about my recent
nighttime encounters with Him. So this was a confirmation. During the
following months I studied the Scriptures in order to understand my gifts of
the Spirit, especially in the realm of the prophetic. In the following months, I
grew a lot and used my gifts to bless many people as I waited for a Word from
the Lord. At the same time I kept secret my struggles, and I continued to buy
female clothing, wigs, and other feminine items. I honestly was determined to
find a way out of cross-dressing, but I couldn’t seem to control my actions. I
talked to pastors, and sought out deliverance and inner healing ministries.
They gave me some comfort and guidance, but they never got to the root of
my compulsive behavior. I felt frustrated and disappointed. I’d tried everything

51
I could think of, but I had no control of my life. More than once I asked the
Lord to end my life. But, even in my difficult times, I felt an inner voice (the
Holy Spirit) comforting me. He never condemned me. For years, I asked the
Lord for answers. God never condemns us or turns His back on us. His purpose
is to lead us to freedom. Jesus came for the lost. Luke 19:10 says, “The Son of
Man came to seek and to save the lost.” My wife was Canadian, and one day
we decided to move to Canada. During our first ten months there I couldn’t
work as I went through the process of applying for my sponsorship papers. I
spent lots of time alone at home. The anxiety and stress of being jobless and
having no family in a foreign country increased my desire to cross-dress. I
bought more women’s clothes and accessories to indulge my female identity. I
was a master at hiding women’s clothes at home. After four to five years in the
Toronto area, our marriage was collapsing. We found a Christian counselor
from a well-known ministry. I had a strong desire to find peace and healing.
The counselor had spiritual gifts, but he had no experience in dealing with a
problem like mine. He was a good counselor, but He had lots of personal issues
with the Lord. On several occasions I ministered to him; in a sense, I became
his counselor. I don’t fault him; he meant well. Soon, my new job gave me the
opportunity to travel—a lot. That travel gave me more opportunities to cross-
dress. At the same time I felt a desperate to find answers. My compulsive
behavior was out of control. My relationship with my wife was deteriorating
fast. She didn’t want to hear any more about my struggles. I spent time on the
Internet searching for answers. I found Exodus International, but it’s a ministry
for people with homosexual problems, not so much for people with cross-
dressing issues. I kept searching, and one day I found a ministry called Help 4
Families. This ministry reaches out to people like me, with cross-dressing and
transsexuality issues. The ministry had a friend and partner who knew what I
was going through. He had written a manuscript about issues like mine. I
contacted him, and he began to give me some guidance and help. I bought his
unpublished book called Flight toward Woman. I hid the book and took it with
me on one of my business trips to New York. During my return flight to
Toronto, while I was reading the book, for the first time I found myself dealing
with the roots of my problem. That was the key to opening my eyes and
helping me understand. During the following minutes, I quietly cried, knowing
I’d found hope. For the first time, I understood that the root of my compulsive
behavior was the need to feel nurtured and loved. Looking back at my
childhood, I realized how much I missed my mom. Wearing her clothes was the
closest I could get to feeling her, smelling her, and having her close to me.
During this time the Holy Spirit showed me many memories and wounds. Little
by little, the Holy Spirit led me to deal with my childhood wounds. I had a
lonely and extremely difficult life, and to make things worse, my wife stopped
giving me affection; I felt she turned her back to me. She simply gave up on
me, and I really couldn’t blame her. It was too much for her. One day, during a
very stressful period, I was home alone and cross-dressed. She came earlier
than I’d expected, and she found me cross-dressed. She was furious and said
she wanted a divorce. I didn’t leave home; I lived in the basement for six
months while we went through the process of selling the house. We split
everything and I then I moved to an apartment on the other side of the city,
closer to work. During the following months, my life continued downhill. I

52
cross-dressed every day. I spent obscene amounts of money on women’s
clothes. I didn’t care. I wanted to experience everything. I had horrible anxiety
and loneliness. I started drinking and getting drunk, and forgot my problems
while I was cross-dressed. I also struggled with pornography. I felt God had
abandoned me. I was miserable, lonely, and frustrated. On the other hand,
deep inside, I sorely missed God’s presence. I missed my sweet Savior, and I
missed my family. I was living alone in a foreign country, with no friends, and
my ex-wife and daughters were in a different city.

My turning point One sunny, late-summer day, after lunch, I sat in my car
behind the building at work. I opened the windows and though I’d relax for a
few minutes. That was when I heard a gentle voice and knew it came from the
Lord. He asked me to open my Bible to John 5. I opened and started to read
about an invalid who’d been sitting beside a pool for thirty-eight years, waiting
to be healed. Jesus approached and asked him, “Do you want to get well?”
Then the Lord asked me, “Do you want to get well?” He asked the same
question probably ten times. I started to cry and I realized I hadn’t been
honest with Him. Cross-dressing had become the driving force in my life. I
asked the Lord for forgiveness and help. I felt worn out and tired; I’d tried so
many times by my own effort and failed. I’d purged my female clothes
countless times. I’d reached a point in life at which I needed to make a big
decision, and I thought for a moment about my current situation: “Is this is the
life the Lord created for me?” I wanted to live the life He created for me. So I
decided to take one more chance, but this time God’s way rather than mine.
That day I returned to my apartment and bought some large garbage bags. I
filled seven or eight bags with women’s clothes. I felt joy and I knew
something good was about to happen. That night I donated all those bags full
of clothes to a Salvation Army store. I cleaned out everything; I wanted to
make sure nothing was left. When I returned to my apartment that night I got
on my knees and cried as I surrendered completely to the Lord. I realized I
needed to let the old Karl die completely. I asked the Holy Spirit to forgive me,
cleanse me, guide me, and make me the man He created me to be. In the next
few minutes, I felt compelled to confess my sins and renounce everything
about my old life. I renounced my desire to buy women’s clothes, the spirit of
cross-dressing and transsexuality, my gender confusion, my desire for
pornography, my lust, my sensuality, my spirit of lying, my lack of faith, my
spirit of fear, my deception—and anything else I could think of, including every
female name I’d ever used. In addition, without understanding what I’d done,
I’d cursed my manhood, so I asked the Lord to rebuke this curse, bless my
masculinity, and restore me as a new man in Christ. Cross-dressing had
isolated me from people; I had no friends; I’d stopped going to church. I
decided I needed to find someone I could trust, someone who would help me. I
called a pastor from a nearby Pentecostal church and asked him to meet me.
Two nights before I met with the pastor, God gave me a dream in which I saw
two tables. One table was covered with men’s clothes and the other table was
covered with women’s clothes. I heard a voice tell me, “Chose one table.” I
chose the table with the men’s clothes. I realized that was a confirmation. The
Lord allows us to choose, and our choices determine the direction of our lives.
I met Pastor Ron at a nearby coffee shop, and I started to share my past life

53
and my struggles. After a few minutes he smiled and said, “I already knew in
my heart about you.” He prayed for me that night. I really needed a friend. The
Lord showed me that I was no longer alone. Even so, over the next few days I
experienced deep depression. I began to really comprehend that my marriage
was over. We’d been married almost twenty years. I experienced a second
divorce as well. I divorced my old female persona (the inner female that had
controlled and deceived me for so many years). So I had two divorces
simultaneously. I went to see my family doctor and asked for antidepressants.
He prescribed a two-month supply of anti-depressant pills. I took the pills daily
for two weeks. But then I asked the Lord to take away my depression, and He
did. I stopped the pills. A few months later I lost my job. It was the middle of
winter and a very cold day. I had just a few friends and no family. But God was
faithful and had a plan for me. Over the next five weeks, I applied for several
jobs, and in that time I had several interviews. I was hired by a company fifty
miles east of Toronto. My salary was lower than at my previous job, and I was
paying a higher rent—and my apartment lease was about to expire. I soon
moved closer to my new job. My new home was in a small town, eighty miles
east of Toronto. I had no friends and spent lot of time alone. I felt hungry and
thirsty for God. I was attending Pastor Ron’s Pentecostal church, southwest of
Toronto, but it was too far; I realized I didn’t feel I was growing spiritually.
After a couple of weeks I found an amazing Spirit -filled church. God gave me
wonderful new friends and a place where I could grow. My new pastor and I
met for accountability sessions, and he supported me in my healing process.
After a few months, I went to visit some close friends and brothers in Christ
overseas. While I was with my friends, they invited me to visit a small church.
The pastor was a prophet, and, during his sermon, he stopped for a moment
and said, “There is a man here from overseas; the Lord will restore your life
and give back everything the enemy stole from you.” I knew that word was for
me. In my return home, the Lord again spoke to me in a dream. In that dream
I saw myself in my old house in my hometown, where I grew up; I was young
again. While I was in my house I saw something lift up and move the house. At
the same time, I saw a new foundation being built. My house was then
returned to its initial position. The Lord showed me that night that He had
healed my hurts and wounds and given me a new foundation for my life.
During the following months, I experienced a slow but steady recovery; little
by little my desire to wear women’s clothes was disappearing. In addition, my
strong desire to cross-dress disappeared. Now I can walk through a women’s
department store and not feel intimidated. After a year, the Lord gave me a
better job, and I moved closer to Toronto and into a better apartment. I also
began attending a new church plant from the same church I’d been attending.
The Lord multiplied my friends, and now I serve in the church, doing many
tasks for the Lord. I spend time every day with the Lord, reading His Word and
worshipping Him. Spending time with Him is essential for growth and a close
relationship with Him. I have my days; I’m aware of my weaknesses, but my
strength and my motivation are from the Lord. Ecclesiastes 3:1, 4 says, “There
is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens … a
time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.” I
spent thirty-nine years struggling with gender issues. I now understand that
my struggles were caused by my dysfunctional childhood family. So I began a

54
process of healing in which the Holy Spirit guided me to forgive those who had
negatively influenced my childhood. Little by little, day by day, the Lord
restored me. He showed me that He didn’t make a mistake when He created
me. God will never condemn or forsake us. He will never force our decisions. If
you really want to be free, and if you seek freedom and truth, please be
completely honest with yourself and with the Lord. Once you make the
decision, surrender completely to the Lord and let Him start working in you.
Don’t fight a fight you cannot win. I tried many times, and I failed miserably.
We have a great healer, the Holy Spirit, and with Him we will succeed. If you
want to move forward in the life God created for you, please pray this little
prayer: I ____________ confess that I need you Lord. I surrender my life to
you. At this moment I want to invite the Holy Spirit to take control of my life.
Please convert my blindness into truth. Show me and teach me, dear Lord.
Lord, I want to be free of cross-dressing and any gender confusion the enemy
has created in me. With all my heart, all my strength, and all my soul, I want
to be free. I don’t want to go back. Give me strength and clarity for this new
stage of my life. Heal my memories and help me to remember and forgive
those hurt me. Lead me into the new life you have for me. Please don’t let the
enemy confuse me or deceive me any longer. I want to be hungry and thirsty
for you, and I want to experience continuous joy and peace in my life. On this
day, I want to thank you because you always listen to me. In Jesus name,
Amen. Remember these truths:

1. He always fulfills His promises to us. Psalm 40:1-3 says, “I waited

patiently for the Lord to help me, and he turned to me and heard my cry.
He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He
set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along. He has
given me a new song to sing, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see
what he has done and be amazed. They will put their trust in the Lord.”
2. He knows us and never gives up on us. John 10:27-29 says, “My sheep
listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal
life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me,
for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than
anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand.”
3. He always comforts us. Second Corinthians 1:3-6 says, “All praise to
God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and
the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we
can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them
the same comfort God has given us. For the more we suffer for Christ,
the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ. Even when
we are weighed down with troubles, it is for your comfort and salvation!
For when we ourselves are comforted, we will certainly comfort you.
Then you can patiently endure the same things we suffer.”
4. Be aware that we have an enemy; his name is Satan, and he is real. He
wants to destroy us. I just want to remind you we are soldiers in Christ,
and we are in warfare with the enemy. John 10:10 says, “The thief’s
purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich
and satisfying life.”

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 5. Nothing is impossible for our Almighty God. Jeremiah 32:17 says, “O
Sovereign Lord! You made the heavens and earth by your strong hand
and powerful arm. Nothing is too hard for you!” Jeremiah: 32:27 says, “I
am the Lord, the God of all the peoples of the world. Is anything too hard
for me?” Luke 1:37 says, “For nothing is impossible with God.”

Final words Be honest with God: This is the key when you start seeking help.
Being honest with God will lead you to the path of healing. Read John 5 and
ask yourself why Jesus asked the lame man if he wanted to be healed (see
John 5:6). Be brave and determined to seek help from others, and pursue
freedom. If you don’t find answers with one Christian counselor, try another.
Don’t stop seeking; sooner or later you fill find the answers. There is light at
the end of the tunnel. Sometimes we believe or think our struggle will never
end, but if you trust Jesus, you will find the light and peace and joy you are
looking for. Jesus walks with us every day of our life. Don’t ever think God has
left you and forgotten you; He walks with you in every step of your life (see
Psalm 139). Remember, our ultimate healer is the Holy Spirit. Only with the
help of the Holy Spirit can we be restored and healed. God always listens to us
and cares for us, even when we don’t understand. Jeremiah 29:11-13 says,
“‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ says the Lord. ‘They are plans for good
and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you
pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.’” There is
always hope. Be aware that sometimes the road is full of bumps. Despite our
problems and struggles, God is always present, and He will never leave us or
forsake us. He never left me, and He never forgot about my sufferings,
loneliness, confusion, frustration and desperate moments. Now I live in
freedom, thanks to Jesus. He lifted me up, cleaned me up, and made me and
new whole person. If he did it for me, He will do it for you. In appreciation and
love for those seeking help and those serving the Lord: your brother in Christ,
Karl.

Are transsexual brains different?

Neil Whitehead, Ph. D Lower Hutt, New Zealand

April 2011

The answer is probably yes, but not because of innateness. The altered brain
microstructure is probably due to years of repetitive thinking, fantasy and
preoccupation with body image. A recent relevant paper by Savic and Arver
is discussed.

Transsexual people usually feel they have been born trapped in a body of the
wrong sex, i.e. that the main difference is in their brains, and there has been
increasing research to check this out.

This is very reminiscent of the similar much older stream of research about
differences between homosexual and heterosexual brains. For a summary of
the current position see Chapter Eight of My Genes made me do it!

56
(www.mygenes.co.nz web site). The research showed a huge overlap in
properties between homosexual and heterosexual brains, with only small and
statistically minor differences. After an initial burst of research enthusiasm,
most alleged structural differences did not prove replicable. The research also
failed to rule out the possibility that any differences were caused by postnatal
experiences. The theory was that a certain prenatal brain organisation was
only activated at puberty but current research on brain plasticity renders very
unlikely the theory that the brain can remain unchanged for the periods of
years implied. This conclusion was based on observation of brain
microstructure and it remains open whether there are innate biochemical
differences.

There has been much research on transsexual brains, mostly using the various
modern techniques associated with Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) .
Differences (again with much overlap between transsexual and heterosexual
brains) have been shown for reactions and structures within the hypothalamus
(Garcia-Falgueras and Swaab, 2008), (Berglund et al. 2008), and volumes of
grey matter and white matter (Luders et al. 2009), (Rametti et al. 2011;
Rametti et al. 2010). However these differences were for adults, and the
claims of some authors that they are presenting evidence for innateness are
very flimsy, because there are no studies of the brains of children who then
become adult transsexuals.

As usual there are many in the “wrong” class, i.e. male to female transsexuals
who show brains just like their heterosexual male counterparts, even though a
modest majority may have brains more like their heterosexual female
counterparts.

However the results of studies on transsexuals may be better established than

those on homosexual people showing somewhat more reproducible differences
in the brains, though still with large overlap. This note argues these differences
can be explained by preoccupied thinking and imagination alone.

Recently a paper by Savic and Arver (Savic and Arver, 2011) has appeared.
Their innovation is to take a study group composed only of male-to-female
gynephiles (i.e. those attracted sexually to women). Previous male-to-female
studies mixed gynephiles and androphiles. The authors find that the brains in
their study group were not feminised. There was no evidence for female brains
in a male body; the brains were male-typical. This is contrary to many of the
previous research studies on mixed groups, but the study is thorough. They
also found that there were differences in the brains of their study groups which
were not found in either heterosexual male or female brains. These regions
have been identified as those possibly associated with bodily self-perception
(they are also enlarged in those who do lots of meditation, focusing partly on
body state).

57
The authors say this is a “highly speculative” interpretation, but it’s possible
they are actually underestimating how much support it has. It is very clear
that repeated patterns of mental exercise alone, as seen for example in
navigation (London taxi drivers) and internet addiction (Maguire et al. 2006;
Zhou et al. 2009) changes significantly the microstructure of the brain.
Thinking, particularly repeated thinking, changes brain microstructure.

The possibility then, is that a very frequent rumination on body shape and a
desire to be other than the birth sex has caused these structures, rather than
innateness. One would presume that there might be a forthcoming paper
from the same authors which would examine male-to-female transsexuals
who are androphiles, to see what effects there might be on those brains.

Reference List (some in press)

Berglund, H., Lindstrom, P., Dhejne-Helmy, C. and Savic, I. (2008) Male-to-

female transsexuals show sex-atypical hypothalamus activation when smelling
odorous steroids. Cerebral Cortex 18, 1900-8.

Garcia-Falgueras, A. and Swaab, D.F. (2008) A sex difference in the

hypothalamic uncinate nucleus:
relationship to gender identity. Brain 131, 3132-46.

Luders, E., Sanchez, F.J., Gaser, C., Toga, A.W., Narr, K.L., Hamilton, L.S. and
Vilain, E. (2009) Regional gray matter variation in male-to-female
transsexualism. Neuroimage 46, 904-7.

Maguire, E.A., Woollett, K. and Spiers, H.J. (2006) London taxi drivers and
bus drivers: a structural MRI and neuropsychological analysis. Hippocampus
16, 1091-101.

Rametti, G., Carrillo, B., Gomez-Gil, E., Junque, C., Segovia, S., Gomez, A. and
Guillamon, A. (2011) White matter microstructure in female to male
transsexuals before cross-sex hormonal treatment. A diffusion tensor imaging
study. Journal of Psychiatric Research 45, 199-204.

Rametti, G., Carrillo, B., Gomez-Gil, E., Junque, C., Zubiarre-Elorza, L.,
Segovia, S., Gomez, A. and Guillamon, A. (2010) The microstructure of
white matter in male to female transsexuals before cross-sex hormonal
treatment. A DTI study. J Psychiatr Res

Savic, I. and Arver, S. (2011) Sex Dimorphism of the Brain in Male-to-Female

Transsexuals. Cerebral Cortex

Zhou, Y., Lin, F.C., Du, Y.S., Qin, L.D., Zhao, Z.M., Xu, J.R. and Lei, H.
(2009) Gray matter abnormalities in Internet addiction: A voxel-based
morphometry study. European Journal of Radiology

58
Declaration of the Trans Rights Conference

28th October 2009, Malta

We, the participants of the European Trans Rights Conference, yearn for a
Europe free from all discrimination, where all people are valued equally
irrespective of their gender identity and gender expression. We envision a
Europe where people of all gender identities and gender expressions are fully
respected and can live freely without any violations to their human rights and
institutions’ interferences in their private lives, in accordance with the
Yogyakarta Principles. We want a Europe where health insurance funded
adequate hormonal and surgical medical assistance is available in a non-
pathologizing manner to all those trans people who seek it, and where no trans
person is required to undergo any compulsory medical treatment (such as
sterilization or gender reassignment surgeries) or a mental disorder diagnosis
in order to change legal gender and/or name.

Commissioner for Human Rights' ‘Gender Identity and Human Rights’

Issue Paper

We unanimously welcome the ‘Gender Identity and Human Rights’ Issue Paper
published by the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights, Thomas
Hammarberg, in July 2009. Commissioner Hammarberg’s Issue Paper is a
significant step forward in articulating the human rights and equality that
national governments should provide to trans people. We endorse all of
Commissioner Hammarberg’s twelve recommendations and urge all 47 Council
of Europe Member States to implement these recommendations at their
national levels, including the implementation of legislation/procedures that
allows to change name and gender without compulsory medical treatments, or
any form of diagnosis, and including strong anti-discrimination legislation
inclusive of gender identity and gender expression.

We call upon the Commissioner to exercise his influence with the Council of
Europe’s Member States to ensure that they tackle any gaps in their
legislation and policies with regard to the twelve recommendations in the
Issue Paper.

European Institutions

We note the importance of European Convention for the Protection of

Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (1950) and European Union
gender equality directives and various judgements of the European Court
of Human Rights and European Court of Justice, in reducing discrimination
against trans people.

We call upon the institutions of the Council of Europe and the European Union

59
to:

Monitor the implementation of case-law and gender equality legislation vis-à-

vis trans people

Make sure that future gender equality legislation expressly includes gender
identity and gender expression

Outlaws any form of discrimination against all trans people explicitly.

Clearly include measures addressing trans equality issues within gender

mainstreaming measures; funding programmes; and including the multi-
dimensional gender identity and gender expression in internal and external
policy

Fund detailed research and data collection on trans equality and human
rights issues

Consult and involve trans equality and rights organisations in European

gender equality and human rights policy development

Organisation for the Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)

We note with particular concern the high murder rate and violence against
trans people across Europe. Often the police fails to investigate cases of hate
crime and killings of trans people and no adequate prosecution of the
perpetrators takes place. In addition trans related hate crimes are hardly
documented and monitored.

Additionally, trans people with migration background and trans sex

workers are especially vulnerable and face multiple forms of
discrimination as well as social exclusion and economic hardship.

We call on participating States of the OSCE to enact hate crime legislation

fully inclusive of trans people.

We call on participating States of the OSCE to ensure safe detainment

and contact with their communities for trans prisoners.

We call upon the OSCE to monitor and urge for investigation of murders of
trans people as hate crimes.

Social Partners: Trade Unions and Employers' Organisations

We are concerned with the high level of discrimination that many trans people
face in access to, and retention of employment. This frequently leads to
poverty and severe negative repercussions on their lives and health. A
disproportionately high number of trans people get fired when their
transgender status becomes known to their employers (e.g. when starting a
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process of gender transition, when being visibly gender-non-conforming, etc.).

We call upon the social partners to proactively undertake joint initiatives

with trans and LGBT organisations to reduce trans discrimination and
harassment at the workplace, and to implement workplace policies which
uphold trans workers’ dignity.

We call upon the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) and its
members to implement the eleven actions and activities that the ETUC
outlined in its Executive Committee’s Resolution on LGBT rights of 2008.5

We call upon employers’ organisations to tackle the issue of discrimination

against trans people in promoting diversity with their members, and to
highlight how current equality legislation applies to trans people.

National equality bodies

We note the importance of national equality bodies in tackling discrimination

against trans people through enforcement of gender equality and anti-
discrimination legislation at national level. The Fundamental Rights Agency’s
social situation report shows that national equality bodies are currently not
sufficiently including trans issues in their work. We therefore call upon
national equality bodies to:

Be pro-active in enforcing anti-discrimination legislation to improve trans

equality and human rights.

Monitor the implementation of case-law and gender equality legislation vis-à-

vis trans people.

Include trans people in gender mainstreaming measures

Produce guidance on trans-rights and equality.

Support trans people in taking forward cases of discrimination to courts

and/or respective entities.

Make sure that future gender equality legislation expressly includes gender
identity and gender expression.

Research, collect and publish data on trans equality and human rights issues

Consult and involve trans equality and rights organisations in national

gender equality and human rights policy development.

World Health Organisation (WHO)

We observe with great concern that trans identities are still pathologized and
considered a mental health condition. Given its strong implications on the

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living of trans people in Europe we therefore

demand the removal of gender identity disorder from the International

Classification of Diseases (ICD) and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of
Mental Disorders (DSM).

We call upon the World Health Organisation to safeguarded the human

rights of trans people in the current revisions of the ICD 10 and DSM IV.

We call for an alternative non-pathologizing category in the ICD 11, which

establishes quality standards for medical treatments ample to support the
gender expression of trans people. No national or international health
institution shall render transgender identities as mental health disorders. They
should nonetheless enable access to hormonal, surgical and or psychological
medical assistance to be provided to those trans-people who seek such
assistance.

Finally, we ask Transgender Europe (TGEU) and the European Region of the
International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA-
Europe) to continue lobbying for full trans equality and rights on a European
level and call upon TGEU, ILGA-Europe and national trans organizations to
work together for the implementation of Commissioner Hammarberg’s
recommendations throughout Europe. We call strongly all Member States of
the Council of Europe to take active steps safeguard the human rights of all
people explicitly including trans people.

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