Gender Altering Surgery

Dr. Craig looks at some of the latest research on the effects of gender-altering surgery and procedures.

KEVIN HARRIS: Bill, you're in a position as a noted philosopher and a Christian leader that makes people want to hear from you on topics that are not necessarily in your areas of expertise, but sometimes you'll put on your pastoral hat to comment or you'll apply philosophy and theology where warranted. So before we get into this topic on gender-altering surgery, transgenderism, what is your policy or guiding principle when it comes to commenting on social issues like this?

DR. CRAIG: I try to stay away from political issues unless they intersect with either ethical concerns or with religious concerns. When that intersection occurs then as a Christian philosopher and theologian I do feel at liberty to address these ethical and spiritual issues.

KEVIN HARRIS: Let's get your thoughts on an ongoing issue, probably the number one social issue today: transgenderism. Data are coming in, and we have studies reported in this article by the Epoch Times that research shows very bad news concerning gender-altering surgery. This research is published by a facility that performs this kind of surgery. Their study^[1] shows that surgically altering one's gender does not help mental health and in fact can make the person lonelier and more depressed than those who avoided surgical intervention altogether. I thought that gender-altering surgeries were supposed to prevent loneliness and depression in those with gender dysphoria. Apparently that’s not the case.

DR. CRAIG: Yes, this was the euphemism of gender-affirming care. This study – or studies – speak directly to the issue that you and I raised in a previous podcast about state laws which have been adopted to try to protect minors against this sort of medical abuse. These new studies, I think, really vindicate the wisdom of those laws that are trying to protect minors from these kinds of surgeries and drug-induced alterations.

KEVIN HARRIS: In fact, we have a late-breaking study that I'll pull up here in just a moment, but in the meantime two separate studies published recently indicate the same things – life satisfaction is not increased by gender-altering procedures and, in fact, decreases it. And another finding is that people who have had these surgeries and play at least four hours of sports per week experienced “higher loneliness levels” than those athletes who have not had gender reassignment procedures.^[2] This comes on the heels of significant backlash against biologically male athletes who identify as female and win when competing against biological women.

DR. CRAIG: That seems on the face of it so unfair and what we now discover is that those athletes who have had these procedures actually have higher degrees of mental health problems than those who don't undergo them. As I said on our previous podcast, it seems to me this solution is so easily available. Instead of classifying sports by gender, just classify them by biological sex. Have male and female sports, and that would solve this problem.

KEVIN HARRIS:

The most recent study finds that people who identify as transgender have lower overall life satisfaction than the general population — and young people suffering from gender dysphoria have worse mental health than older people. Blessmann, et. al., found 31% of transgender-identifying people felt “dissatisfied” or “extremely dissatisfied” with life, while 17% said they were “satisfied” and just one percent felt “extremely satisfied.” People who identify as transgender were 1,290% more likely to describe themselves as “extremely” dissatisfied” than “extremely satisfied” with their lives.^[3]

Apparently those who have gender dysphoria have got to come up with another solution. Gender-altering surgery most likely makes things worse.

DR. CRAIG: I think that's absolutely right. We have got to find a way to help them transition through puberty in hopes of resolving this gender dysphoria. One's gender identity is quite malleable as a child, and we need to help these children to get through this and to grow to adulthood in the hopes that they will come to identify their gender with their biological sex.

KEVIN HARRIS: This article also quotes Mary Beth Waddell of Family Research Council. She says, “This finding is sadly consistent with other studies. One study showed that the suicide completion rate for those that had undergone surgery was 19 times higher than the general population.”^[4] It also reports,

Internet searches for such terms as “am I gay” and “am I trans” have increased 1,300 percent in the last 19 years, even in the most conservative states.
. . .
A study taken in transgender-friendly Sweden concluded, “Persons with transsexualism, after sex reassignment, have considerably higher risks for mortality, suicidal behavior, and psychiatric morbidity than the general population.”^[5]

What's really remarkable is that gay and trans activists are claiming that unless these surgeries are performed people, especially young people, will commit suicide. The article says activists are joined by members of the transgender surgery industry who, despite these studies, are telling parents their children will commit suicide if they don't submit their children to these life-altering surgeries. This was reported by Jamie Reed who is a far-left LGBTQ activist and whistleblower who worked at Washington University Transgender Center at St. Louis Children's Hospital.^[6]

DR. CRAIG: The threat of suicide was the trump card – wasn't it? – for these activists. That if you deny this kind of treatment then these people will commit suicide and you'll be responsible. What you and I said in our previous podcast was that this only underlined the mental illness of those suffering from gender dysphoria. They need help, and offering them transformative drugs and surgery to change their gender isn't going to help them. It only makes things worse.

KEVIN HARRIS: The article continues,

Scientists have long known mental illness and gender dysphoria are correlated. “Clinical evidence suggests that schizophrenia occurs in patients with GID [gender identity disorder] at rates higher than in the general population and that patients with GID may have schizophrenia-like personality traits,” said a 2014 study. . . . A 2020 study found people who suffer from gender dysphoria are up to 636% more likely to have autism, as well.

. . .

Transgender-identified adolescents were more than twice as likely as to report childhood sexual abuse, 161% more likely to endure physical abuse, and 184% more likely to experience psychological abuse than their peers, according to researchers from the University of Pittsburgh.

. . .

“Even the American Psychiatric Association, which supports gender identity ideology, acknowledges that a high percentage of children will desist from feelings of dysphoria if allowed to go through puberty naturally.”^[7]

DR. CRAIG: Wow.

KEVIN HARRIS: This is why Mary Beth Waddell says,

we need to pass legislation like the Protecting Children from Experimentation Act of 2023 and the End Taxpayer Funding of Gender Experimentation Act of 2023. Allowing children to go through the natural transitions of youth without interference allows them to come into their own and make wiser decisions about their future.^[8]

Bill, like we talked on the last podcast, we touched on that. Do you think legislation is necessary, and do you think it'll help?

DR. CRAIG: I think it is necessary, and here's the simple reason why: Because of the profit motive that hospitals and the big drug companies have for gender-transformative procedures. You follow the money, and as long as there's big money in this, this kind of abuse will be pushed, and therefore I think we do need to have legal protection of minors against this.

KEVIN HARRIS: I'm looking at this late-breaking study that has just come out from Wall Street Journal.^[9] 21 leading experts on pediatric gender medicine from eight countries have written a letter to the editor expressing disagreement with the Endocrine Society and its new president Stephen Hammes over the treatment of youth gender dysphoria. As one tweet said, this is huge. In a nutshell they've just said what we've just said in this podcast – that is these leading experts have said that surgery is not the answer and can actually do more harm than good. Finally, in conclusion, there seems to be increasing reaction against the transgender trend. Now, when I say “transgender trend” I mean what the activists are saying and what the political aspects are on this. The school district in Keller, Texas in the DFW area is the latest to ban transgender bathrooms and the use of pronouns and will use students’ biological gender at birth as the determining factor as to which bathroom that you go to and sports and so forth. But what do we need to do, again, as followers of Christ, to minister in this ongoing issue?

DR. CRAIG: I think we do need to support candidates who will vote for laws protecting minors, and we do need to resist the cultural pressures to use transgender pronouns and restrooms and allow men to compete in women's sports. Then we need to treat transgender people that we meet with love and respect and encourage them to get counseling.

KEVIN HARRIS: By the way, if you have not downloaded the Reasonable Faith app, be sure you do that. Go to ReasonableFaith.org. You can download it and have instant access to all the resources from Reasonable Faith right there on your device. While you're at ReasonableFaith.org, please consider giving a financial gift to the work of Reasonable Faith to help us continue to produce great content like this that reaches the world. Thanks so much. We'll see you next time on Reasonable Faith with Dr. William Lane Craig.^[10]