Christians and transgender identity

#928 for broadcast on 2CH Sydney, 20 Jul 2014.

Writing in the latest issue of Christianity Today, blogger Amy Julia Becker raised the vexed issue of transgender identity.  She said:

Parents can allow their children the freedom to wear clothing and play with toys associated with the opposite sex without assuming that their kids are or will be confused about their gender identity. Nevertheless, some adults and adolescents … do experience gender confusion in which their biological sex does not accord with their feelings and experience of gender.

She said Christians believe God created us as persons with body/mind/spirit unity, and transgender identity seemed to signal brokenness – “discord between the physical and emotional self,” since “men and women … are intended to complement one another.”

Then she added: “What would it look like for the church to care for transgender people … in the same manner that the Samaritan cared for the man by the side of the road [in the story Jesus told about loving our neighbour]?”

I’m Rod Benson for the NSW Council of Churches.