Denial of Biological Reality Engenders Pushback in the States

March 3, 2021

"Men and women have -- at a minimum -- 6,500 genetic differences between us. And this impacts every cell of our bodies -- our organ systems, how diseases manifest, how we diagnose, and even treat [them] in some cases." Biological gender, as Dr. Michelle Cretella of the American College of Pediatricians (ACPeds) explains, is crucial to accurately treating and diagnosing patients. This is what the science says.

Science only benefits us if we follow it. Nevertheless, a new ideology claims people can change their sex if they feel like they belong to the other gender, relying on the unscientific assumption that differences between the sexes is purely superficial. This transgender ideology has swept like the horde of Genghis Khan across all of America's elite institutions, nearly unopposed, leaving carnage in its wake. Many of those who clamor most loudly that we should "follow the science" also most stubbornly refuse to do so.

Because scientists cannot afford to ignore critical differences, ACPeds pointed out that the National Institutes of Health do recognize "sex as a binary biological variable in research and medical practice." Men and women sometimes manifest different symptoms for the same disease. They require different diagnoses, and even different treatments. For instance, certain drugs that treat heart disease pose greater risks to women. A doctor would be irresponsible to prescribe them to a biological female, even if that appeared as a male. For the medical community to focus on someone's "feelings" about their gender is harmful, even deadly. Dr. Michael Artigues, Vice President of ACPeds, said "Biological sex differences ... result in important physical, cognitive, emotional and behavioral differences between the two sexes."

To lay out the medical reasons why doctors should persist in treating patients according to their biological sex, ACPeds today released a new paper titled "Sex is a Biological Variable of Medical Significance." But the Left's gender soup has plunged our society into a hallucinogenic quagmire so powerful that much of America's elite class has become completely divorced from reality. Today, a major paper inside the Washington beltway complained about state bills to protect medical sanity, claiming they threatened "gender-affirming medical care." What they call "gender-affirming medical care" should be known as "biology-denying medical malpractice."

The good news is an unprecedented number of state legislators have now recognized the impending cultural doom threatened by the transgender movement's utter divorce from reality. At least 25 state bills would require medical professionals to follow biology when treating patients. Yesterday, the Alabama Senate voted 23-4 to pass a bill protecting minors from untested hormonal treatments and irreversible surgeries designed to superficially alter their appearance.

It can be confusing as Christians to approach the transgender issue with the appropriate love and compassion. Not only is every word used or misused to justify the ideology is wrong, but we must also remember that those who identify as transgender are created by God in his image as male and female. Unsurprisingly, here as elsewhere modern science agrees with divine revelation. As ACPeds explained:

Genetics is why a male who self-identifies as female remains male, and explains why giving estrogen to a male does not transform him into a female. While it is true that a male using estrogen will lose muscle strength and impair other aspects of his physiology, he does not alter his genetics; he remains male at the cellular level in all body systems. Similarly, a female who self-identifies as male remains female, and giving her testosterone does not transform her into a male. In terms of genetics, she remains female at the cellular level.