Lessons from the Rise and Faltering of Transgenderism: Guest Column
Many “inevitable” social movements turned out not to be so inevitable. The most notable recent example is transgenderism. In the latest development of this fast-moving story, earlier this month the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a Tennessee law that prohibited so-called “transgender care” for minors, including hormone therapy and sex-reassignment procedures.
Predictably, the American Psychological Association threw a fit about the ruling, scolding the court for disregarding “decades of psychological research and clinical consensus,” and jeopardizing “the health and wellbeing of transgender youth.” Aside from further eroding their public credibility, the APA statement ignores the obvious fact that any consensus around transgender “care” and identity is collapsing. It’s not 2016 anymore. First, there was the Cass Report, which questioned key claims of transgender medicalization. Then there was the closing of Britain’s only gender clinic. Also in recent days, L.A. Children’s Hospital announced it would close its center for transgender youth, one of the largest and oldest clinics of its kind and a hub for “gender reassignment” surgeries on children for years.
Public opinion has shifted as well. Earlier this year, Pew Research reported that about two-thirds of adults now support policies requiring trans athletes to compete on teams that match their biology. Most adults also support outlawing gender identity curriculum in elementary schools. Compared to just three years ago, more Americans now support laws that require people to use the bathroom corresponding to their sex and favor banning transgender surgery on minors. And just last week, the University of Pennsylvania signed an agreement with the Office of Civil Rights of the Department of Education about men competing in women’s sports. Penn will now strip Lia (born William) Thomas of his swimming wins against women, reinstate the integrity of women’s athletic teams and spaces, and apologize to the women whose rightful athletic “records, titles, or similar recognitions” were stolen by a male athlete.
Now somewhat on the other side of this cultural confusion, there are two crucial lessons to be learned about how culture changes, and how to fight future battles. First is how unpredictable and fragile supposedly “inevitable” cultural progress is. A few short years ago, corporations, government, higher education, entertainment, science, and medical establishments were being aligned in support of the idea that boys can become girls, and vice versa. But then a few courageous athletes, artists, filmmakers, de-transitioners, and a handful of public figures like J.K Rowling and Jordan Peterson spoke out. Unfortunately, many Christians and high-profile pastors were unwilling to do the same.
And yet, remarkably, it was enough to start the resistance. The momentum of the trans movement has now slowed and faltered. Though Irreversible Damage was inflicted on too many individuals, especially children, the mutilation of bodies and poisoning of minds turned out to be not inevitable, culturally. This should embolden us all to be willing to break the “spiral of silence” sooner and to stand courageously against false ideas in the future. After all, the worst ideas flourish when people are convinced that resistance is futile.
The second lesson to learn is how quickly social contagions spread. How an observably absurd and unscientific idea like transgenderism took over the West should humble us all and highlight the danger of losing a high and shared view of the human person. Until we can agree broadly on what it means to be human, what sex is for, what male and female mean, what marriage is, and why there are givens to our embodied nature, we remain susceptible to other absurd and dangerous notions.
And so, we should ask, even as this particularly bad idea is in retreat, what “inevitable” bad idea might take its place? How can we as Christians be better prepared and willing to respond?
As neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet, a likely (but tentative) guess is that we will encounter new and dangerous forms of transhumanism. Just as transgenderism began with the belief that the body is merely a vehicle for the “authentic self,” so will visions of biological enhancement, AI relationships, new forms of “designer baby” eugenics, and attempts at immortality. And anyone who believes that there are created givens to the human person and moral boundaries that limit the expression of our “true selves” will be castigated and accused of hate, bigotry, and anti-science. Christians who understand that humans are made in the image of God must speak early and often, and especially clearly, no matter the cost.
Thank God that trans ideology, though far from defeated, is faltering. However, short of a cultural revolution in which our createdness is embraced and the myth of self-creation rejected, the West will continue to be vulnerable to the next bad idea that claims to be inevitable.
Copyright 2025 by the Colson Center for Christian Worldview. Reprinted from BreakPoint.org with permission.
