Transgender individuals as perceived within the church

[Werf_Must]

Can I just say that although D.A.R.E. admitted that he may not be the most informed dude in http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/65431/, the response was well thought out and reasonable? I'm glad TBS brought it up and I'm impressed with how D.A.R.E. responded. I felt like he really hit it on the head when he said "It's hard to hate someone you actually know"! I think this is a serious step in the right direction from two years ago at "Chaz was at no point a 'man in a woman's body.' A lot of people express feelings of such being the case, but it's metaphysical nonsense at best and a doctrinal fallacy at worst. So no, the nonexistent problem was not 'fixed.'" http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/54884/

Good job to D.A.R.E. for being open to answering and to TBS for starting an important conversation!

[NerdGirl]

I have so much to say about this after my anatomy test is over tomorrow. We've been talking about LGBT issues this week at school.

[TheBlackSheep]

I also really appreciated D.A.R.E.'s response, even if he feels like he doesn't know much about trans issues. And I'm glad you brought up that old answer, which hurt my heart at the time. I didn't know anything, really, about trans issues at the time, but I'm pleased at how close my answer is to something I would write today. Thanks, D.A.R.E. And I look forward to anybody's thoughts.

[Whistler]

Hmmm... I admit to being curious about what my life would be like as a man, but I would never want to change my body to be one. I feel bad that there are people who are very unhappy with the way they are physically. I know that some people are born with ambiguous genitalia, and I can see from a science standpoint at how they could feel they were the "wrong" gender, as sometimes the parents have to choose what gender to raise them as. There is a lot of inherent unfairness in the world (some people are better-looking or smarter) and it feels very unfair to me that some people don't feel the gender of their sex. But maybe at the same time these people can help broaden our gender norms and find a lifestyle that they love.

[NerdGirl]

Okay, I wanted to talk about this but I don't even remember what I wanted to say anymore. Except maybe that I don't know why some people's gender doesn't match their sex (well, in some cases there's a fairly obvious organic cause but other times it's a complete mystery). And I guess I'm talking about transfolk specifically here, which is different from intersex (and also different from being gay/lesbian/bisexual). But I think that when the Family Proclamation says that gender is an eternal characteristic, to me that doesn't preclude someone from being born with a body that doesn't match. Transfolk are often pretty certain about their gender, and usually from a very young age. And while a lot of progress has been made in the gay rights area (at least in our part of the world), I don't think that same can necessarily be said for transsexual and intersex people. People don't have to agree with them or understand them, but they do have to let them live their lives. They aren't hurting anyone. Those are my long-promised thoughts on the matter.